Emmerdale fans have been left delighted by the return of Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley).
Cain went AWOL early Autumn as he took it upon himself to find John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth). After learning that Caleb Miligan (William Ash) had helped John go on the run, Cain decided he would track him down overseas and get revenge for killing Nate Robinson.
The lack of communication meant Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) simply had no idea what Cain was doing, or where he was. After a couple of weeks of silence, she then received a phone call from him, but discovered he was in prison at Dover.
When Cain got home, he was in a terrible state. He explained to Moira that he went to France but when he accepted that there was no way he’d find John, he headed to some French pubs and started drinking.
It was on his way back over the Channel that Cain got into trouble with the law. He was drunk and started arguing with people on the ferry, and found himself getting arrested when he arrived back in England.
As Cain struggled to process the fact John had got away with murdering his son, his relationships with the likes of Moira, Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) and Kyle (Huey Quinn) were all impacted. Eventually, Cain came to realise the importance in focusing on the family he has left in the village, and worked hard to rebuild bridges with those he had hurt.
Cain has been in the village since then, but the last time we saw him was October 22, when he assisted with Liam’s plan to get the male residents to attend health check-ups following his prostate cancer scare.
Plenty of Emmerdale audience members picked up on Cain not being in the Dales. Taking to social media platform X, Jeffers wrote: ‘Anyone Seen Cain Dingle was last scene 22nd October 2025 once found please return to his wife Moira Dingle!’.
‘Where’s Master Cain Dingle when you need him’, Laura wondered.
There was good news this week, as Cain was finally back on our screens.
The beloved character featured in yesterday’s (December 9) episode, amid a story that’s seen Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) desperately try to get his family away from Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths).
In the instalment, Marlon had been up all night worrying about how to get out of the clutches of the drugs gang and keep April safe. He concluded that the only way was to pay off the debt that April owes Ray Walters (Joe Absolom).
Marlon asked headed to the garage and asked Cain to sell his car as quickly as possible. Cain didn’t believe the story that Marlon was giving him about why he was in such a hurry for the money, so he called in on him later.
That’s when Cain caught Ray physically threatening Marlon in his house. After telling Marlon that the debt was £20k, Ray had told him that April would have to keep working until it was paid off, and Marlon lunged at him.
This was when Cain came in and quickly sent Ray on his way after Marlon covered for him by saying he’d rammed Ray’s car and that’s why he needed the money. Later he told Cain he had no insurance.
None of this was really adding up for Cain, so although Marlon reassured Ray later that he’d ‘shut Cain down,’ he hadn’t really. Cain is still suspicious about what’s going on with Marlon and knows he’s in more trouble than he’s letting on – and possibly that it has something to do with Ray.
Following these scenes, fans took to social media to express their joy over seeing Cain again.
Lucy wrote: ‘Soo nice to have cain and kim back on screen tonight. as much as ive really enjoyed celia and ray’s storyline, it feels like our legacy characters have been missing for too long.’
Buzzing over Cain’s return, Ryan said: ‘Catching up on tonight’s #Emmerdale. Cain is finally back!!!!!’.
Can’t wait for the next twist?
Hi, I’m Calli Kitson, Soaps reporter at Metro. I cover Emmerdale, EastEnders, Corrie and more.
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Jeffers added in agreement: ‘Welcome Back Cain Dingle’, while this user of X simply wrote: ‘CAIN’S BACK!!!!!’.
With Cain growing curious that Marlon is hiding something from him, will he be the next person to learn about April’s ordeal?
Let’s not forget that Celia and Ray have buried slave Anya on Butlers Farm, which means when the body is inevitably discovered, Cain and Moira are going to be involved in a dark and horrifying situation.
