Emmerdale’s full of bad dads! Marlon is continuing to spiral next week as he struggles to deal with April’s return home after her ordeal on the streets. Marlon being Marlon, however, means he’s not listening to his daughter’s torment calmly and working out what she needs to make things better.
Oh no.
Instead he’s following her, shouting at her, ignoring what she says, sleeping downstairs with the door locked so she can’t leave the house and generally making her life so miserable that we’re pretty sure she’ll scarper again at the first opportunity.
Great fathering, Marlon. Smashing.
But when it comes to dads in Emmerdale, Marlon’s not even the worst of them. In fact, it’s actually easier to list the dads doing a good job in the village – Paddy, Billy – than the ones who are pretty rubbish.
So we thought we’d take a look at the worst of Emmerdale’s bad dads.
Cain Dingle
He’s the obvious place to start because he is shocking at parenthood (and at marriage, and at being a brother, let’s be honest). Cain made a big sacrifice when he took the blame for Kyle shooting Al Chapman, though the truth came out eventually.
But since then it’s been downhill all the way. And right now, when young Kyle needs his dad’s support after the death of his mum Amy, Cain’s too busy moping around and feeling sorry for himself after cheating on Moira to be any proper use.
Then there’s little Isaac, who Cain barely notices, and can we talk about Nate? Whose last memory of his dad would be him attacking him in a rage after accusing him (wrongly this time, but to be fair, he was right about this the first time) of sleeping with his wife.
It’s no wonder daughter Debbie lives hundreds of miles away in Aberdeen, and granddaughter Sarah calls him ‘Grumpy’.
Ross Barton
Ross Barton has shown himself to be fiercely protective of April and there’s no doubt he wore out his shoe leather traipsing the streets of Leeds when she was missing. But that protective nature doesn’t seem to extend to actually listening to April. Instead, like so many other Emmerdale men, he punches first and asks questions later. YAWN.
Ross has abandoned his stepson Seb to come to the village, and while he was adamant about building a relationship with his son Moses when he arrived, he doesn’t seem that bothered now. Possibly because poor Moses is scared stiff of his dad after he took him to an illegal boxing match. That’s definitely not in the parenting manuals.
Caleb Dingle
Caleb’s children may be proper grown ups now, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped him being one of the worst dads in the village. Currently he’s letting daughter Steph get away with treating her vulnerable mother Ruby like dirt from the bottom of her shoe. While giving her a job and welcoming her into the home, of course. There are no consequences to her horrible behaviour. And yes we know the whole family dynamic is off kilter thanks to Anthony’s abuse of Ruby, but still – you can’t talk to people like that, Stephanie.
And what about Nicky? Caleb manipulated his son – who is gay by the way – into seducing young mum Gabby Thomas and then jilting her on their wedding day and breaking her heart. All because of some weird vendetta he had against Kim Tate who was once married to his dad, Frank Tate.
Top dadding, Caleb. Well done.
Charles Anderson
Vicar Charles is dubbed Angry Anderson by fans online and we can see why. His default setting is shouting and losing his temper and no one pushed his buttons more than his wayward daughter Naomi. He stomped and sulked his way through their brief reconciliation when Naomi came to the village and then Naomi left for Australia. She didn’t even come back to see her dad when brother Ethan died.
David Metcalfe
It’s a bit of a cheat this one as David left the village a while ago. But his supposedly beloved son is currently grieving for his mum Leyla and David has just abandoned him to let him get on with it.
Jacob is young, and vulnerable and he’s coping with his mother’s death all by himself. He really needs his dad. But David’s too busy sulking that Jacob got together with his ex-girlfriend Victoria to think of that.
Luckily for Jacob, he’s got his grandad Eric Pollard by his side. Eric himself wasn’t the best dad, but he’s pulled it out of the bag when it comes to grandfatherhood.
Mackenzie Boyd
Overgrown toddler Mackenzie is another dad who’s explosive, handy with his fists, and very quick to centre his own needs above his child or their mother. He was borderline abusive to Chloe, who was a frightened young mum.
He did his best to frighten her into keeping the dad of her baby a secret, then changed his mind, then pretended he wanted to be with her, while he was still in love with Charity…
Wherever Chloe is now, we reckon she must still be reeling from everything that happened. While Mack is busy playing daddy to Moses instead.
Bob Hope
There’s no doubt that Bob loves his daughter Cathy and he’s been very supportive of her since she lost her twin brother Heath – after a bumpy ride there for a while. It’s just a shame he seems to have forgotten all his other kids! Bob’s got loads of them. There’s Josh, Jamie, Carly and Roxy, plus former stepson Scott – who does occasionally get a mention.
All of Bob’s kids have been in the village at one time or another, but it’s definitely a case of out of sight, out of mind when it comes to Mr Hope’s parenting skills. We’d love to see one or more of Bob’s children return – that would keep him on his toes, no doubt about it!
Read more:Â Complete Emmerdale cast list for 2025
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.
Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.
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