Zak Dingle star’s real life family after being head of iconic ITV Emmerdale clan for 29 years

Steve Halliwell, who starred as ITV Emmerdale’s Zak Dingle for almost three decades, battled depression and booze which he blamed for the breakdown of his two marriages

Zak Dingle star Steve Halliwell lived a much different life to his on-screen character (

Image: ITV)

Emmerdale star Steve Halliwell – best known for his role as Zak Dingle for almost three decades – has sadly passed away, ITV has announced.

The much-loved actor died “peacefully with his loved ones around him” aged 77, his family said in a statement issued by the broadcaster on Friday. Steve first arrived in the Dales in 1994 as head of the Dingles clan on and off in the 29 years that followed.

He made his last appearance in the soap in June 2023 for a special week of episodes centred around the Dingle family as they decided whether to let Caleb back into the fold. At the time of what became Zak’s final ever scenes in the Dales, fans began to share their concern for the actor after claiming he looked a shadow of his former self.

Steve joined Emmerdale in 1994 (

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ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Now, six months on from his Emmerdale swansong, we look back at the late star’s family life off-screen – something that at times matched that of his TV household. For away from the cameras, Steve sadly battled alcohol issues and depression, which forced him to take time off from the show in 2003.

In an exclusive interview with the Mirror in 2014, meanwhile, Steve said his pig farmer character “saved him” from the realities of his real life after his problems resulted in his two marriages breaking down, leaving him at rock bottom. “I was born to play Zak Dingle – the cap really does fit,” he said at the time.

“Most of the storylines I’ve lived in real life. I’ve been broke, evicted, in trouble with the law. Then there’s depression, drinking and having to fight your way out of situations. I’ve lived all those things – and more. I can’t blame anyone else. I pressed the self-destruct button.”

Born in Bury, Lancashire, in 1946, Steve and elder brother Clive came from a working class background. He became known to local lads as a “hard nut”. Mum Jenny was a strict churchgoer while dad Fred was a withdrawn figure who rarely emerged from behind a newspaper.

At 17 he left home. “I’d read Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and decided it was my destiny to be a beatnik poet or a rock star,” he said. But Steve ended up living on the streets – a long-haired tramp who “looked like some sort of lunatic apostle”. He later returned to a mill job and tried to settle down with childhood sweetheart Susan, but admitted: “I ended up bladdered every weekend. I was attempting to live the hedonistic lifestyle of an artist. The problem was, I wasn’t creating anything except hangovers.”

Steve’s final appearance as Zak Dingle came in June 2023 (

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PA) Steve played the Zak role for a staggering 29 years (

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PA)

He moved to London in his 20s and one day picked up The Stage magazine in the library and saw an advert for a drama school. Just like that, he decided to become an actor. Susan and Steve wed but his drinking and drifting wrecked the marriage. He added: “That was my lowest point, not being able to protect her and keep her. I felt a complete failure.”

In the early 1980s, however, avid Burnley Football Club fan Steve met his second wife, Val, in a pub in Manchester. She was an artist and mum to two boys and in 1984 they had a daughter together, Charlotte. Val encouraged him to revive his acting career and he got roles in All Creatures Great and Small and hit series The Practice as well as on stage. But the work dried up, Steve carried on drinking and the couple had to sell their home to avoid bankruptcy.

Steve said: “I wasn’t a strong enough man to deal with family life. I resorted more and more to Kestrel Super Strength lager as the cheapest ticket to oblivion and Val, unbeknownst to me, was on Prozac for depression. She needed a rock and I failed her. Val and Charlotte left.”

Steve entered rehab in 2004 before bouncing back in Emmerdale two years later, and he was soon overjoyed when Charlotte gave birth to baby Angelina, now 17, reuniting him with ex-wife Val. Steve said: “Being there when she was born, passing our granddaughter between us, we looked at each other and thought, ‘Why are we not together?’ She wasn’t with anyone and nor was I. Some people in life are soulmates.”

Charlotte, who went on to follow in her father’s footsteps and set up Interchange Performing Arts drama school in Bury, later gave birth to Steve’s second grandchild, Jodie.

Steve and his wife, Val, pictured in 2008 (

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PA) Steve Halliwell (21 March 1946 – 15 December 2023) (

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ITV)

In a statement announcing his death to fans today, a spokesperson for ITV said it was “hard not to smile” when thinking of the star. “It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that Emmerdale can confirm that Steve Halliwell, our beloved Zak Dingle, has peacefully passed away,” the statement read. “All our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and loved ones through this very difficult time, and we’d request that their privacy is respected as they grieve for his loss.

“Steve will forever be synonymous with Emmerdale. The proud defender and head of the Dingle family. Heart and humour in all he did, it has been and always will be impossible not to smile when you think of him.”

His family added: “He went to sleep, peacefully with his loved ones around him. He was making us laugh to the end, the most amazing father and grandfather you could ever wish for, family was everything to him. We would like to thank the wonderful staff at St James Hospital and the Wheatfield Hospice for their love and kindness in his final days. He didn’t want sadness, just to rejoice in a life well lived.”

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