There’s an unforgettable week of Emmerdale drama ahead, with peril facing a huge group of characters – and actor Jeff Hordley has admitted that every time a deadly stunt comes along, cast get a bit nervous! Understandably so, especially as it’s all but confirmed that someone is going to die…
Metro caught up with the popular Cain Dingle actor, who told us all about how the lake crash stunt was created, why Cain should fear brother Caleb, the TV show he’d love a role in and what he’d like to learn from his alter-ego.
Can you summarise what viewers can expect?
It’s one of those stunts weeks where they created this amazing ice landscape in the village behind the car park at the top with wax. The company’s called Snow Business.
It was cold anyway but when you walk on a set that’s been frosted or iced you instantly feel like it’s minus degrees. It’s weird how it plays tricks with your mind because you’re just standing on wax. It was really well done.
That’s part of this sequence of events. There are two limos and I’m in one limo and there are some girls in another limo. As far as my character’s concerned, the lead up to this is ‘does Caleb know about the Ruby thing or not?’
As far as Cain’s concerned he thinks he’s had a couple of close scrapes where Caleb’s been asking him questions and he’s tried to put him off the scent, but he’s not 100% sure whether he knows or not. In his mind he thinks it’s OK, and that’s where we are in this limo.
Cain’s probably not in a going for a night out mood with all that’s going on…
When the event in question happened between Cain and Ruby instantly I think they both regretted it. They came together at a point where they needed to do something crazy and seek solace in a physical way because of where they were – Cain because of the stuff that had been going on with Belle, with Zak, and with Moira. He was in a terrible place. And Ruby likewise with her father.
Then as soon as it happened it was like, ‘s***, we can’t talk about this, we never mention this ever again, this was a mistake.’
It creates further avenues to explore for Caleb and Cain. One minute you think they’re going to be great brothers and they’re on the same wavelength and there for each other. The next minute they absolutely hate each other and they want to kill each other. That’s good.
What’s the camaraderie like on set when you do these big stunts and night shoots?
We have a lot of fun. In my limo it’s all the kinds of people who would really make Cain feel terribly guilty should it come out. So you’ve got Matty who’s Moira’s son, Mackenzie who’s Moira’s brother, Sam who’s Cain’s brother, Mandy who’s one of the Dingles. So you’ve got all these kind of people who are the wrong people to find out if this comes out.
Is it quite time consuming to film scenes like this?
Vicky Thomas is a fantastic director and spent a lot of time making sure it was shot correctly. Chris Ramage, who’s the lighting director, similarly. One of the nights we shot there was a real eerie, foggy atmosphere.
I think it’s going to look really good. We do make sure we give that little extra time to these things to make them look as fantastic as we possibly can.
I really think we’ve been pushing the boundaries with our storytelling recently at Emmerdale, trying to shake things up and make things a bit different and not sticking to the usual formula. It keeps things interesting.
You’ve been involved in some big stunts in the past. How does this one compare, and is it something you enjoy doing?
I would say the most challenging one for me was the Cain and Moira underwater one where the boat exploded and we did the underwater stuff because that was a real challenge for both Natalie [J. Robb] and me.
We did a lot of training for it in the pool in Leeds and went to this tank in London to shoot it. Nothing compares to that, for me. Even though this was a lot of fun, that was the big challenge. When you push yourself the rewards are even better.
I think both Natalie and I were quite elated after that shoot, because there was a period on the first take where I could have easily gone to the surface and gone, ‘I can’t do this,’ because it was really challenging physically and mentally.
But once I’d got that first take on that underwater stuff done, it was a piece of cake from there. This one wasn’t as challenging but that one was a real physical and mental challenge. But it was so enjoyable and gave me such a sense of achievement after it.
Should fans be concerned that not everyone will make it out alive this time?
When you hear that they’re doing stunts you instantly think, ‘Somebody’s going to die, somebody’s going to cop it here.’ Or people being hospitalised, that’s the kind of thing that happens when you do sequences like this.
