Caleb Milligan (William Ash) has caused quite a splash since arriving in Emmerdale last year, with theories and rumours doing the rounds as fans reckon he’s got a big secret.

The character rocked up on Christmas Day last year, meeting with long-lost brother Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) in prison, and it soon became apparent that he wanted to get to know his family.

In addition to all of that, however, Caleb is also keeping quiet about something in particular, with a number of scenes having confirmed such a thing, after he was seen taking secret phone calls and resolving to take his nemesis’ down.

Talk about making an entrance!

Desperate to know all there is to know about the enigma that is Caleb Milligan? We thought you might be, and therefore we’ve got this pretty neat breakdown of everything that’s currently known about the newcomer.

So let the reading, and speculating, commence!

Who is Caleb Milligan? 

Caleb Milligan is the brother of Cain and Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) and the son of Faith (Sally Dexter). He’s a smooth-talking businessman who used his connections to help Cain and Kyle (Huey Quinn) avoid prison by putting an expert team of lawyers on the case. 

He’s also recently gone into business with Kim Tate (Claire King) on her stud farm, revealing an expertise in horses and also taking a great deal of pleasure in winding up Kim’s husband Will (Dean Andrews) on the side.

How did Caleb arrive in Emmerdale?

Caleb Milligan arrived in Emmerdale on Christmas Day last year, when he surprised Cain by visiting him in prison and greeted him as his brother. It soon became clear that, while viewers were previously unaware of Caleb’s existence, Cain had first met him in the 1990s.

A flashback episode revealed what had happened. Caleb was born when Faith was in prison. He was the product of an affair and Faith didn’t want anything to do with him, leaving him to grow up in care. In 1991 he came to track his family down and found Cain, who was living with his younger sister Chas after they escaped from the bullying Shadrach. 

Because, to Cain, Faith was at that point ‘dead to him’ after leaving her children with Shadrach, Cain told Caleb that she was actually dead, something that Caleb believed right up until his appearance in the village last year.

After initially getting on well, the brothers parted again after Caleb stole a car after Cain changed his mind about letting him meet Chas, who was by then pregnant with Aaron. Cain took the fall for the car theft and didn’t see Caleb again until 2022.

Who plays Caleb?

Caleb is played by former Waterloo Road star William Ash. He played deputy head Chris Mead in the show between 2009 and 2011 and has also appeared in Doctor Who, Clocking Off and Where The Heart Is among many other appearances. Producer Laura Shaw said of his arrival, ‘We are absolutely delighted to welcome Will Ash to the Village. It’s fantastic to have such a high calibre and immensely talented actor join our wonderful team.’

What is Caleb’s secret?

One thing we can all agree on is that Caleb is harbouring a secret. What that secret might be is the thing that’s up for debate, with theories ranging from he’s an undercover cop who’s on a mission to take down Cain Dingle, to he’s not an undercover cop but he’s still on a mission to take down Cain Dingle, to he’s not even a Dingle, to he’s 100% Dingle and is on a mission to install himself as king of Home Farm.

So what’s the truth? And how might it involve nice-as-pie nanny Nicky (Lewis Cope)?

That Caleb was a man with secrets was built into the character from the outset with Laura Shaw hinting that the character would ‘shake things up’ and speculating, ‘at first glance Caleb is everything his brother isn’t, but will the pair find they have more in common than they thought?’

Early on, Caleb was often seen pitched against Cain as the latter was insisting on taking the rap for his son Kyle shooting Al Chapman (Michael Wildman), while Caleb was convinced Cain needed to come clean about the truth. This was the start of fans theorising that Caleb could be an undercover cop – and might not even be a Dingle. 

As Cain and Caleb started to bury their differences and even enjoy the odd pint together at the Woolie, attention shifted to Caleb’s interest in the goings-on at Home Farm as he bought into Kim’s business. As Caleb got his feet under the table at Emmerdale’s most prestige residence, he took every opportunity to wind up Will Taylor – and we had to wonder whether the two men’s rivalry would also extend to Caleb and Kim having a steamy affair. 

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Meanwhile, there’s the mystery of whether nanny Nicky and Caleb could be in cahoots and plotting against Kim – or against Cain. Could Nicky, the nanny with no surname (as far as the Emmerdale end credits are concerned) even be related to Caleb – perhaps his son?

Nicky, in his trusted position as the paid carer of Kim’s grandson Thomas, is ideally placed to be Caleb’s eyes and ears at Home Farm when he’s not there, and he’s managed to get Will Taylor to ask him to keep an eye on Caleb for him.

Nicky could indeed be Caleb’s son as they both have a certain easy charm that wins people around. Could they be working together to make the Milligans the next family to be installed at Home Farm?

Perhaps the closest we’ve come to finding out what Caleb is up to was when he told Cain that he and Chas were his family and he would always be on their side. And when Cain asked about what the occupants of Home Farm were to Caleb his brother told him, plain and simple, that Kim and Will were ‘In the way – of me taking it all.’ 

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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