In October, Emmerdale’s Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) received devastating news from Debbie (Charley Webb) that his dad Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) had died.
In a week of episodes that paid tribute to Steve, the Dingles came together to hold Zak’s funeral in the village.
His body was then moved from the Woolpack to the Dingle land, where Zak requested to be buried. As the family gathered around the grave, they were stunned when Zak’s distant daughter Tina (Samantha Power) returned.
In the aftermath, as Tina clashed with Mandy (Lisa Riley), Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) attempted to move forward and come to terms with losing both her mum and dad.
Amid this trauma though, Belle’s mental health was already being impacted as a result of Tom King’s (James Chase) abuse. Spiralling, Belle found herself hallucinating Zak, desperate to find an ounce of comfort.
The Christmas period is going to look a lot different for Belle compared to the majority of this year. Now Tom has been arrested, she’s facing a period in the village that will allow her time to reflect and heal.
‘It is a different Christmas’, Eden Taylor-Draper told us.
‘We only filmed it this week with a last minute pick-up. The Dingles aren’t heavily featured and it’s just Belle and Vinny at home, the Dingles are all scattered about this year. Belle and Vinny are reflecting on their year and she obviously can’t believe that it’s the first year without both parents.
‘That’s why she has the moment outside chatting to her dad, when Piper runs over.’
‘It’s been probably my biggest year and I’ve loved it’, she said with a smile.
‘I’d say highlight-wise I loved doing the dinner party. That felt like my and James’s first real challenge in terms of that was the starting point of how dark the story was going to get. That’s very vivid. The episode where it was Belle’s different scenarios she was imagining, that will be a massive highlight for me forever, I think. It felt very special.
‘And the cottage. I loved doing the cottage stuff. I think they’re probably the things that stick out to me most. To start the year with Torvill and Dean and end it here, it’s been such a rollercoaster.’
Eden added: ‘It’s been a huge honour and I feel so blessed and challenged and motivated. Every day I come in to work and just have the best time. To say how dark it’s been, I feel like we’ve really tried to embrace and tell that story. We’ve just put everything into it. It’s been probably my most magical year here because of all of that.’
When asked about Belle’s hopes for 2025, Eden pondered:
‘I think justice would be the main thing she wants, and to fully understand what she has been through and start the journey of healing and understanding and accepting that this is not on her, this is not her fault, this happened to her, she did not create this and there’s nothing wrong with her.
‘I think probably just to get life back on track. Obviously Tom stopped her working so she has nothing, really.
‘I think she needs to start from scratch and build herself back up again.’
