Nicholas Day – Emmerdale’s best ever villainous actor at the centre of the Anthony Fox murder mystery
Anthony Fox could be the worst villain Emmerdale has ever produced
Emmerdale has had some villains in its time and Anthony Fox, played by actor Nicholas Day is right up there with the best/worst of them. In fact, he may have created the most vile, disgusting and difficult-to-watch character ever, which is no mean feat given the other baddies the show has produced.
We really thought Tom King was the lowest of the low, but in fact we were wrong. Anthony beats him 10 times over – and that’s all credit to Nicholas Day for such a chilling performance.
Nicholas Day as Anthony Fox in Emmerdale
Although actor Nicholas Day has had a long and varied career both on stage and screen, he was relatively unknown to the Emmerdale audience when he arrived in the Dales. A part in the Crown and roles in Murder Maps, The Wolfman and The Lakes were perhaps his best-known roles.
But now he will forever be etched in our brains as horrid Anthony Fox.
Anthony came to Emmerdale to reunite with estranged daughter Ruby Fox-Miligan last year. He arrived alongside granddaughter, Steph Miligan
Ruby and Caleb were desperate to reunite with Steph, but she made it very clear Anthony came as part of the package. Given she hadn’t spoken to her dad for 30 years, Ruby found this difficult to swallow.
The official story is that Anthony and Ruby’s mum, Helen, threw Ruby out when she fell pregnant at 16. They gave her a choice between keeping her baby or staying at home and she chose Caleb and the baby.
Since his return, Anthony has spent months pretending to Ruby he’s sorry and gaslighting her into thinking she was the problem.
As everyone around her urged her to give her dad another chance, especially as he has terminal prostate cancer, Ruby stood firm. It came to the point where even husband Caleb urged her to let it go.
But while no one in the village could see the hell Ruby was going through, viewers certainly could – and they were proved right when flashbacks revealed Anthony had sexually abused Ruby and it started when she was just 14.
A rape on her 16th birthday had – horrifyingly – resulted in the birth of Steph. Anthony is Steph’s real father.
So what makes Nicholas Day such a good villain?
The entire time Anthony has been in the village, he has charmed the pants off everyone around him. Even Caleb, who knows him of old, was won over by his father-in-law.
Anthony has painted this perfect persona of kind and generous. He donated £5000 to the April search fund and has even been helping half the village kids with their homework.
But behind closed doors, he has been blackmailing Ruby over her fling with Cain. He has made vile comments and veiled threats towards her. His mere presence has been making her feel physically sick, let alone when he tries to touch her.
Villains don’t have to be murderous or out there, the ones that have us believe they are something else are far more terrifying. Take Meena Jutla for example: she was always a bit out there, crazy and unpredictable. Whereas Anthony comes across as just a kindly old man – something he is not.
Fans love to hate Nicholas Day as Anthony in Emmerdale
The mark of a good villain is what the viewers think. Soap fans are a hard bunch to please and the overwhelming consensus is Nicholas Day is a brilliant actor.
“The actor playing Anthony is such a credit to his art, aren’t we all totally repulsed by him? Superb,” said one on social media.
Another added: “Gutted Nicholas Day will be leaving despite what the storyline is about; Anthony the abusive father of Ruby will be happy when he’s gone, but well done Nicholas an incredible part.”
“He has played Anthony brilliantly, hats off to him great acting to play a part like that, can’t be easy,” said a third. A fourth then agreed: “I feel so sorry for Nicholas Day – he’s playing the part so well that he’s probably getting women walloping him with bags of potato waffles in Iceland.”
A further commenter has said: “In storylines like this the person playing the hated character gets overlooked. Nicholas Day is a fantastic actor. The character he portrays makes my skin crawl, which is a sure indication an actor is doing a good job!”
“The actor playing her dad is brilliant too. He makes my skin crawl,” added one more.
So we’re agreed Anthony Fox is one of the worst, if not the worst, villain Emmerdale has ever produced – but what about the other villains?
There’s a long list of them, but we have some particularly memorable ones (we wouldn’t say favourites but we definitely loved to hate them!)
The greatest Emmerdale villains
1. Meena Jutla
The first female serial killer in Emmerdale history, Meena was a unhinged to say the least. Her kill count (that we know of) was five – including three villagers and her own dad.
Viewers saw she was a killer when she pushed poor Leanna Cavanagh to her death off a bridge. She also beat Andrea Tate and left her die in the maize maze fire and she killed Aaron’s boyfriend Ben Tucker.
Meena also tried to off her own sister, Manpreet, Victoria Sugden and Vinny Dingle.
She was locked up for 75 years, but fans are ever hopeful for a Meena comeback – and so are we!
2. Emmerdale villains: Tom King
Before Anthony Fox, there was Tom King. In fact, some fans were pretty annoyed they finally got rid of abuser Tom only for him to be replaced by Anthony.
Tom was an upstanding member of the community, a vet and the perfect guy. Okay, so he had a history of stalking and kidnap, but we all kind of forgot about that because he made Belle Dingle so happy. Or at least so it seemed.
In actual fact there was always a niggle of doubt for Belle, that they were rushing things, that Tom was too much. And she was right when he began abusing her on their wedding day.
The list of his crimes against Belle are too many to mention, but what’s important is she got justice. Tom was sent to prison for three years after being found guilty of domestic violence and coercive behaviour. Phew.
3. Cameron Murray
Another serial killer to stalk the village back in 2011 and 12, Cameron racked up quite the body count when he bashed Carl King’s brains in during the live 40th anniversary episode of Emmerdale.
He then confessed to best mate Alex Moss, but murdered him too. Humph, some friend.
Killer Cam then took the life of Gennie Walker when she found out about his involvement in Carl’s death.
Cameron went to prison, but broke out and stormed the Woolpack with a shotgun. He tried to drown ex-girlfriend Chas in the flooded cellar, but ended up killing himself when he grabbed the live wire of an electric bulb.
4. Graham Clark
Teacher Graham Clark was one of the quiet ones. But when he started dating Rachel Hughes, he turned sinister pretty quickly, controlling every aspect of her life.
Rachel soon discovered Graham had killed his first wife – and then he murdered her by pushing her off a cliff.
Graham moved on to Kathy Glover, but when he almost killed her too in a car crash, it was him who died when the car exploded into a ball of flames.
5. Emmerdale villains: Emma Barton
Emmerdale has a thing about nurses! Before nutty nurse Meena, came unhinged Emma Barton. The estranged wife of James Barton and mum to sons Pete, Ross and Finn, Emma had walked out on them after trying to kill Ross while postnatally depressed.
When she returned to their lives, she was determined to put her family back together. But she realised James’ heart lay with Moira, so decided to win him back by holding him hostage. She then pushed him off a bridge causing the Hotten Bypass Crash.
Emma also made out she had motor neurone disease to try and keep her boys close. She abducted Moira’s newborn baby son, Isaac, and accidentally shot and killed her youngest lad, Finn.
She also met a grisly end when Moira shoved her off a viaduct.
Do you have a favourite Emmerdale villain? Visit our Facebook page @emmerdaleinsider to tell us who it was!
Read more: Who’s leaving Emmerdale? All the cast exits, arrivals and returns
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.
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