My other half gets my new Ďales role... he was in it too!

Beth Cordingly adds Yorkshire soap to 25-year stage and screen career

- CHRISTINE SMITH

When Beth Cordingly was offered a part on Emmerdale, she didn't have to look far for advice. Her partner, Ian Kelsey, is himself a veteran of the ITV soap, playing Dave Glover for three years in the 1990s.

So Beth knew he would be the perfect sounding board when she was considering whether to take on the role of feisty troublemaker Ruby Milligan.

Ian, 57, her partner of three years, encouraged her to go for it - along with her parents and daughter.

Beth, 47, says: "Ian was really supportive and wanted me to do it, which is lovely.

"There is that thing as an actor where you are always taken away from home.

"But he totally gets it. He knows a lot of the crew and cast and so it's lovely to be able to share what I've been up to, knowing he understands. That's important when you are away and he is always keen to find out how filming has gone each day.

"We are both very supportive of each other's careers which is important when it is such a competitive industry.

The pair first met 20 years ago, went on to marry other people and then bumped into each other again in 2021.

Inseparable ever since, she beams as she talks about their happy relationship.

"I am very in love with Ian and very happy, Beth says with a smile. "I think it really does work him being an actor too.

He has been so fantastic.

Her own stable relationship is a far cry from Beth's new character, Ruby. She arrives in the Yorkshire Dales to patch things up with her estranged husband, Caleb, who has been having an affair with Nate's wife, Tracy.

And to say Ruby is furious to find her husband has feelings for another woman is an understatement.

"Caleb was Ruby's bad boy, Beth explains. "They met when they were young, she was from a posh family and she got pregnant with Nicky.