Emmerdale airs heartwarming scenes for Cain Dingle next week as he steps up to support his friend Liam Cavanagh. After weeks on a downward spiral, Cain seems to have reached a positive turning point as he makes sure that Liam’s latest project is a big success.

It’s been a tough few weeks for Cain, as he was devastated to discover the truth about John Sugden’s role in the death of his son Nate Robinson. Since then, Cain has been on a trip to France in the hope of tracking down John, but his desperate efforts came to nothing.

When Cain returned to the village, he was still in a troubled mood – drinking heavily and harshly pushing his family away.

Fortunately, there are signs of a change in Thursday’s hour-long episode (16 October) as Liam plays a key role in getting Cain back on track with some tough love. Cain’s wife Moira is also on hand to help him turn things around.

Next week, it seems that Cain is ready to return the favour as Liam focuses all his efforts on a prostate cancer awareness campaign.

After his recent fears that he could have the illness, Liam is keen to convince other men to book tests. He’s already voiced his regrets over not getting himself checked out sooner when symptoms first presented themselves – the local doctor has since learned that he’s unlikely to have cancer.

As Liam’s campaign gets under way, he’s delighted to see so many men waiting for their prostate exams.

Liam is touched as he realises that it’s down to Cain’s help – the village’s tough guy has roped in many friends and neighbours to get involved.

Jonny McPherson, who plays Liam, recently appeared on ITV’s Lorraine and spoke about the importance of raising awareness among men through this storyline.

He said: “My generation and the generation above are very poor at getting stuff sorted out.

“Especially as a doctor – he’s constantly giving advice [that] if anyone feels the slightest niggle or concern, then they should get it checked out. Then he is obviously feeling all these things.

“I guess as well, as a doctor, you detect symptoms and you have a multiplicity of possibilities. So maybe he’s just painted himself into a corner slightly.

“With men, there is definitely a tendency of kicking the can down the road: ‘It’ll be alright. Ah, it’ll pass’.”