‘Cain’s rushed to hospital, sick and very scared,’ reveals Emmerdale’s Jeff Hordley

Emmerdale's Jeff Hordley tells Soaplife how Cain’s life is on the line but he’s too scared to have the operation that will save him…

Not much scares Cain Dingle. But he’s terrified after Googling the strange symptoms he’s been experiencing. Rather than tell his wife Moira his concerns, Cain ends up confiding in Charity, who begs him to seek medical advice. When he eventually does, it’s bad news. He has a brain aneurysm, which could kill him if he doesn’t have an operation. “Cain’s in denial,” says Jeff, who plays him. “Like most men, he’d rather bury his head in the sand.”  

So, what are Cain’s symptoms?

“He’s getting headaches, blurred vision and he’s dropping things because he can’t grip properly. It’s pretty frightening, but he thinks he’ll ‘man up’ and be fine. However, as the weeks progress, he begins to realise there is a problem.”

What happens?

“He blacks out at the garage. As he comes round, Charity [Emma Atkins] enters and wants to know what happened. He tries to cover and tells her to keep her nose out…”

Why won’t he talk to Moira?

“He wants to deal with it himself. Charity only finds out by accident. He confides in Charity, but he wants to keep it low key. He doesn’t want to upset Moira [Natalie J Robb]. He knows she’d worry if she found out.”

So it’s Charity who pushes him to go to A&E…

“Yes. He’s told how serious it is and he needs an operation, but he doesn’t want to face up to it. So many things could go wrong. He’s out of his comfort zone and he’s very scared. He tells Charity to keep quiet or he’ll evict her.”

But Moira becomes suspicious, doesn’t she?

“Cain’s been very secretive with Charity and snappy at Moira, which leads her to think there might be something going on between them. Cain would be gutted if he knew because he loves Moira to bits.”

And then Charity takes matters into her own hands and tells Moira…

"Yes. But, at the time, Cain is at the river, blacks out and falls in. It was a cold day when we filmed that, but fortunately I had a wet suit on. The hard thing was having my ears submerged and trying to hear when the director shouted ‘Action!’.” 

What happens to Cain?

“Kirin [Adam Fielding] and Vanessa [Michelle Hardwick] find Cain unconscious in the water. They pull him out and he’s rushed to hospital. Debbie [Charley Webb], Charity and Moira are all there and they don’t know what’s going to happen…

Emmerdale, ITV. Click here for dates and times.