High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Cain Dingle is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale played by Jeff Hordley. Cain made his first appearance on 30 March 2000 before leaving in 2006. Hordley was asked to return to the serial but initially turned the offer down until he felt the "time was right", on February 2009. Cain`s storylines have focused on his relationships with Charity Dingle and others. Cain`s other storylines have included discovering he is the father of Debbie Dingle and more recently being attacked in a whodunit storyline where his assailant was eventually revealed to be his father, Zak Dingle.