Emmerdale: Dominic Power who plays Cameron Murray says his mother cringes at sex scenes

Emmerdale: Dominic Power who plays Cameron Murray says his mother cringes at sex scenes

The actor, who as hunky Cameron Murray is cheating on girlfriend Debbie Dingle with her aunt Chas, admits: “My mum hates it!

“She watches all the soaps and like lots of people she records them. She then fast-forwards the storylines she doesn’t like... I’m currently being forwarded.

“She sent me a text recently saying, ‘Will you tell the writers your mother is a good Catholic girl and she does not like her son doing this?’ I said to her, ‘Mum, you were a teacher. You are an educated woman â€" this is fiction!’

“She texted back, ‘Ha ha!’ ”

Dominic’s mum Jackie isn’t the only one who disapproves of his bed-hopping scenes.

He said: “My 16-year-old daughter sent me a text with a picture of me in bed saying, ‘Will you stop this?’”

“My children are actually dead proud which is nice and Emmerdale has become part of their lives, which it wasn’t before.

“When I got the job my son said, ‘Why couldn’t you get Waterloo Road?’ That would have been cool for him.”

Dominic made his Emmerdale debut in March last year, and since his character’s affair began he has often appeared on screens in a state of undress.

But despite his toned body featuring heavily on the ITV1 soap, Dominic insists he shares his family’s embarrassment at the scenes.

He said: “It’s always a little bit awkward when you are stripped â€" you do try to get a couple of gym sessions in beforehand!

“When I get the scripts and see it’s coming there’s no carbs until it’s over.

“I’ve been down to my boxer shorts a few times and it’s a bit odd, because everyone else is stood in front of you fully clothed.

“You know that nightmare where you find yourself at work without any clothes on? It’s that, but it’s real!”

And he reckons that even the big bonus of the love triangle storyline â€" getting to smooch both Charley Webb, who plays Debbie, and Lucy Pargeter, who plays Chas â€" is not a great perk.

He said: “It’s always a bit strange. I remember one of my first screen kisses was with Sarah Manners in The Bill and we smashed teeth. It was my fault.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done that in real life but the nerves of kissing in front of an audience make it different.”

Dominic, 39, is one of six kids and grew up in south east London with his mum and dad Michael, who worked as Deputy Director of the Catholic Education Service and was awarded an OBE.

He went to drama school, then worked as a drama teacher while trying to get his big break.

His first TV role was on The Bill playing a man who had parked illegally, and his second was on EastEnders as a motorbike courier delivering a letter to the pub.

He said: “I’d grown up watching EastEnders and to suddenly be in the Queen Vic was terrifying. It was the hottest day of the year and the building was absolutely sweltering. When I walked in dressed head to toe in motorbike leathers I was a bit of light relief. Everyone laughed at me.

“I was all fingers and thumbs and I wanted the ground to swallow me up.

“I had one line, ‘Sign there mate’, to Ross Kemp who said to me, ‘It’s not as easy as it looks’, as I fumbled to get the envelope out.

“I don’t know why I deserved that. It was an awful experience.”

By then Dominic was divorced with two young children and decided to give up acting and get a “proper” job in order to support his family.

He said: “I was doing adverts, but it wasn’t enough. I fell out of love with it for a while, so I stopped actively looking for work and just taught.

“Then I got another guest part on The Bill â€" I think I’ve done seven in total â€" this time playing a yuppie called Piers.

“After that they asked me to come in and audition for a permanent role.”

Dominic joined the police drama as PC Leon Taylor in 2008, staying until the series ended in 2010.

Since landing his role on Emmerdale he has split his time between Leeds, near the soap’s set, and London where his kids Gabrielle, 16, and Declan, 13, live.

Dominic said: “I’ve been a weekend dad for over ten years, but you have to turn the negative into a positive and the positive is that I have a very good and open relationship with my kids.

“Due to filming schedules it’s not always possible to see them every weekend, but I try to and we do Skype a lot.

“I’ll be cooking dinner while my daughter’s doing her homework and it’s like she’s there in the room with me.

“We forget we’re on, until one of us coughs or starts talking to ourselves!”

He is currently single and says he’s happy that way. However, he admits he seems to have a few more admirers since he began his stint as the Dales’ latest rogue.

He said: “My Twitter following has increased since I turned into a bit of a rat.

“It seems women must like a bad boy.”