Cameron Murray

""Just you and me.... just you and me""

- Cameron's last words to his girlfriend Debbie Dingle before he attempts to kill her and himself in a suicidal impact at the conclusion of his siege, but her resistance and subsequent escape from his clutches ultimately results in his death.

Cameron Murray is a fictional character and recurring antagonist of the ITV British soap opera Emmerdale.

He first appeared as a central character in 2011, then served as an anti-hero in 2012, and ultimately became the show's main antagonist in 2013.

History
Cameron Murray first arrived in Emmerdale to look for Debbie Dingle. It soon transpired that Debbie, a local resident, went to Cameron's hometown in Jersey - as she sought to cope with the aftermath of her parents' jilted wedding. While in Jersey, she ended up meeting Cameron and they went on to sleep together. Since then, Cameron has left his estranged wife Anna and sought to build his relationship with Debbie - who tells him that their affair was a mistake. Cameron nevertheless settles himself in Emmerdale and begins to work for Debbie's landlord, Carl King - the head of Emmerdale Haulage. The two men instantly clash when Carl's ex-lover Eve Jenson develops feelings for Cameron, but he dismisses her when Debbie gets back together with Cameron.

Eventually, Cameron moves into her house and manages to win over her daughter Sarah - much to the jealously of her father and Debbie's old boyfriend Andy Sugden. By then, Debbie's father Cain also begins to clash with Cameron - who tries to persuade Cain not to interfere in his relationship with Debbie. At somepoint, Debbie learns Cameron had another affair after she left Jersey. He insists the affair meant nothing, and is later pleased when Debbie tells him that she is pregnant. However, she miscarriages and Cameron tries to support her by getting his sons Dylan and Harry to know her. Sarah soon becomes sick and they learn she has a rare genetic disorder. Cameron hires his own truck and starts poaching Carl's customers, which prompts Carl to damage Cameron's truck in retaliation. Cameron then plots to sabotage Carl's business, inviting Debbie's mother Charity and Cain to help him get revenge on Carl. Together, they steal the Kings' haulage trucks and sell them off. Cameron then wipes all the files containing contracts from Carl's computer. This works successfully and Cain officially welcomes Cameron into the Dingle clan. Sarah soon falls ill and Debbie realizes that she needs to conceive a savior sibling with Andy.

Upon learning that Andy and Debbie slept together, Cameron seeks comfort from Debbie's aunt Chas - only for the pair to end up sleeping together. Cameron and Chas soon embark on an affair, which Carl soon discovers. Carl, who seeks revenge against Chas for jilting him on their wedding day back in Christmas 2010, begins to blackmail her and Cameron for the £30,000 she previously swindled him. Cameron becomes desperate to raise the amount in order to cover-up his affair, so he and Chas plan to rob The Woolpack public house. They narrowly achieve this and Chas delivers the money to Carl, who then tries to recoup his relationship with Chas - even though she is set to marry local resident Dan Spencer. On the night of their wedding, Debbie gives birth to her and Andy's child named Jack. She expected Cameron to be present with her, but Cameron distances himself from Debbie's situation - as he is desperate to sort Carl out for good. After being virtually provoked into attacking him in church, Cameron later finds Carl hurt following a brawl with Chas - who had just learned that Carl had killed his late father Tom for her back on Christmas Day 2006. Cameron attempts to threaten Carl in leaving Chas alone and not telling either Debbie or Cain about the affair, but Carl instead taunts Cameron - who gets provoked enough in hitting Carl on the head with a brick, killing him.

Horrified, Cameron gradually regains his composure and visits Debbie in hospital. On the day Carl's death becomes public knowledge, she discovers Cameron's affair with Chas through the messages that Carl sent to her before he was murdered. She confronts and dumps Cameron, who is later attacked by Cain and Charity when they find out about this. The police are called in the incident and arrest Cain and Charity, before Chas is then arrested when she confesses to killing Carl - believing that she had killed him without knowing that it was Cameron who killed him. Cameron does not admit to killing Carl and Chas is charged with his murder. After defending her testimony at the expense of Debbie and her parents' seeking to send her down in retaliation for the affair, Cameron - consumed with guilt - confesses the truth to his best-friend Alex Moss. The next day, Cameron is relieved to hear that Chas has been acquitted - much to Debbie's frustration. However, he suspects that Alex may go to the police; Cameron later kidnaps Alex after knocking him out and keeping him contained in his van. When he goes back to the van on Christmas Eve, Alex escapes and runs through the woods. Cameron manages to recapture Alex and drag him back to the van, where he kills him off-screen upon deciding that Alex being alive is too risky to cover-up the truth about Carl's murder. Cameron later buries Alex in the woods, but is forced to relocate and rebury him in a different location after local tycoon Declan Macey begins to operate a site development in the woods where Alex was buried.

