Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale star Jeff Hordley has confirmed that Cain Dingle will face a life-or-death situation in next week's episodes.
The ITV soap kicks off an unmissable set of episodes on Monday (May 9), which feature high drama for Cain's ongoing feud with Al Chapman.
The village's alpha males have been at odds for several months. Things escalate next week as Al accuses Cain of sabotaging his car, which has been in the garage for repair.
Al challenges Cain to prove the vehicle is safe by driving it himself. Cain agrees, but then tries to spook his enemy by driving the car straight for him in the middle of the village.
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When Al holds his nerve and stands completely still, Cain is forced to slam on the brakes at the last possible moment. However, this is just the beginning of a dramatic time for the pair's mutual animosity – and Cain's life will soon be on the line.
Speaking to Digital Spy and other media, Jeff explained: "Cain just has a wariness about Al, really. He gets wound up by him a lot. They're a bit like two school kids trying to be the top dog in the playground.
"You'll wonder whether Cain has or hasn't done something to the car – which Al is not happy about. Al asks Cain: 'Will you test drive it?', Cain is like: 'Yeah, absolutely, I'll do it'.
"Cain drives up to the top of the street, while Al is stood at the bottom of the street, in some kind of western style! Cain just drives pretty fast at him, and only stops a foot or so away from him.
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"Al stands his ground to Cain. He knows Cain is not going to run him over. It's just two alpha males standing up to each other."
Teasing where things go from there, Jeff continued: "Chas has already asked Cain at one point: 'What's it going to take? One of you in a box?'. Cain has alluded to it not being him if that does happen.
"In this big week, Cain does come seriously close to no longer being here. We had fun shooting the scenes. We had a fantastic director, Suri Krishnamma, who's just the most fun and a very creative director on the show. I'm really intrigued to see what he does with the episode.
"It was written in a nice style with flashforwards and stuff like that. There's plenty happening in the episodes. It'll be really interesting to see what the finished product is."
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Jeff also discussed filming the heated scenes with Michael Wildman, who plays Al.
He said: "It's been great fun. Mike and I get on really well. We sing from the same sheet when it comes to what we're trying to achieve in the story, which helps. It's been great fun working with him. It's good stuff."
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV and streams on the ITV Hub.
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage.
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Daniel has been writing about soaps on Digital Spy since 2004 and took over as Soaps Editor in 2010.
He has interviewed hundreds of soap stars over the years, from Bill Roache to Lacey Turner, and regularly visits the sets of Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks for behind-the-scenes trips and press events.
He has served as an awards judge on numerous occasions for the likes of the BAFTA TV Awards, RTS Programme Awards and British Soap Awards. In 2020, he was Highly Commended for Best Section Editor at the BSME Awards.
