Emmerdale Cain Dingle star opens up on Charley Webb absence after she quit ITV soap
Emmerdale’s Cain Dingle star Jeff Hordley has opened up about Charley Webb’s absence as Debbie Dingle on the soap(Image: ITV)
Emmerdale’s Cain Dingle star Jeff Hordley has opened up about Charley Webb’s absence as Debbie Dingle on the soap.
Only recently, Jeff’s, 56, character Cain has been diagnosed with aggressive, yet localised, prostate cancer and is set to undergo surgery which he is struggling to deal with.
Talking about the important storyline at a recent Emmerdale event with press, including Daily Star, Jeff, 56, spoke about how his character has leaned on granddaughter Sarah Sugden, played by Katie Hill.
Sarah is the daughter of Debbie Dingle, played by Charley Webb, and Andy Sugden, played by Kelvin Fletcher. However, Kelvin, 42, left the ITV soap in 2016 after 20 years of playing Andy.
Meanwhile, Charley, 38, revealed she had quit the ITV soap in 2021 after 19 years of playing Debbie. She was last seen on screen in February 2021. Debbie is the daughter of Cain and Charity Dingle, played by Emma Atkins.
Charley Webb quit Emmerdale back in 2021 after 19 years of playing Debbie Dingle (Image: ITV)
Talking about Cain’s bond with granddaughter Sarah and on-screen daughter Debbie’s absence, Jeff said of the “lovely scenes” between Cain and Sarah: “Katie [Hill, who plays Sarah] has just been… that episode where the camera was on Cain and the pair of us came into view at the end, she was just amazing throughout that and throughout all of the stories, she’s just such a good young actress. She’s been a joy to work with.
“I kind of feel… you know, we’ve sadly not got Charley Webb anymore but I think she really steps into those shoes really well.
“It’s a slightly different dynamic but it’s kind of quite similar as well and she’s a character that can also get Cain to talk – Moira, Sarah and Charity.”
To which co-star Natalie J Robb, who plays Cain’s wife Moira Dingle, joked: “Surrounded by strong women!” with Jeff quipping: “I am!”
Jeff, 56, spoke about how his character has leaned on granddaughter Sarah Sugden, played by Katie Hill(Image: ITV)
It comes as Sarah star, Katie, 23, previously opened up about her character’s solo status in the village and whether she’d welcome the return of on-screen parents Debbie and Andy.
Katie enthused at the time: “Oh 100%, funnily enough I never met Kelvin Fletcher who plays my dad in the show. I’ve never actually met him in real life.”
She continued with hope: “Obviously it would be great if he came back and we got a chance to explore their relationship, and again Charley [Webb, who plays mum Debbie], she was my person here for so many years.
“She really took me under her wing when I joined the show so it would be so nice to work with them both. I’d like that.”
