As Cain leaves Classic Emmerdale after Sadie kidnap, here’s why Jeff Hordley quit, and when he came back
Cain left in 2006 but he returned!
Cain Dingle waved goodbye to the village in Classic Emmerdale episodes that aired this week. He headed off into the sunset with a huge pile of stolen cash, having betrayed Sadie King and broken daughter Debbie’s heart.
Cain had been in Emmerdale since 2000, but he left at the end of 2006 and didn’t return for three years.
Here’s the lowdown on why he left – and when he returned.
Cain’s early days in Emmerdale
On-screen things weren’t going well for Cain Dingle by 2006. He’d come to Emmerdale for his cousin Butch’s funeral but quickly became part of the furniture in the village.
But after his ill-fated affair with Angie Reynolds things took a turn. He spiralled downwards, despite getting to know his teenage daughter Debbie.
Some of his bad behaviour included seducing Debbie’s teenage girlfriend Jasmine, seducing Angie’s teenage daughter Ollie, and getting involved with ice queen Sadie King.
Cain and Sadie
It was his involvement with Sadie that led to Cain leaving Emmerdale, seemingly for good.
The Kings had big plans to expand their business empire, with a new housing development called Kings River. But Sadie wanted it to fail so she paid Cain to damage the show home with a JCB.
With time tight before the launch, the Kings cut corners. And that meant as the show home was opened with a fanfare, the house exploded! Dawn Woods, Noreen Bell and an estate agent were killed.
The Kings covered it all up, but Cain and Sadie wanted revenge.
Cain leaves Emmerdale
They hatched a plan to kidnap Tom King in return for a £5m ransom. Cain ‘kidnapped’ Tom and Sadie and the scam was on.
But Tom was suspicious and convinced – rightly – that Sadie was in on it. So Cain shot Sadie and killed her!
The money was handed over, and Tom was rescued. But there was no sign of dead Sadie. It had all been clever hoax! She turned up at an airfield ready to meet Cain and make their escape – but Cain had something else up his sleeve.
He was holding a grudge against Sadie because she had paid for Jasmine to abort Cain’s baby. And in revenge he took all the money and abandoned Sadie on the runway. As Cain flew over the village, the Dingles watched from the ground, convinced they’d never see him again!
Cain’s return
But in 2009, Cain returned to help daughter Debbie, who’d been accused of murdering crooked copper Shane Doyle.
He helped Debbie get off, and to win custody of her daughter Sarah from her violent ex, Andy Sugden.
And he came back to the village for good. He went on to marry Moira, have two more kids, discover the son he didn’t know he had in Nate, and generally become one of soap’s most iconic bad boys!
Why did Jeff Hordley AKA Cain leave Emmerdale?
Actor Jeff Hordley quit Emmerdale in 2006 to dip his toes into other projects – particularly theatre work.
“From 2000 until 2006, I’d only been four years out of drama school. I hadn’t ticked all of the boxes that I wanted to tick,” he told Mik Artistik’s Ego Podcast in 2021. “There were a couple of places where I wanted to work in London. I wanted to fulfil those things. So for three years, I did that.”
Cain leaves Emmerdale: Jeff and Zoe’s family life
And it wasn’t just his desire to try his hand at other roles that led to him having three years away from Emmerdale.
Jeff is married to co-star Zoe Henry, who plays Rhona in Emmerdale. They have two children – Stan and Violet – who were very small at the time.
“Zoe looked after our daughter for a few years and had stopped working. We always said whoever got the biggest job – when I left Emmerdale, if she got the bigger job then I would look after the children,” Jeff explained on the podcast. “Sure enough that happened. Zoe ended up being in Coronation Street for a year and I stayed back and looked after the kids for about a year as well.”
Thankfully with Jeff and Zoe’s kids now much older and them both working at Emmerdale, it seems Cain’s not going anywhere – for now at least!
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.
Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.
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