Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale stars have opened up about the introduction of new character Steph Milligan, explaining how her scenes with dad Caleb and mum Ruby aren't going to be your typical heartwarming family reunion scenes.
The newcomer was surprisingly introduced in yesterday's (November 15) episode, ahead of her expected debut in next week's instalments. Next week, we'll see the animosity between mother and daughter, with Ruby slapping Steph during a tense conversation.
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Steph actor Georgia Jay told Digital Spy and other press that Steph's relationship with Ruby is worse than it is with Caleb, stating that: "When she comes in, she’s softer seeing dad for the first time and it’s a little bit more turbulent seeing mum for the first time.
"It's an exciting dynamic and storyline to play, that's for sure, and it's been great working with these two. From the screen test onwards, there was just chemistry, it's like we'd been doing it for ages together, an unspoken understanding was there. So it's exciting and turbulent, in what comes out."
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William Ash, who plays Caleb, expanded further on the family dynamics and reasons for the animosity. "[Caleb and Ruby] sent her away basically," he said. "She was a really difficult child when she was 13/14, so we sent her off to boarding school to straighten her out almost, it's quite a brutal thing to do, and she found that really tough and felt abandoned.
"It's quite interesting that Nicky didn’t go off to boarding school, it was just her. She was getting in a lot of trouble, she'd stolen a car and was just really difficult."
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"It's that feeling of resentment for the abandonment," Georgia added.
Beth Cordingly, who plays Ruby, went on to say that the slap moment "obviously isn't great", but her character is good at apologising and has the intention of rebuilding the bridge.
"They start trying to build a new relationship, but it’s all on quite shaky ground so it’s not going to be easy," she said.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
