Emmerdale star Jeff Hordley has addressed Cain Dingle’s devastating diagnosis and the effects it’ll have on his relationship with Moira, who’s currently in prison. His character is involved in prostate cancer storyline, which sees Cain shut out his loved ones, including wife Moira.

Speaking with the Mirror, Hordley said that tough-looking Cain is “frightened of telling anyone” about his health problems.

He shared: “Everything is falling to pieces and he doesn’t deal with his diagnosis at all well. He has never found it easy to talk about his feelings anyway but after learning of his diagnosis, he snaps at everyone. He worries that if he tells anyone and with Moira in prison, nobody will be around to look after their children. He is terrified he is going to die.”

Last September, the actor first found out that Cain would be in trouble after being shot by villain John Sugden in the Corriedale crossover.

Hordley shared his reaction when Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw told him Cain would also receive a cancer diagnosis, a storyline the soap has been developing with Prostate Cancer UK.

“When I had my meeting, our producer, Laura, told me Cain was going to get shot in Corriedale. I was like, ‘Oh gulp’. But she said: ‘It’s okay, you will survive the shooting’. It was then she told me doctors would find a mass from a scan in the hospital and that it would be cancer. I had to do a double gulp.”

At the hospital to treat his gun wound during Corriedale, doctors find out a mass on Cain’s prostate gland, which would later be confirmed to be cancer.

While remaining tight-lipped about future developments, Hordley teased the storyline will continue playing out for some time on Emmerdale, as Cain worries of the impact that the side effects of his treatment may have on his relationship with Moira.

“Cain is told surgery could make him incontinent and/or he could have an erectile dysfunction afterwards,” he said.

“For some men, this can be short term but for others, it is forever. What if Moira won’t want him? This will be a story about how ultimately their love for each other is so strong,” he added.