Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) was feeling a monumental amount of pressure in tonight’s episode as he took it upon himself to tell his family that Zak (Steve Halliwell) has died.
Cain discovered the news of his father’s passing at the end of yesterday’s episode, when Moira (Natalie J Robb) revealed that Debbie (Charley Webb) had called with the update.
Moira told Cain that Zak had a lovely morning poaching, returned home, and slowly nodded off with a smile on his face.
Despite the fact Cain had known for ages that his dad wasn’t very well, the fact he was now gone was hard to process.
Cain then announced he needed to tell the rest of the Dingles about Zak’s death. Moira was a little bit worried about Cain taking on this huge responsibility and suggested she did it on behalf of him, but Cain – who is now the eldest member of the family – knew he had to do it himself.
With that, he made his way to Wishing Well ready to break the news to fellow siblings Sam (James Hooton) and Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) first.
Cain then went around the village and told the likes of Charity (Emma Atkins), Chas (Lucy Pargeter) and Marlon (Mark Charnock). Whenever a character broke down though, Cain made sure they were comforted with a hug.
This was very emotional to see but also, given this is Cain Dingle, very surprising.
This is the same character who, a few years ago, would hold someone hostage in a barn in an attempt to get revenge on them, and wouldn’t hesitate in punching someone in the face.
Cain has changed his ways as a result of Moira and their children, and simply getting older, but the news of Zak’s death and the fact he is now head of the family is clearly making this character change a lot more.
Coming up, once Cain and Sam get back from Scotland with Zak’s body, the villagers will gather for his funeral, ahead of a very unexpected return for a former resident.
