Lewis Cope Biography: Partner, Emmerdale Role & Strictly

Every soap needs an entrance that makes you sit forward, and Lewis Cope’s arrived in 2022 when he joined Emmerdale as Nicky Miligan (BBC Media Centre). He got there the long way round: a Hartlepool childhood, a household of 14, a West End stage debut, a national dance final, and now Strictly Come Dancing 2025. The record is thinner than the headlines suggest — and the gaps tell their own story.

Born: 19 March 1995 ·
Emmerdale: Nicky Miligan since 2022 ·
Got to Dance: 2013 runner-up ·
Strictly 2025: 5th place with Katya Jones

So a father clearly features in Cope’s childhood — he is the reason five brothers ended up in boxing gloves — but the details stop there.

Nicky Miligan arrived in Emmerdale as a mystery rather than a villain. Wikipedia’s character summary says he was introduced as a male nanny, interviewing for a job caring for Gabby Thomas’s and Dawn Fletcher’s children (Wikipedia). The nanny job, though, was cover: Nicky was later established as the son of Caleb Miligan, which also made him the grandson of Frank Tate and Faith Dingle (Wikipedia).

None of this makes Cope a jobbing character actor: Emmerdale is the anchor, and every other credit orbits it.

The birthplace is the one biographical detail every source agrees on: Hartlepool, County Durham.

The pattern: nearly every profile opens with Hartlepool and the 14-child household, which makes the origin story the most reliable thing written about him — and the least explored beyond its own headlines.

He is still in Emmerdale, and the Strictly 2025 run turned a soap fanbase into a primetime one.

• The BBC’s contestant profile says Cope grew up in a large household — one of 14 children — and that five of his brothers followed their father into boxing (BBC’s contestant profile).

• The dance CV is genuine: Billy Elliot the Musical as a child, and a 2013 runner-up finish in Got to Dance.
• On Strictly, Strictly Stats logs 12 dances with partner Katya Jones and an average score of 8.7 for the 2025 run (Strictly Stats).
• Stage: Billy Elliot the Musical in the West End — The Guardian dates his first stage appearance to age 13 (The Guardian).
• Competition: the Got to Dance final in 2013 (runner-up) and Strictly Come Dancing 2025 (fifth place).

• The BBC introduced him to Strictly as an “Emmerdale star” — the soap is his anchor job, not a past credit.

Emmerdale introduced Nicky Miligan initially as a male nanny interviewing for a job caring for Gabby Thomas’s and Dawn Fletcher’s children.

Wikipedia’s character summary

Six dates, one arc: a Hartlepool childhood, a musical-theatre debut, and a primetime final.

• Born 19 March 1995 in Hartlepool, County Durham
• Plays Nicky Miligan in Emmerdale, a role he joined in 2022
• Finished 5th on Strictly Come Dancing 2025 with Katya Jones

Cope’s public file is a study in controlled exposure: a 14-child household, a West End debut, a soap dynasty and a Strictly final are all documented, while his private life stays deliberately out of frame.