As soap love stories go, Emmerdale’s Moira (Natalie J Robb) and Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) haven’t exactly had the smoothest of rides.

However, actress Natalie J Robb has revealed why she believes the couple have stayed together despite their struggles.

The actress, who joined the soap in 2009, even admitted she has pleaded with bosses to not split Moira and Cain up.

She told Metro: ‘I think it’s really important that they stay together. I had this chat with [producer] Iain MacLeod, we were talking about marriage and I said ‘Marriages go through things – there’s temptation, there’s things that can happen.’

‘If everybody just gave up after the first hurdle in a marriage, people would just not get married now.’

Sharing the secret to their long-standing marriage, Natalie continued: ‘She’ll stand up to Cain when she needs to, that’s the main thing, she always sniffs it out when she knows there’s something not right.

‘I just think that Moira and Cain have a great chemistry on screen.

‘It’s worked out to be wonderful, and the longevity of it – I can’t remember how long they’ve been married for now, must be 7, 8 or 9 years – it’s not bad. 

‘We’ve threatened divorce once or twice but we didn’t quite get there either!’

The future remains unclear for the couple, however, as in scenes to air later this week, Moira starts to prepare for the worst ahead of her operation. 

The character was diagnosed with a brain tumour earlier this year, and fans will see just how Cain can’t deal with the prospect of losing his wife. 

‘He internalises everything Cain, and that’s the problem,’ Natalie said. ‘Whereas Moira’s trying to get everything out, because to her this could be the last time she gets to say it to him, so it’s important that she does vocalise things. 

‘He’s very scared of losing her, so I can say that much on Jeff’s behalf. And when Cain can’t control the situation, that’s when he does things that are out of control himself.’

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.