Jeff Hordley's favourite 'Emmerdale' character is Charity Dingle.

Jeff Hordley

Jeff Hordley

The 50-year-old actor - who portrays Cain Dingle on the soap - loves sharing the screen with Emma Atkins, who plays his on-screen second cousin and former lover because she's always been a "good friend" and a lot of "fun" to work with.

He told Inside Soap magazine: "Charity is my favourite character of all time, just because I think Emma is fantastic and has an incredible range as an actress.

"She's really fun to work with and a good friend."

Jeff - who is celebrating 20 years on the show this month - particularly enjoys filming scenes out and about in village because he thinks it's the programme's biggest asset.

He said: "My favourite place to film is the exterior village, which is the jewel in the crown for this show.

"The village is the best character in 'Emmerdale' and I love working on Main Street and at the garage."

Meanwhile, as Cain goes head-to-head with DI Malone, the actor admitted he's having a great time working with Mark Womack, who plays the corrupt cop, as well as Dean Andrews and Jay Kontzle, who's own alter egos are caught in the police officer's schemes.

He said: "It's great acting with Mark, he's very professional and good fun to work with.

"Likewise with Dean [Andrews, who plays Will Taylor] and Jay [Kontzle, who portrays Billy Fletcher]. Dean's such an experienced actor - he has a good CV behind him and it's brilliant to work with him.

"And Jay's just great too - we've been having a lot of fun, all of us together, being involved in this storyline."