Cameron soon proposes to Chas, prompting Cain to threaten them in leaving the village for Debbie's sake. Ignoring his threats, Cameron confronts Cain and they fight; Cain gets the upper hand until Cameron hits him with a wrench, proceeding to violently beat him up. When Chas gets caught in the scuffle, Cameron uses the opportunity to try and finish Cain off - but Chas' interference prompts him to stand down. Cameron later discovers that Charity and Declan are having an affair. He blackmails them in order to coerce Charity into treating Chas with more respect. Charity complies, but Chas later discovers the issue and orders Cameron to stop - even though Declan's wife Kate and Charity's husband Jai Sharma both end up learning about the affair themselves. A couple of months later, Cameron flies his sons over from Jersey to meet Chas properly - but they ignore her and insist on seeing Debbie. She later tells them that Chas killed Carl, which causes Cameron to realize that he can never admit to killing Carl because of his sons. While Cameron is later forced to return them to jersey, Debbie kidnaps Chas to get revenge for her affair with Cameron - but her parents stop her. Despite the ordeal, Debbie continues to spark trouble by causing Cain's girlfriend Moira Barton to miscarry and being indirectly responsible for the events of his sister Belle being rushed into hospital for drinking vodka. Cameron soon discovers Debbie's antics and learns that Declan's nephew Robbie Lawson has turned against her, sparking a clash between them. When Robbie attempts to set fire to the Woolpack, Cameron kidnaps him and locks Robbie in a van until his mother Megan discovers this with Chas and Debbie. Trouble continues to build when Anna refuses to let Cameron see his boys, prompting him to use his savings to apply for custody.

Cameron begins to feel sorry for Debbie when Andy takes Jack and Sarah away and the pair share a kiss, but are almost caught by Chas. After persuading her not to flee with the children, Cameron and Debbie end up sleeping together. He soon learns that Debbie almost murdered Chas by holding her a gunpoint whilst he was away in Jersey. Chas' half-sister Gennie Walker, who suspects Cameron is cheating on Chas, attempts to uncover her suspicions by recording a conversation between them in Debbie's house. However, she gets more than she bargained for as Cameron confesses to Debbie that he killed Carl - not Debbie. After reconciling their relationship, they both head to the Woolpack to tell Chas that they've reunited. However, they discover Gennie walking out in that moment and realize that she overheard Cameron admit to killing Carl. She quickly flees and nearly kills Cameron by running him over in a car, but he is unharmed and joins Debbie in giving chase to Gennie. The chase ends with Gennie causing her vehicle to tumble down the woods, totaling it and injuring herself in the process. While Debbie calls the emergency services for help, Cameron rushed down to help a badly-injured Gennie out of her wrecked car. Shortly afterwards, he comes to realize that Gennie could expose the truth about Carl. In response, Cameron - after seeing that Debbie is out of distance - takes the opportunity to suffocate Gennie to death, all the while he apologizes for doing this. Debbie then discovers that Gennie had died, but is unaware that Cameron killed her. Gennie's death later becomes public knowledge, much to Chas and her family's devastation.

On the day of Gennie's funeral, Chas discovers that Cameron has slept with Debbie and tells Cain - who then punches Cameron at Gennie's wake. Cain later plans to kill Cameron and kidnaps him on the following morning, but Debbie stops him; Cameron punches Cain in revenge and warns him to keep his distance away in future. Following a holiday, Cameron learns that Alex's body has resurfaced and plans to frame Moira's son Adam for the murder; with Adam having previously been Alex's best-friend until the former discovered the latter's affair with Moira in light of his father John being killed. He is later blackmailed by an unknown assailant and suspects Adam is the blackmailer, but it turns out that Dan's children Amelia and Sean were the culprits in retribution for Cameron threatening to sack Dan for incompetence.

