Caleb Miligan: Vendetta against Kim, relationship with brother Cain and mysterious daughter Steph
William Ash has certainly made his mark in the Dales
Caleb Miligan in Emmerdale is a successful, but ruthless, businessman with an eye for the ladies.
A vendetta against Kim Tate brought him to the village. However it wasn’t clear at first how they were connected. Soon all was revealed about Caleb and his connections to Emmerdale.
Now Caleb’s playing happy families with the Dingles, but his weird obsession with Kim isn’t going anywhere.
Who is Caleb Miligan in Emmerdale?
Caleb is the son of Faith Dingle and was conceived during her affair with Frank Tate in the summer of 1975. Faith gave birth to Caleb when she was in prison and he was taken into care.
Growing up in the foster system, Caleb had an unstable and lonely childhood. He was estranged from his older brother and sister, Cain and Chas Dingle – the latter only learning of his existence in 2022. He reconnected with them as adults, but it’s been a rocky road to cordial family relations!
Caleb is married to Ruby Fox-Miligan. They’re childhood sweethearts and Ruby walked away from her cruel but rich parents to be with Caleb.
The pair are parents to son Nicky who left the village after being fed up with his manipulative mum and dad. And it was recently revealed they also have a daughter – Steph – who’s not talking to her parents, either.
Steph’s been mentioned so many times recently, she must be on her way to the village soon!
Caleb has a weakness for women and has enjoyed romantic liaisons with Leyla Harding and Charity Dingle. Most recently he embarked on a high risk affair with Tracy Robinson – the wife of his nephew, Nate.
Caleb Miligan arrives in Emmerdale
Caleb turned up in the Dales on Christmas Day 2022. He was discovered by Chas standing at the grave of their mother, Faith Dingle, who’d recently passed away from breast cancer.
Caleb’s arrival threw the Dingles into crisis, as it transpired Cain had lied to Caleb that their mother had died 30 years previously.
The brothers’ feud rumbled on for a few months, but they reconciled after Caleb helped get Cain’s young son Kyle Winchester out of youth offenders when he admitted to the murder of Al Chapman.
The road was rocky, with Cain feeling obliged to take Nate’s side after Caleb broke up his nephew’s marriage. But they seem back on track again now.
Kim eventually caught on to Caleb’s conniving (Credit: ITV)
Caleb’s vendetta against Kim Tate
Caleb was harbouring a huge secret when he showed up in the village – he was the son of Frank Tate.
The-then owner of Home Farm suffered a fatal heart attack in 1997 was left to die by his former wife Kim Tate. Having learnt the truth, Caleb vowed to avenge his father’s death.
He roped his son, Nicky Miligan, into the plan, and together they plotted to take Kim for every penny. Gay Nicky even pretended to be straight to woo Gabby Thomas so he could get his hands on her shares of the Tate empire. However guilt soon got the better of him when his ex-boyfriend returned and wanted to make a go of things.
Caleb’s meddling resulted in Moira Dingle having to sell her farm. But Caleb was caught out at the eleventh hour when Kim realised he was stealing from her.
With his true identity revealed, Caleb set about making an enemy of just about everyone in the village. He ended up being pushed off a ridge by an unknown assailant.
This person was later revealed to be Nicky, who’d had enough of his father’s scheming. Caleb made a full recovery and chose not to shop his own son to the cops.
His steamy affairs
Smooth-talking Caleb doesn’t have any difficulty in attracting members of the opposite sex.
He’s bedded both Leyla Harding and Charity Dingle, and then started a torrid affair with Tracy Robinson – who happened to be married to his nephew, Nate, at the time.
Unable to resist their feelings for one another, Caleb and Tracy started sneaking around in October 2023. But their affair was outed in dramatic fashion by Caleb’s vengeful wife Ruby at Belle and Tom Dingle’s wedding.
Talk about a passion killer!
Reunited with Ruby
Caleb has always been vocal about the fact he has a wife, but viewers were led to believe he was estranged from Ruby Fox-Miligan.
Turned out, he was lying about that, too.
Her arrival in January 2024 gave everyone a shock when Nate discovered Caleb and Ruby romping on the sofa of Mill Cottage. Their relationship is full of fire and passion, but on paper, Caleb and Ruby are total opposites.
She’s from a respectable family and he’s a bad boy, done good. The couple have been together since they were teenagers .
Ruby was forced by her family to choose between them and Caleb, and she picked him.
Although they don’t have an ‘open marriage’, Ruby is aware her husband has had flings with other women while she’s been absent from his life. Tracy was a particularly painful episode for her as she could see he’d developed feelings for her and it wasn’t just another fling.
But Caleb recently lied to Ruby about her dying mum, and pocketed £100,000 from his mother-in-law, and lied about that, too. Ruby’s devastated by her husband’s
Who plays Caleb Miligan in Emmerdale?
Caleb Miligan in Emmerdale is played by British actor William Ash. He was born on January 13, 1977, making him 47 years old.
William was raised Chadderton, Greater Manchester. He attended the same secondary school as Jeff Hordley, who plays his on-screen brother, Cain.
His first TV role was aged 10, playing a character called Spike in rival northern soap Coronation Street.
William has had roles in many popular TV dramas including, Making Out, Where the Heart Is, Clocking Off, Children’s Ward, Burn It, All the King’s Men, Shameless, Doctor Who, Death in Paradise, Wanderlust and Moving On.
And between 2009 and 2011, he played deputy headteacher Christopher Mead in the BBC series Waterloo Road.
He is a dad of two, but chooses to keep his personal life out of the spotlight.
William’s cousin is the actor Peter Ash, who plays Coronation Street’s Paul Foreman.
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm.