This week in Emmerdale, Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) raises an intriguing question: what do we really know about Kammy Hadiq (Shebz Miah)? Not much, it turns out. Kammy arrived in the village as a thief, stealing quad bikes and selling stolen goods, but his past remains a mystery. Now, that secrecy is catching up with him.
‘He’s backed into the corner and he’s got no way out,’ actor Shebz Miah reveals. Part of the mystery leads Aaron to suspect Kammy of starting the recent barn fires, but it doesn’t seem to make sense. Kammy recently rekindled his relationship with Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper), and things have been lovely—except Belle senses something is off. She realizes she knows nothing about her suitor, and he’s not keen to share.
With Eid approaching, Belle uses it as an opportunity to ask about his family, but Kammy squirms under questioning. He ducks out when Aaron sends a message about another fire, and Belle notices his unease. Aaron and Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) remain stressed about the mystery arsonist. As they head to the pub, they don’t notice they’re being watched. Aaron muses that Kammy looks unusually tired—tired from guilt, perhaps?
Belle asks to meet Kammy’s family, but it’s a step too far, and he snaps at her to mind her own business. This aggression doesn’t sit well with Belle, who was previously married to an abuser. ‘He’s had a lot of hardship in his life,’ Shebz says of Kammy’s hidden past. Why won’t Kammy confide? Pride. ‘I think Kammy has got a lot of pride, and due to the trauma he’s had, showing signs of weakness isn’t a thing for him.’
Belle knows she’s onto something and swipes Kammy’s phone to snoop, but stops herself out of shame. She confides in Dawn (Olivia Bromley) about nearly betraying his trust. But her instincts are right—Kammy is hiding a big secret. Over at the farm, Kammy makes himself at home in a barn with a sleeping bag and all his stuff. The devastating truth: he is homeless.
‘The most obvious being he is a South Asian kid in the middle of this white English farm. There’s automatically an imbalance, and therefore, Kammy doesn’t want his obstacles to put him behind. He doesn’t want to be seen as an outcast,’ Shebz explains. Aaron and Robert get a tip-off about the arsonist and rush to the farm, only to find Kammy with a petrol can and lighter. They believe they’ve caught the arsonist red-handed.
But Kammy reveals the truth: he was planning to torch his car. When Robert refuses to believe him and loses his temper, Aaron steps in, allowing Kammy to escape. After another fire, Aaron and Robert report it to the police, and Kammy is swiftly arrested. ‘The mask comes off, and we get to see a different version of what we’ve seen so far,’ Shebz says. ‘Uncomfortable at times, but he’s human, and there’s only so long you can keep the bravado. Fans won’t expect it, and it will snowball into other things. We start to see why and where it all came from. A different version.’