Cameron later plans to propose to Debbie, who soon learns that he killed Gennie after her mother Brenda gives her a tape recorded that Gennie had in her lost belongings; the recording has caught Cameron admitting to killing Carl, confirmed that he cheated on Chas for Debbie, and later exposed him murdering Gennie. Horrified, Debbie informs Chas about this. Chas refuses to believe Debbie until she tells her that Cameron killed Carl. At Chas' straightforward insistence, Debbie joins her in reporting Cameron to the police for killing Gennie and Carl. While doing this at the police station, Debbie begins to deduce that Cameron killed Alex and is framing Adam for his murder. She informs this to police inspectors DS Shields and DC Flanagan, who are investigating Alex's murder. They later plan for Debbie to entrap Cameron in admitting to killing Carl and Gennie, and in doing so his confession will allow them to gather evidence that proves he is the one who killed Alex. On the day they are supposed to leave the village to start a new life, Debbie confronts Cameron about Gennie's death. Cameron reluctantly describes how he killed Gennie and again admits to killing Carl, but quickly learns about Debbie's plan and keeps her hostage - threatening to kill her if the police try to break in to the house. Cameron attempts to reconcile with Debbie by insisting that he killed for murder, all the while he refuses to turn himself in. He continues to defend his actions about killing Carl and Gennie, but Debbie then asks him if Alex deserved it - implying that she knows the truth about Alex's murder as well. Debbie then tries to escape and Cameron attempts to drag her upstairs, but she ends up pushing him down the stairs - critically injuring him as a result. Debbie uses the opportunity to escape and Cameron is promptly arrested for killing Carl and Gennie; he later admits to killing Alex and burying him in the woods, leading to DS Shields to charge him for all three murders.

In early October 2013, Cameron escapes from prison. Debbie's house is guarded by policemen at all times. Cameron tricks the police in thinking he has escaped to another country by appearing on CCTV at a ferry port, but then moves out the way of the camera and secretly returns to Emmerdale. After locking Sarah in a born, he steals a shotgun and storms into the Woolpack - knocking out Debbie's cousin Marlon and taking her amongst several others, including Chas and her family patriarch Zak, hostage. Cameron threatens to shoot Zak as he stands up to him, and ends up firing a gun when he and Chas try to stop him. The gunshot hits Andy's ex-girlfriend Alicia Harding, whom Cameron refuses to set free for medical attention. When Debbie offers to remain as his hostage under the guise of them leaving the village together to start anew, Cameron lets Alicia's boyfriend David Metcalfe take her to the hospital before releasing Zak and the other hostages outside - keeping Debbie with him. However, Cameron also keeps Chas hostage for "insurance policy". When Debbie and Chas try to rebel against Cameron, a dramatic struggle between the three of them ensues and culminates with him shooting through a window. Cameron, unaware that all his bullets have gone, asks Chas and Debbie to decide between them which one should die first and counts down from 10. He seemingly attempts to shoot them both, but the gun is out of bullets - though he quickly reloads them and prevents his ex-lovers from fleeing in the process. While it appeared that he was going to shoot either of the pair, Cameron later admits that he actually intended to shoot just Chas - and not Debbie despite her efforts to get him to shoot her instead.

As Cameron taunts Chas about the way he killed Gennie, as well as ranting how Carl deserved his fate and that he merely killed Alex to risk him from grassing him to the police about his first murder, Marlon reappears - having regained consciousness. He surprises Cameron by knocking him out with a glass bottle, which causes Cameron to drop the gun. This allows Debbie and Chas to flee while Marlon attempts to prevent Cameron from reclaiming the gun, narrowly managing to grab it first before Cameron does. As Marlon holds Cameron at gunpoint, Debbie and Chas try to escape the Woolpack through the cellar; however, the power kept going off and the public house was suddenly flooded. Cameron taunts Marlon to shoot him, but Marlon refused and Cameron - after explaining how he killed Carl in response to Marlon telling him "Don't bank on it" with his threats about shooting him - tries to reclaim the gun, but got shot as a result. However, Cameron survives and drives to drown Marlon when he rushes in to save Debbie and Chas. In the ensuing struggle, Marlon escapes with the gun while Chas and Debbie are left at the mercy at Cameron - who urges Debbie to come with him. The police soon break into the cellar to rescue the woman and Chas is brought to safety, but Debbie allows Cameron to capture her once more. They kiss and Cameron gradually brings them underwater, intending them to drown and die together. However, Debbie resists Cameron and is rescued by the police - narrowly escaping Cameron as he tries to recapture her once more. As Debbie flees to safety, Cameron ends grabbing a light-bulb that - caught in the flood - instantly electrocutes him, consequently killing himself in the process. The following morning, his body is taken away and Debbie makes peace with Chas so that the pair can move on with their lives without Cameron - with Zak further concluding that Cameron is where he belongs: in "hell".

Following his death, Cameron is subsequently referenced as time goes on; most specifically when his voice is heard by Chas from late November 2015, after she accidentally stabbed her business partner and Andy's stepmother Diane.

Trivia

 * The character's portrayer, Dominic Power, was dominated for "Villain of the Year" at the 2012 and 2013 British Soap Awards.