The cast of Emmerdale flocked to celebrate the anniversary of Sam Dingle actor
Emmerdale star James Hooton has been congratulated by his co-stars after he announced that he had been acting on the ITV soap for 30 years this January.
James joined the soap in 1995 as Sam Dingle. As a beloved character in the Dales, fans know him as being part of the Dingle clan as well as being married to Lydia Dingle, who had disastrous dates with Paddy Kirk and Rishi Sharma before settling down with Sam in 2017.
The actor left the soap briefly in 1998 before returning in 2000 and staying put ever since. Outside of Emmerdale, the actor has worked on Peak Practice, The Bill, Heartbeat, and Touching Evil.
In July 2024, the star appeared on ITV’s Loose Women to discuss his future on the show alongside his on-screen son Sam Hall (Samson Dingle). James admitted: “As long as they’ll have me I’ll stay there”, and at the time of him appearing on the daytime show his character Sam had quite an intense storyline that involved his son Samson being stabbed.
Speaking of the Dingle family clash, James shared: “Cain always seems to have his own best interest at heart and I think Sam realises that and he actually ends up standing up to Cain, which is a bit of a first.” He continued: “The amount of fallouts we’ve had, it’ll eventually be water under the bridge.”
Taking to his Instagram account, James posted a picture of himself captioned: “Today marks my 30th anniversary on Emmerdale! Jan 10th 1995 was my first scene in Esholt village with Steve Halliwell (Zak) and Paul Loughran (Butch).” Neither Zak nor Butch are on the soap anymore, with the former’s actor Steve Halliwell having passed away in 2023.
During his Loose Women interview, James shared how Emmerdale wanted to respect Steve’s memory by filming “a really respectful passing of a really iconic Emmerdale character.”
Of course, it didn’t take long for his co-stars to show the actor some love. On-screen cousin Lisa Riley (Mandy Dingle) @lisajaneriley commented: “Love you, here’s to many more years of laughing endlessly at NONSENSE. Congratulations birthday brother, one of my favourite humans in the world.”
James’ on-screen wife Karen Blick @karenblick1 penned: “Congratulations. Amazing achievement James! Love working with you, here’s to your next 30 years.” Emmerdale star Laura Norton @laura_norts wrote: “Love it. Totally deserved cream of the crop.”
Amy Walsh @amyvwalsh branded the actor as a “ledge” before adding: “Congratulations brilliant man”. Eden Taylor-Draper who tackled some difficult storylines last year as Belle Dingle (@swedentd), commented a heartfelt: “WAHOOOOOO amazing Jim” followed by a red heart emoji.
Emmerdale is on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and available to stream on ITVX.
