The recipe for a perfect soap character is pretty simple: start with a fresh face, stir in a few clashes with the locals, fold through a romance, then bake in a storyline that adds real depth.
One person currently ticking off each ingredient is Kammy Hadiq (Shebz Miah). With a slightly darker, more serious storyline airing next week, he’s well on his way to becoming a perfect success.
Introduced last year, Kammy is a chaotic young man with a heart of gold. He’s deeply loyal to his friends, and is now in the middle of a romance storyline with Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper).
It’s in this week’s episodes that things start to change for the character, as he becomes a suspect in Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) and Robert Sugden’s (Ryan Hawley) investigation into who keeps setting their barns on fire.
Aaron wonders if Kammy’s hiding a secret when he rocks up late for work. He’s incredibly tired and even has his shirt on backwards, leaving Aaron to question if he isn’t pulling his weight at the garage because he’s too busy with some matches elsewhere.
Even though he doesn’t have any proof that Kammy is the firestarter, Aaron cannot help but ponder over the fact the Emmerdale residents barely know a single thing about this young man. Where is he from? Does he have any family nearby? And something that has personally been bugging me for ages is where does this lad sleep at night?
While it’s taken an awfully long time for those who know Kammy to start asking these questions, we will start getting some answers soon. Next week, Belle starts digging into her boyfriend’s life a bit more, and his reaction will allow viewers to eventually discover that Kammy is hiding a tragic piece of information about his life.
At the garage, Aaron rocks up and notices Kammy looks exhausted. Already on edge, Kammy uses a sharp tone to shut down Belle’s request of meeting his family. At this point, Belle is totally taken aback to see this side of him. Her search for answers leads her to contemplating checking Kammy’s phone, but she’s disgusted at herself for almost invading his privacy.
Belle then opens up to Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley), admitting that it feels like Kammy isn’t telling her something.
She’s hit the nail on the head, as it’s soon revealed that Kammy is homeless and has set up camp in a barn.
Since his arrival, Kammy has brought a great deal of light to the show but also to the Emmerdale villagers’ lives. While actor Shebz Miah has so far enjoyed playing Kammy with a constant smile on his face, he’s looking forward to exploring what’s behind his happy façade.
‘It’s that thing of peeling back the layers and just learning more about the character. One thing about Kammy is that he is the first Pakistani Muslim we’ve had on Emmerdale, and that itself is a big thing’, he explained to us.
‘And I think now we can finally start to truly understand what that looks like, especially in British soap as well. It’s not really common. So, I am excited and stoked to be able to finally tap into that. But also, the beauty is that I get to show Kammy as just a normal British Bradford lad as well. And it’s amazing that I’m able to blur the lines ever so slightly.
‘But also show myself, as Shebz. I am also sort of Muslim, and South Asian background, I get to show that as well, and it’s a big thing. I am so glad. I went to the producer, I was like, “please let it happen.” I’m truly excited. And you know, a lot of the fans constantly are asking me, “When are we ever going to learn more about Kammy?” And I think now’s the perfect time.
He added: ‘I think from when I first came in to now, it’s been a slow burner, but I think we are starting to learn more about Kammy and see that there is more to him than this cheekiness that he’s got and this bravado that he puts on.’
‘The mask comes off, and we get to see this different version of what we’ve seen so far. Uncomfortable at times, but at the end of the day, he’s human, and there’s only so long you can keep the bravado for. But yeah, fans won’t expect it, and it will snowball into other things as well, but we start to see why and where it all came from.’
Aaron and Robert’s quest into finding the barn firestarter takes a turn when Matty Barton (Ash Palmisciano) calls them and says he’s just seen someone acting shifty in one of their fields. When they arrive, Aaron and Robert find Kammy in a field carrying a petrol can and a lighter.
The couple jump to the conclusion that Kammy is the culprit, but he admits that he was actually planning on torching his car.
To avoid any further questions, Kammy legs it, but this move also makes Robert and Aaron believe that he is definitely responsible for the barn fires. Later on, Kammy is taken out of the village in a police car.
Shebz revealed that Kammy is left ‘really annoyed’ when he’s accused, and that the situation brings back ‘a lot of trauma’ for the character.
‘He’s not had an easy ride, and all of this is bringing back a lot of unpleasant memories for him. And it’s just one of those things where, because he’s got no one, he’s got no leg to stand on’, he said.
‘And I think it’s that right person, wrong time thing, and he sort of accepts it, but it’s just one voice against the rest of the village, and there’s nothing you can do about that, unfortunately. But I also imagine it’s not the first time that Kammy has been in a position like that. He has been against the majority quite often before.’
The actor also shared that there will come a point in the near future where Kammy does tell Belle about sleeping rough, and the secrets about his family.
‘I think when Kammy realises he is backed into the corner and he’s got no way out, I think he does submit, which we will see when it comes out later on, and that’s when, as I say, the stakes are very high for him. I think he also does see the innocence, and he does really, really like her. I think the connection he’s had with her so far is really genuine, and he’s not really had anyone care for him sincerely like that.
He added: ‘I think because of that, he just puts his hand up and he waves the white flag and confesses everything, which we’ll see later on. It is traumatic for him, because we do talk about things that have happened previously. However, he’s doing it because deep down, he genuinely has submitted to Belle and he just wants to address it now.’
Shebz was surprised to learn of Kammy’s storyline given that his soap alter-ego is ‘always so spick and span’, but research and working with a charity on this plot helped him discover that many unhoused people often go to great lengths to avoid drawing attention to their circumstances.
‘It’s something so exciting to get your teeth stuck into as an actor. I feel like this is the first moment where we start to learn more about Kammy. We actually start to see what’s going on beneath the surface’, he pondered.
‘Obviously, it was a shock to me, and I was like, “Oh, this is interesting.” And at first I couldn’t get my head around it, he’s always so spick and span, and he’s always so done up. But then, when I started to do a bit of research, we were working with a charity, and I could see the rationale behind it. That is so interesting and way more common than we actually think.
‘So, to be able to step into that and live a dual lifestyle, like a Hannah Montana, it’s nice and it’s exciting to give that. And it’s something that the fans aren’t going to expect. I was shocked. I really hope that I can do it justice.’
If the perfect soap character is built step by step, then I think Kammy Hadiq is on the edge of his most defining moment yet.
With a more layered, emotionally driven storyline coming up, there’s a real sense this could change everything for him.
It will offer a deeper, more complex side to the character and will give Shebz Miah, who always gives his all and then some, a storyline that matches that energy.