Does it worry you?
I’m worried all the time! Not all the time, that’s a little bit over the top. Every time there’s news of this it can unsettle us as a cast because we know the shelf life of characters is not forever in soaps and it’s down to the producers or the writers to steer the ship and take us in the direction they want to take us.
That sometimes means our contracts will end. Nobody is immune from that, so it’s always nerve-wracking.
Do you still enjoy and feel challenged by the role and being part of one of the most iconic families on TV?
I’m immensely proud of the show and everything we’ve achieved as a company. We’ve done some really good things over the years. Not necessarily the things I’ve been involved in.
I think one of my favourite Emmerdale storylines was the Hotten bypass crash which I wasn’t involved in at all but I thought it made brilliant television.
I also think recent stuff with the Anthony storyline and the stuff all the Miligans were doing, I think it was really spellbinding acting and they’ve raised the bar for us in the show. I think we’re lucky to have new actors come in of a high calibre, pushing the bar up for us all.
What’s been your highlight or biggest achievement over the years?
I would say the underwater stuff is really up there. I loved the ‘who bludgeoned Cain?’ storyline which led to a two-hander episode between Steve Halliwell and myself. That was like doing a little play and was a real highlight for me.
Working with people like Emma Atkins over the years, the Charity and Cain stuff, and all the stuff I do with Natalie, I’ve been really fortunate to have very strong co-stars sharing the screen with me. I’m really lucky I have all these brilliant actresses to bounce off.
It’s been ever-changing and it’s constantly challenging. The longer you stay in a show like this the writers have different layers of the onion to peel for you.I think the character’s evolved correctly.
Sometimes I perhaps meet people who say Cain’s gone a bit soft. He hasn’t gone soft, he’s just matured, as a man of his age would naturally do. He’s not going to be the angsty man who lives above the Dingles and doesn’t speak to anybody. If he’d stayed in that Cain of old, the first six years of Cain in the show, he wouldn’t speak to anybody.
He had to integrate into the village so when I came back in 2009 the writers suddenly made him part of the village by having a business. Now he’s friends with Liam, this fantastic, unlikely friendship with the doctor that makes you see a different side to Cain. That’s all down to the writing team.
Did you always want to be an actor? What would you do if you weren’t an actor?
At the age I’m at now I’d probably do something with gardening. As a younger man it would probably have been something to do with music because I DJ’d and I still do a little bit.
Is your allotment still going?
Yes, for Zoe [Henry, Jeff’s wife] and me it’s a real place of solitude. It’s not far from where we live. If you’re ever stressed out and want to get away from things you feel energised by it. It’s a form of winding down, therapy, call it what you want, for me.
How else do you wind down?
I enjoy going to the cinema a lot. I like to get lost in a film at the cinema, I find that’s another way of escaping. I often go to the cinema on my own and watch a film. Zoe and I absolutely loved Rivals and found that really engaging and watchable. I’ve just been watching Severance, which I really like as well.
Do you have any ambitions to take on other roles?
Whatever comes my way I’ll take, with reason! Rivals seemed like a fun show to do and would certainly be a departure from Cain. I liked all that 80s-ness and all the costumes. It looked like the cast were all having a good time. When you see that the cast are having fun it makes you enjoy it. That would probably be something for me.
More theatre would be a great thing for me to do because I love the process of rehearsal when you do a play. It’s a very different process on a soap, you’ve got to make your decisions quicker whereas you could rehearse a scene for a play and try it six or seven ways almost. You don’t have that time to experiment when you’re doing something as fast as a soap.
Do you have any similarities to Cain? What do you love most about the character?
I always say I wish I had Cain’s sharp come-backs. His put-downs are great and I wish sometimes I was sharper like that in my life – because I’m not like that. I don’t think there are many similarities apart from the fact we look the same.
