When Beth Cordingly joined the cast of Emmerdale her character Ruby Fox-Miligan was always going to divide fans – but she didn’t expect to leave her co-stars in complete shock.
And while it took no time for Beth, 46, to ingratiate herself among the cast after joining the ITV soap back in January – she has since left her co-stars “outraged” after going off script. On a few occasions, Beth’s character Ruby, who is married to Caleb Miligan, enraged the villagers when she started to mock their northern accents – and this was something Beth decided to do all by herself.
In an interview with the Metro, Beth explained: “It’s not in the scripts. When I did it the first time around the dinner table the reaction of everyone was like [gasps]. I kind of wish I’d waited for the take. In the scene before I did someone else’s accent, Moira’s, and I wished I’d held on it for the take because the reaction was [loud gasp]. Everyone looked outraged! And then of course you do it for the second or third time. Everyone said, “That’s the way to annoy northerners even more!”’
Beth adopted a fake northern accent last month when she attempted to reunite Cain, played by Jeff Hordley and Caleb, played by William Ash. The actress showed off her skill at convincingly speaking in a Yorkshire accent when she sang at a karaoke and drunkenly belted out He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.
And while her co-stars tried to stifle a fit of giggles, not everyone managed to do so. Beth’s character Ruby has gripped viewers over months – but the star insists her character couldn’t be further away from her personality away from the cameras. Beth likens Ruby to Modern Family’s Gloria, played by Sofia Vergara, who simply says what she thinks without a second thought.
Beth Cordingly has outraged co-stars by going off script during filming
She continued: “It’s one of the things in my head for that kind of impulsive action. She’s so different to me in the way that I would react to things, but you always have to find justification and the logic of the character.” And playing Ruby appears to take her back to her teenage years which she said is “always fun.”
Beth continued: “I remember when I played Sara in Family Affairs, this Channel 5 soap years and years ago, she was this tearaway teenager who was very badly behaved and I remember thinking, ‘I’m just going to have to show the side of me that only my mum sees – that kind of [screeches] side of you’. And I have to do that with Ruby as well sometimes. It’s always fun to play those kind of parts.” But as Ruby’s feisty side and caustic put downs has proved to be great entertainment, it looks as though her family were left concerned that she would be trolled by die-hard viewers.
Beth said her dad became worried and spread his fear among other members of her family. She said: “My dad got very worried at the beginning about, ‘she’s so awful! You’re going to get trolled!’ Then it went all around the family about being trolled and a friend of a member of my family rang and said, ‘we hear you’re being trolled!’ It’s all my dad worrying about it. They like seeing the explosive drama but they do get a bit worried about her behaviour.”
