Emmerdale promised that Cain Dingle’s (Jeff Hordley) prostate cancer story would change the character forever. Get ready for them to deliver in the most heartbreaking way possible when the most brooding man in the Dales finally gives up on Butler’s Farm.

This year has barely started, and it’s already been a perfect storm of snot and tears for the hardest bloke ever to sup in the Woolpack. Not only did the doctors discover a cancerous mass growing inside him, but his wife Moira Barton (Natalie J Robb) has been framed for the crimes of the late murderous people-trafficker Celia Daniels (Jay Griffiths), by none other than ruthless trust fund baby Joe Tate (Ned Porteous), who is determined to get his hands on Butler’s Farm.

With Moira behind bars for the foreseeable future, Cain finds himself with a farm to run, two boys to raise, a life-changing illness to face and nobody to confide in… well, except Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill).

As a cancer survivor herself, Sarah is the only one in his family Cain can talk to about his diagnosis. She’s even helped him keep the farm in the red with a casual bit of car theft… specifically Joe Tate’s car!

However, it’s getting harder and harder to keep the business afloat. As unpaid invoices stack up and Joe resorting to bully boy tactics to get his way, Cain was forced to contemplate the decision of letting go of the farm for good in a recent special episode.

After receiving an emotional phone call from Moira in prison, Cain felt sick with guilt to hear his wife expressed her gratitude for him keeping the farm running her absence. She’s got no idea how close they are to losing everything.

After the carjacking threatened Sarah’s marriage to Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) and Joe threatened to go to the police over his stolen motor, Cain was finally confronted by the reality of his situation when he went to the toilets in the Woolpack and noticed blood in his urine.

For the first time in a long time, he’s up against an enemy he can’t punch away. Cain’s struggling with his business, his health, and his family, and shouldering it all himself is making everything worse.

In a masterful powerhouse of a two-hander scene between Jeff Hordley and Natalie J Robb, Cain visited Moira in prison and confided the full seriousness of his stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis in his wife.

As Cain had previously told her it was nothing to worry about, Moira was devastated to realise how far the cancer had developed but was nonetheless grateful to her husband for finally unburdening.

This emotional tour-de-force led to the sad decision that Moira would sell the farm to the Tates.

Brace yourselves for an end of an era in upcoming scenes as Cain moves out of the farm and back into that Iconic Dingle Cottage for the first time in years.

Although initially against it, Cain makes the decision to move in with the Dingles. At the Woolpack, he doesn’t feel much like celebrating. Can he get through this day?

The moment Cain has been dreading finally comes as he moves out of Butlers Farm taking one last souvenir. In his stead, Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) awkwardly moves back in, and offers Matty Barton (Ash Palmisciano) a job.

This is probably the least he can do in the circumstances, seeing as it was him who planted the dodgy invoices to frame Moira for Celia’s crimes at Joe’s behest.

Then Cain arrives back at the Dingle Homestead with his boys, who are unsettled by the move. Cain immediately resolves to build a new ‘Dingle Farm’. The Dingle clan are determined to put everything they have into this plan for Cain and the boys.