Emmerdale newcomer Will Ash has revealed his secret history with co-star Jeff Hordley.
The Waterloo Road star is joining the ITV soap as Caleb, Cain and Chas’ long-lost brother.
He will make his debut this Christmas.
However, it won’t be a difficult role to play as he grew up with Jeff – with the pair sharing a secret history.
The actors sat down with Entertainment Daily and other media to reveal all.
Emmerdale stars Will Ash and Jeff Hordley go way back
Jeff said: “It goes back to our school days.
“We did a play at school together and then other stuff professionally.”
He added of the Waterloo Road actor: “We both went to the same school – North Chadderton Comprehensive in Oldham.
“We had a really inspirational drama teacher called Colin Snell.
“He not only inspired us but also Nicola Stapleton, Matthew Dunster, Paul Hilton and then went onto another school with Jonas Armstrong and Jenna Louise Coleman.
“He’s worked and inspired a lot of young actors.
“We weren’t in the same class because I’m a lot older – a school generation above.
“We did ‘Another Country’ and I was one of the sixth formers and Will was a young kid bringing us all tea. It was a really good production, that.”
Jeff an ‘inspiration’ to young Will
Will added that it was that production that inspired him to act professionally.
“Yeah, it was brilliant,” he said.
“For me at the age, to come in and see all those lads who were in that play taking acting really seriously was great.
“It’s fun and that when you are young, but they were really meticulous and were talking about stuff like character in a rehearsal room.
“I’d never seen that before and it was one of the reasons why I ended up going into the professional because it was so inspiring.”
Emmerdale star Will Ash reveals excitement at joining the soap
And Will wasn’t a complete stranger to other members of the cast when he arrived.
He adds: “I’ve met a lot of the actors who play those roles before.
“I knew Lisa Riley from Oldham Theatre Workshop, so it was less daunting having known those people than if I didn’t know anybody.
“Lucy Pargeter, too, I worked with her a long time ago as well. So the people I was working with I had a bit of a relationship with so I wasn’t as scared as probably I should have been.”
But he was just thrilled to join the soap.
Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale this year?
“I was excited about it and I’m still excited about it because there is a wealth of characters there and diverse characters, and they are a big family in terms of the consciousness of people who watch Emmerdale,” he said.
“But I wasn’t really intimidated about joining it because that’s your job as an actor to come in and get on with doing what you have to do.
“But I can see where you are coming from that it might be daunting. I was excited about it and be part of it.”
Want more spoilers from Emmerdale? Entertainment Daily has a dedicated Emmerdale spoilers section for you to get your fix before the latest episodes air.
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
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