Iconic Emmerdale character Cain Dingle is so synonymous with the ITV soap it is easy to forget the character had a three spell out of the show.
Cain, played by Jeff Hordley, 51, first appeared in Emmerdale back in 2000 and is as popular as ever with fans.
He joined as the bad boy of the village clan and has enjoyed some explosive storylines.
You can find out all the latest Emmerdale news and gossip by visiting our homepage dedicated to the soap
In 2006, despite fans wanting him to stay, Jeff called time on playing Cain Dingle. Our colleagues at The Mirror recently reported an interview with Jeff looking back on his decision to quit Emmerdale.
He said: "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. There were a couple of places where I wanted to work in London.
Can't see this survey? Click here
"I wanted to fulfil those things. So for three years, I did that.”
Before returning to Emmerdale, in 2009, Jeff took on a number of acting projects. He had a role in Heartbeat and short film Northern Cowboys - alongside former Hollyoaks star Sarah Jayne Dunn.
Jeff also appeared in some high profile stage shows. The actor starred in a production of Mother Goose at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley.
He later played Napoleon in the George Orwell classic Animal Farm at Leeds' West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2008, as well as the role of Mick in Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker when staged at Bolton's Octagon Theatre in 2009.
Millions of happy Emmerdale fans saw Jeff Hordley reprise his role as Cain Dingle in 2009. As viewers know, Jeff now stars in the show with his wife Zoe Henry who plays Rhona Goskirk.
Jeff viewers that break away from Emmerdale as vital for him as an actor and the development of Cain Dingle.
Jeff recently appeared on Mik Artistik’s Ego Podcast discussing his time on Emmerdale - with particular focus on his three-year break from 2006.
Jeff said: “I think the three years out was the best thing to happen for the character because it created more layers.
“He nicked loads of money and he went to Spain and then he came back.
“The producer at the time thought, ‘I want to integrate him into the village’ because before that he was this lone maverick who lived above the Dingles and grunted at people and didn’t speak to anyone apart from his family.”
Jeff said he became conscious of repeating the same storylines over and over with Cain ‘scowling’ at other characters.
“As the years have gone on he’s mellowed because the older you get you do mellow and that’s realistic,” Jeff explained.
We are pretty sure Emmerdale fans won't want to see Jeff leave the show again.
To get the latest email updates from LeedsLive, click here.
