Emmerdale star William Ash has revealed that his character Caleb Miligan will become much darker after being scammed by Kerry Wyatt and Archie Breckle. The unscrupulous businessman is known for walking a fine line between legitimate deals and outright crime, but this latest betrayal pushes him over the edge.
Caleb's Explosive Reaction
William Ash teases that Caleb will go 'absolutely apoplectic' when he discovers the con. 'Humiliated,' he says. 'Because one, Archie is a little kid. And the other reason, he kind of really underestimates Kerry. She can come across as a bit empty headed sometimes, but she's not. She's quite smart, and she's quite smart when it comes to this kind of stuff. Savvy. She's got her finger on the pulse. But to find out that them two are taking her for a ride would make him furious.'
The scam involved Archie using a sample of Caleb's daughter Steph's voice to create a misleading AI phone call, convincing Caleb that she needed money for a flat in London. In reality, Steph is in Thailand with no interest in living in the capital. Instead of coming forward, Kerry decided to keep the secret and use it to give Caleb a taste of his own medicine after he spoke to her harshly at work.
Ego Bruised and Edge Lost
The actor explains that the humiliation drives Caleb to take control by dipping into the criminal underworld. 'He comes out of that humiliation feeling like he might be losing his edge. That all feeds Caleb's ego wanting to be the one that does people over when he's been done over.'
William adds: 'Also, he knows that Kerry has a fake handbag. He sees that Kerry has spent over the odds. It actually is fake. But she's spent quite a bit of money on a fake one that looks real to save money. That's the seed of it for him. There might be a lot of money to be made in fake.'
With the Depot losing business contacts, Caleb ropes employee Billy Fletcher into helping put the company back in the green. To his surprise, Billy excels with customers and secures lucrative new contracts. However, this is just the start of Caleb's descent into shady dealings.
A Darker Route
'It does kind of set things in motion, he realises they can make a bit of money from it,' William reveals. 'He's probably dodging tax on it. He wants to maximise his profits. Another avenue does open up for him where he can do counterfeit but it another way. He does start going down that darker route. He loves it. He's pursing it, rather than it pursuing him.'
The actor adds: 'He feels like he needs to get his edge back. He is always treading a fine line between paying things legitimately and going under the radar and doing things sneakily. It's a big part of what makes him tick. Its just part of him. He loves that buzz.'
Keeping Secrets from Jai and Ruby
That 'buzz' won't be shared by Jai Sharma, who is currently on holiday in Canada. William says Caleb will absolutely not share his less-than-honest venture with his business partner. 'He thinks Jay is a pain in the backside! He brought him into the business in the first place to scam him. The whole thing with Laurel when they were going through their divorce. He views Jay as an irritant. Ordinarily he wouldn't have chosen him as his second in command, but it's just the way the chips have fallen. Whenever he's doing everything dodgy, he tries to keep Jay out of it as much as he can. Jay is a thorn in his side because he plays by the rules a lot more than Caleb does when it comes to the business.'
Another person who will have something to say about Caleb turning to the dark side is his wife Ruby. William explains: 'Caleb thinks 'let's keep it from her'. The less people know the better. Not for any reason other than that. He wants to protect her from it. Because he's keeping the facts from Ruby that the company is under a lot of financial stress, he doesn't want her know about how much in the balance their life is and the success of their life. It just opens a can of worms. So he keeps it from her as much as he can.'
Future of Caleb's Criminality
Unfortunately for Caleb, he lives in Emmerdale, where secrets are rarely kept for long. William Ash hints at the future: 'He pursues this line of work that is pretty dodgy, really. He is getting himself deeper into that but making a lot of money from doing it. He recruits Kerry and Billy to help him do that, but people are going to find out. People will eventually suss what is going on.'
