Emmerdale’s Beth Cordingly explains shock decision from Ruby in abuse story with ‘no good outcome’
Hugely loved character Ruby Fox-Miligan (Beth Cordingly) has been going out of her mind with worry following a comment from her dad Anthony (Nicholas Day) in Emmerdale.
Prior to us finding out Anthony sexually abused Ruby when she was a child, he said that he doesn’t think Caleb (William Ash) is Steph’s (Georgia Jay) dad.
With Ruby not actually knowing for certain, she decided to conduct a DNA test, desperate for some answers.
‘It was from talking to Chas, plus I think it was all just brought up by her dad being there’, star Beth Cordingly said, explaining why Ruby made this decision about the test.
‘She is really struggling and Chas, I think, believes in the love between Caleb and Ruby. Chas is trying to calm her down by saying Caleb would stand by her in any situation. Ruby is obviously terrified, but it is a real problem having not known for 30 years. I think she wants to put her mind at rest, to not be tortured by this anymore but she can’t guarantee that that will happen.
‘The ironic thing, of course, is that if she did have proof, she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, because she wouldn’t want to destroy Steph’s life. Her head’s in such a mess. I think she’s desperate to tell someone, but desperate not to destroy everyone else’s lives.’
In upcoming episodes, Ruby will get the results she’s been waiting for. At first though, she’s hesitant about opening the document.
‘She’s torn between desperately wanting to know that her greatest fear isn’t true, that it’s Caleb’s baby and not her dads’, Beth said.
‘She wants that reassurance so that she can move on. But she’s always had this fear, from the minute she got pregnant that it may not be Caleb’s. She didn’t deceive him, she just desperately wanted it to be his.’
She added: ‘She realises that there isn’t really a good outcome. She sees Caleb and Steph together and they are so close, and Caleb always talks about how they’re two peas in a pod, she decides that he has to be her dad and that she can’t destroy whatever they’ve got. So this helps her make her decision that it’s better not to know and just to continue with some hope.’
To Ruby’s horror, she walks into her home and finds Caleb holding the results in his hand.
Beth revealed: ‘She’s like a deer stuck in the headlights in that moment. He is standing there looking at her, and until he says what the results are, she has no idea herself. So it’s not even just the situation of walking in and finding out someone has found something that you didn’t want them to find.
‘On top of that is the bombshell that she doesn’t know what’s in it. So it’s like this unexploded bomb he’s holding, that he now knows the answer too, and no one else in the whole world knows. So she just doesn’t really know what to do. I remember filming it, I remember exactly the feeling when I was standing there looking at him, thinking, there’s so much going on.
‘All it says on the DNA test is whether Caleb is the father or not. It doesn’t say who the father is.’
