Emmerdale’s Cain Dingle reveals all about Holly Barton’s tragic death on Loose Women

EMMERDALE actor Jeff Hordley has revealed how his character Cain Dingle will feel "a lot of guilt" over Holly Barton's shock death.

The star spoke to Loose Women on Friday, just hours after the nation was left stunned by the sudden passing of the popular character.

The star - whose alter ego is the stepdad of Holly - admitted Cain will face his own demons in the aftermath of Holly dying.

Speaking of how Cain never fully believed his stepdaughter had kicked her habit, he said: "There’s a lot of guilt on his part.

"He was always pushing her, to try and shock her out of it. 'Once a druggie always a druggie' kind of thing and it's backfired in his face as now she’s gone."

Jeff was pleased the soap was able to keep the storyline underwraps

Holly has been battling a drug addiction for months but seemed to be on the up after starting a relationship in secret with Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson).

However, the mainly light-hearted episode took a dark turn when Holly collapsed after relapsing into her heroin addiction and never woke up.

The young girl’s body was discovered by her mum Moira - played by Natalie J. Robb and brother Adam (Adam Thomas) in heart-wrenching scenes that are now threatening to destroy the family.

And Jeff, 46, praised his co-star Natalie for her performance as heartbroken Moira.

He said: "Natalie J. Robb has been amazing, she's had such a journey.

"She's on a well-deserved holiday at the moment, as she's been a wailing banshee for weeks."

But the drama isn't over for the family, as Cain finds himself torn between his estranged wife and his lover, Charity Tate (Emma Atkins).

He said: "There's all the dilemma of Cain and Charity will they stay together.

"The story writers have done such a good job as they’ve made this love triangle."

Those who were watching the ITV soap were left stunned when the scenes aired – but were praising the show bosses for keeping the twist under wraps.

Taking to Twitter, one fan wrote: “I can’t believe that Holly is dead. I didn’t realise she was gonna to die. It’s so sad, I liked her. She was a great character.”

Another added: “I love when the soaps make an effort to keep storylines secret and really throw in a twist for viewers. *sideeyes Corrie*”

Even This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield got involved in the discussion, tweeting: Such a powerful @emmerdale .. I just had to text both my daughters".

And Jeff also complimented  soap bosses on the move, saying: "We wanted to keep it under wraps.

"It’s good that we do this now, there’s too much feeding it through the media or social media."