Jeff Hordley has shared how he was thrilled to learn that Will Ash was joining Emmerdale as his long-lost brother. It was revealed last month that the former Waterloo Road star will play Caleb Miligan in the ITV soap when his character turns up unannounced to see Cain Dingle in prison.
As viewers know, Cain is currently facing a hefty prison sentence for the murder of Al Chapman as he is covering for his son, Kyle, who is the real culprit. And Caleb's arrival could put a spanner in the works during an already difficult time as he demands answers from his brother.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News and other press, Emmerdale's executive producer Jane Hudson confirmed that fans of the ITV soap will see Caleb's arrival on Christmas Day when he visits Cain behind bars. "When Caleb visits Cain in prison, we'll discover that he knew Caleb exists and he's known about it for 30 years," she revealed.
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Emmerdale's boss also confirmed that this will lead to another flashback episode for the soap. "On Boxing Day we'll rewind to 1992 and we'll discover how Cain and Caleb first met, why Cain then rejected him from his life, and what was going on with Chas at that point." She then added: "So it's a brilliant rewind episode that will explain a lot about their family history. And as much as Cain wants Caleb to disappear for another 30 years, Caleb is not going to have that.
"He wants to meet his sister Chas, he wants to meet the rest of his extended family and could he be the answer to all the Dingles' prayers in regards to Cain being locked up? You'll have to wait to find out that one."
And speaking about joining the soap for the first time, Will, who played Christopher Mead in BBC school drama Waterloo Road and Steve Robinson in Clocking Off, said it's been "great". He added: "Getting used to the pace of it. It's quicker and a lot more relentless and intense than jobs I've done but I'm really enjoying it.
"The scrips have been brilliant, the character is great, really good to play and working with such fantastic actors so it's been good." He then shared how there was three things that drew him into taking on the new role. "How complex he [Caleb] is. Because he comes in with this really dark and tortured backstory having been put into care as a child and when he was 15, finds Cain to reconnect with his family and he's told his mum [Faith] is dead.
"So there was the complexity of that, coming in with an axe to grind with Cain but I also know the character was coming in and I'd be working a lot with Jeff. I've known him a long time so that was a massive draw and not to put anything down but it's work. It's nice to be working. You spend a lot of time, as an actor, out of work and the opportunity to be doing what I like doing every single day is amazing. But the main thing was working with Jeff and the character."
Divulging more on how long they have known each other and how they met, Jeff revealed: "It goes back to our school days. We both went to the same school, North Chadderton Comprehensive in Oldham and had a really inspirational drama teacher called Colin Snell who not only inspired us but the likes of Nicola Stephenson and then went on to another school with Jonas Armstrong and Jenna Coleman."
Jeff shared how the play they were in was Another Country and while he was one of the sixth formers, Will was the "kid giving us tea and stuff". Will added: "For me when I was that age, coming in and seeing all these lads in a play taking acting really seriously, I've never seen that before and it was one of the reasons I ended up going professional. It was quite inspiring."
But initially, Jeff, who has played Cain for the best part of 20 years, did have reservations about the storyline. "Initially, I'll be honest, I thought, 'they're bringing in a younger Dingle? What are they doing that for? Are they trying to replace me?' as you always get a little bit protective over your character and you're bringing in a similar character."
However, he did admit: "But when I found out it was Will I was like, 'this is great'. It's the best thing that could have happened. It feels like Caleb has been here for a long time. The character's written so well and he's got a charm and Will brings that across really beautifully and Cain does have a connection with him. You can see he doesn't like him but he also finds something about him he wants to connect with."
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