Emmerdale fans were left in tears watching last night’s episode as Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) made his way around the village to tell his family about Zak’s (Steve Halliwell) death.
On Monday, Cain returned from Scotland after spending a few days up there visiting Debbie (Charley Webb) and his unwell father.
Just as he headed for a shower, Moira (Natalie J Robb) took a phone call from Debbie, who informed her of Zak’s passing.
Yesterday, the aftermath began with Cain announcing to his wife that he needed to tell the rest of the Dingles about Zak. At first, Moira worried about Cain taking on the huge responsibility, but he was adamant the news needed to come from him personally.
With that, Cain arrived at Wishing Well and waited for Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) and Sam (James Hooton) to return from the woods. What followed next was an emotional sequence that saw Cain visit the likes of Sarah (Katie Hill), Chas (Lucy Pargeter), Marlon (Mark Charnock), Mandy (Lisa Riley) and Charity (Emma Atkins) to tell them.
Amid everything else that happened in last night’s episode, this moment was the most powerful for Emmerdale fans.
The scenes aired without any sound and instead, to really add to the moving feel, a piece of music called Berlin Song by Ludovico Einaudi played instead.
Taking to social media platform X, audience members of the ITV soap expressed their thoughts on the powerful moment.
‘Haven’t felt sad watching #Emmerdale for a long time. But tonight’s just topped that. And Cain has just been fantastic 😭 RIP Zac the head dingle’, one wrote.
Echoing this, another fan said: ‘Seeing Cain crying has broken me. I’m not crying you’re crying. #emmerdale.’
At the end of last night’s episode, the Dingles and villagers gathered to wave Sam and Cain off on their venture to Scotland.
They will collect Zak’s body and then return home, ready for his funeral in the Dales.
As they gather to remember the beloved face, the Dingles will be stunned when a former resident makes a shock return.
‘Steve, to me, was the funniest man ever! He was a really weird combination of a father figure, best friend, a standup comedian and a counsellor’, star Eden Taylor-Draper said.
‘He was everything. It really feels like he lives on because all of us have traits of his; our sense of humour or things we bond over, so everyday when we are together, it feels like Steve is still part of the conversation or moment.’
