Emmerdale star Jeff Hordley has opened up about his decision to leave his role as Cain Dingle in the ITV show.
He was cast as Cain - mechanic and local hardman - in 2000 and stayed in the role until 2006.
Producers kept the role open for his return, and three years later, Jeff was back as Cain.
Speaking on Mike Artistik's Ego Podcast last year, Jeff explained: "It's about knockbacks. You might have three auditions in a year and only get one of them.
"The one that got away I could tell you about. The one that got pencilled in. You've almost got the job and then the programme doesn't go out."
Host Mike questioned him: "Why was there a gap from 2000 and the time you came on to appear as Cain on Emmerdale?"
Jeff answered: "From 2000 until 2006, I'd only been four years out of drama school. I hadn't ticked all of the boxes that I wanted to tick. There were a couple of places where I wanted to work in London.
"I wanted to fulfil those things. So for three years, I did that."
Around a year after Jeff was cast as Cain, his wife Zoe Henry - who he married in 2003 - joined Emmerdale as Rhona Goskirk.
She only played the character for a month and returned around eight months later.
Then, in 2007, she joined Jeff's rival show Coronation Street as Casey Carswell - a child-abducting friend of Claire Peacock.
She ended up returning to Emmerdale as Rhona in 2010 and has stayed in the role ever since.
The two previously discussed what it's like working together and living together.
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They revealed they had a giggle together on set, especially when they are both shooting hard-hitting storylines.
Zoe told The Sun last year: "It's important to have a laugh in-between takes so upsetting stories don’t get you down too much.
"Working on the same show as Jeff, who plays Cain Dingle, also helps because if one of us is having a bad day then the other will completely understand."
Cain and Rhona have rarely been seen together on screen over the years as they don't have many storylines together.
Jeff told Soaplife: "We don't film at the same time so we can share the childcare.
"I don't think we'll ever have a storyline together – Cain and Rhona are too different. Cain thinks Rhona's a bit of a snobby cow. For me and Zoe, it works well."
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