Jeff Hordley has opened up about his festive plans with soap co-star wife Zoe Henry where they will welcome an Emmerdale superfan to stay.
As fans know, Jeff Hordley, who plays Cain Dingle in Emmerdale, and Zoe Henry, who plays Rhona Goskirk, are married. The couple married in 2003 and have two children together - Violet and Stan.
To help with childcare and family life the two acting stars tend to have different filming schedules with their characters rarely seen on screen together. As reported by Inside Soap, Jeff, 52, has discussed welcoming a family friend to their home at Christmas time.
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The friend absolutely loves Emmerdale which often makes for an amusing Christmas Day. “Zoe and I have a friend who sometimes stays with us over Christmas period who is a really big Emmerdale fan,” Jeff said.
“So he watches it on Christmas Day but he gets so involved that he will say whether it is good or bad. He’ll say ‘oh, this is ridiculous!’ and we’re like ‘we don’t really want to hear that, it’s our job’.”
The couple’s friend will likely see a lot of Cain Dingle in Emmerdale with the character set to be at the heart of the soap’s festive storylines. Emmerdale executive producer Jane Hudson has previously offered fans a hint of what is planned for the villagers over Christmas.
She said: “Poor Cain is still in prison. He will get a visit from his brother on Christmas Day called Caleb - played by Will Ash. I last worked with Will about 14-years-ago when I produced Waterloo Road so when our casting director suggested Will for Caleb I was absolutely transfixed. He’s absolutely brilliant and I think the viewers will fall in love with him.
“When Caleb visits Cain in prison we will discover Cain knew Caleb exists and he’s known about him for 30 years and on Boxing Day we will rewind to 1992 and we will 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.
“We have three fantastic actors playing our young Cain, Caleb and Chas. Adien, the actor who played Cain, he actually studied lots of footage of Jeff and his positions, poses and how he speaks and it is incredible when you watch it. There’s one pose, in particular, when he leans against a wall and you are left feeling ‘that’s Jeff’. It is so bizarre, it is a brilliant rewind episode that will explain a lot about their family history.”
Jeff Hordley has been full of praise for the three acting talents who fans will see playing young Dingles. Jeff explained: “We were lucky enough to get to meet them (the young stars playing the younger versions of the Dingle clan).
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"We watched them do a scene and we watched them do a scene. They asked us questions.
“The young actors were absolutely brilliant. I was speaking to Jane (Hudson) before and she was saying ‘the guy who plays Cain has got all your mannerisms’. He’d really studied what I do as Cain.”
As ever, we'll continue to bring you the big Emmerdale news about what is happening in the village. You can visit our Emmerdale homepage to find the latest gossip about the soap and its stars.
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