Emmerdale has announced that former star of The Bill and Family Affairs Beth Cordingly is joining the show as Caleb Milligan‘s wife, Ruby.
Beth Cordingly started her career on television playing troubled teenager Sara Warrington in Family Affairs. She then went on to play PC Kerry Young in The Bill.
But now she’s heading north to play Ruby Fox-Milligan in Emmerdale!
Ruby is Caleb’s ex-wife
Ruby will appear on our screens in January and it sounds like she’ll be causing trouble right from the start.
She’s Nicky’s mum and Caleb’s ex and she is described a being “fiery, confident, unpredictable and a fiercely devoted mum”.
Hmm, sounds a bit like Caleb’s nemesis Kim Tate to us!
Ticking timebomb
Emmerdale insiders say that Ruby is a “ticking time bomb” who’d destroy Caleb and his new-found family rather than see him happy.
Currently Caleb’s playing with fire having a steamy affair with nephew Nate’s wife, Tracy. And he’s also meddling in the relationship between Amit and his son Suni, too. Not to mention rebuilding his own relationship with son Nicky.
There’s a lot of places where Ruby could cause problems for Caleb!
“I’m delighted to be joining the cast of Emmerdale,” said Beth. “It’s an enormous privilege and Ruby is a dream role. She’s a firecracker and a troublemaker and I think people will love her or hate her, and I can’t wait to get stuck in with this fabulous cast.”
Producer Kate Brooks added: “Ruby is an absolute force of nature who sweeps through the village with scores to settle. Fiercely loyal to her family, Ruby will do anything and everything to protect her loved ones. Her relationship with Caleb is infused with intense passion that manifests itself as the ultimate volatile relationship.
“Ruby is a character who pulls no punches and always makes an impression.We’re delighted to welcome Beth to the show and we’re sure she’ll make a wonderful addition to the village.”
Where do you recognise Beth Cordingly from?
Since her early days on television, Beth has appeared in all sorts of shows including Casualty, Doctors, and Merlin. She also played Shirley Carter’s prison cellmate in EastEnders, and she’s an experienced theatre actress.
Beth is probably best known for playing PC Kerry Young in The Bill from 2002 until 2004. Kerry’s exit storyline saw her raped by evil PC Gabriel Kent.
Gabriel was later revealed as the Sun Hill sniper and he shot Kerry. She died and he was shocked to learn she had been three months pregnant with his baby after the rape.
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Who is her Emmerdale star partner?
Beth is in a relationship with former Emmerdale star Ian Kelsey, who played Kim Tate’s lover Dave Glover. He also played Vinny Ashford in Coronation Street, a dodgy business associate of Pat Phelan, who ended up one of the serial killer’s victims.
The couple have been together for almost three years. Last Christmas they shared a motorcycling adventure around Normandy. They documented their travels in a video on YouTube.
Beth lives in the south of the country and is commuting to Leeds for the part of Ruby. She regularly shares her travel on Instagram as the trains have been a bit of a nightmare for her!
Earlier this week she wrote: “Genuinely haven’t had a SINGLE train ‘journey’ to or from Leeds since December that hasn’t been a disaster! This time… the brakes aren’t working so we are all waiting for another train. On Sunday…it took five trains and a bus! All I want to do is get back to see my loved ones FOR a rare 24 HOURS!!!!!! Why is that so mad???”
However, she has also shared her joy at working on Emmerdale, despite being such a long way from home.
“Another day back Emmerdale, which has left me feeling extremely happy to be working with such a joyous bunch of talent,” Bethwrote earlier in January. “Such a laugh. It’s a long way from home and my best little person but if you have to be away working you want to be with this lot.”
Read more: Complete Emmerdale cast list 2023 – meet them all here!
Emmerdale usually airs on weekdays at 7.30pm, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
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