Iconic actress Sharon Maughan will be arriving on the ITV soap as Helen – the estranged mum of Ruby. But as she gets reacquainted with Caleb, will he allow her to reconnect with Ruby?
Emmerdale is set to welcome the estranged mum of Ruby Fox-Milligan as actress Sharon Maughan joins the ITV soap for a stint as Helen Fox. But posh mum Helen hasn’t seen her daughter for 30 years as details about Ruby (Beth Cordingly) and Caleb Miligan’s (William Ash) relationship are set to be exposed.
In forthcoming scenes of the ITV soap, Caleb is set to be summoned to his very wealthy mum-in-law’s hospital bedside. Helen will drop the bombshell that she is dying and wants to finally reunite with her daughter.
Caleb eventually agrees, but at a price. He tells Helen he will arrange for Ruby to see her again if she coughs up £100k – but will she pay the price to reunite with Ruby? Ruby arrived in the Yorkshire village earlier this year as the distant wife of businessman Caleb, and mum to their son Nicky.
The father and son had already been around for a couple of years, having arrived at Christmas 2022 to try and fleece Kim Tate (Claire King) out of Home Farm.
Caleb was soon revealed to be the son of Kim’s ex husband Frank Tate (Norman Bowler) and Faith Dingle (Sally Dexter) – also making him the estranged half-brother to Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter).
But in forthcoming scenes, terminally ill Helen will reconnect with Caleb – what secrets will re-surface? William Ash has revealed that Helen and her husband cut Ruby out of their lives as they disapproved of her relationship with his character Caleb.
Speaking to the MEN and other press, the actor said: “They hated him because he’d come out of a care home, he didn’t have any family and thought he was beneath their daughter.
“So, Helen was really snobby and judgemental. Helen and Ruby’s dad gave Ruby an ultimatum. They basically said ‘look if you want to be with this boy then we don’t want anything to do with you’. They basically just cut Ruby dead.”
Explaining why Caleb doesn’t trust Helen and her intentions with Ruby, he added: “Because she’s been so manipulative and behaved terribly in the past, he just doesn’t trust anything that she’d ever say.
“He decides to go just to see what she actually wants – because if she is on her deathbed, then maybe Ruby does need some kind of closure and there’s a potential for sorting it out. As it turns out, that’s not what happens…”
Talking about working with Sharon, Will added: “She is an amazing actress because she only comes in for two episodes. We only had a day of filming. We were doing all these intense scenes together in a hospital room, in a private hospital, just me and her going at each other really.
“She was amazing. It is hard to come into any show, to just do one day, and have lots of intense scenes. But she was fantastic and really a force of nature really.”
Actress Sharon Maughan has signed up for a limited stint on the ITV soap, but she has been a star on screen for decades. During the 80s and 90s, the 74 year old is known worldwide for her iconic Nescafe Gold Blend TV Adverts, and has also starred in a very long list of popular television series and movies dating back to the 1970s.
Most notably, Sharon portrayed Kate in The Enigma Files (1980), Anna in By the Sword Divided (1983-1985), and Tricia Williams in Holby City (2003- 2006). She has also had stints in Inspector Morse, Cinderella, Heartbeat, Casualty, Waking the Dead, and Rain Stops Play – plus many more.
Sharon is also a director, producer and entrepreneur. After developing health problems in 2009 due to a reaction to salicylates, known as salicylic overload, she launched her own skincare brand. Using the best natural ingredients, Sharon has developed FaceWise.
Elsewhere, Sharon is married to actor Trevor Eve, who has appeared in many films and TV shows including: Dracula, The Interceptor, Unforgotten, Waking the Dead, David Copperfield, Shadow Chasers – plus many more.
Sharon and Trevor are parents to three children including actress Alice Eve, actor and producer Jack Eve and musician George Eve.
Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour long episode on a Thursday
