This is your first look at the three iconic TV faces staring in Tom King’s (James Chase) final storyline in Emmerdale.
We confirmed back in November that Denise Welch, Jack Ellis and Charles T Dale will feature in the concluding part of Tom and Belle Dingle’s (Eden Taylor-Draper) abuse plot.
With Belle having found the strength to report him to the police, Tom’s downfall has been ‘sealed’ in an hour-long special that will highlight the real-life voices of domestic abuse victims and survivors.
Long-serving Loose Women panellist Denise will be ticking the last box on her soap bucket list when she takes on the role of a jury member. The actress, 66, is best remembered in soapland for playing feisty Natalie Barnes in Coronation Street for three years in the late 90s.
She’s also starred as Trish Minniver in Hollyoaks, Alison Slater in EastEnders, and Steph Haydock in Waterloo Road – a part she will reprise in an upcoming series due to air next year.
Charles, best known for his role as Big Mac in Casualty for almost a decade, will also appear.
He will be reuniting with his former Corrie co-star Denise, with the two crossing paths when he portrayed Janice Battersby’s (Vicky Entwistle) boyfriend Dennis Stringer towards the end of her stint.
Joining them is Bad Girls actor Jack Ellis, who played villainous prison officer Jim Fenner for much of its run.
He’s also part of the Street alumni, having played bookmaker Harry Mason in the soap between 2007-08.
These new pictures allow us an insight into Denise, Charles and Jack’s involvement in the trial scenes. Their characters, Heidi, Karl and Kenneth, can be seen sitting among their fellow jurors, who will of course work together to decide if Tom King is guilty or not.
On the episode announcement, Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw said: ‘When we first embarked on this journey we knew we wanted to show domestic abuse, coercive control and manipulation in all its guises.
‘The privilege we have on a drama such as Emmerdale is being able to show the reality of a situation like Belle’s over a longer period of time to authentically reflect what so many people go through in real life on a daily basis.’
‘We knew from the outset that Belle would need some sort of closure on Tom and we know our Emmerdale audience always look forward to our villains getting their comeuppance,’ she said.
‘We don’t want to spoil the outcome of this story and reveal what will happen to Tom, but needless to say, Belle’s going to be in a much better place by this Christmas.’
