Emmerdale stars confirm Tom will be deαd when the Dingles discover his attαck on Belle

When you marry a Dingle in Emmerdale you become part of the Dingle family, for better or worse. That’s something Tom King (James Chase) might need to bear in mind after he becomes engaged to Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) in festive episodes.

Tom has previously proposed to Belle and she turned him down. His reaction to that was disturbing, as viewers saw him ranting and raving at Belle before pushing her when she tried to calm him down – leaving Belle nursing a cut to her head after falling.

Belle quickly forgave Tom for this and they moved on – to the point where Belle decides she wants to get married after all, and comes up with an incredible plan for a proposal that Tom will never forget.

It seems his childhood heroes are skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and with Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi)’s help Belle manages to secure a private performance of their iconic Bolero routine just for Tom, before she presents him with a Christmas cracker ring as she gets down on one knee on the ice.

Belle and Tom are currently keeping it a secret

James Chase told us that the proposal comes out of the blue for Tom after his own failed attempt.

‘I think when she said no, obviously he did take it badly but after that it was like she’s just not ready,’ he reflected.

‘I don’t think he was then worrying about the relationship or thinking it was doomed or whatever. It was just it is what it is, maybe I asked too early or whatever.

‘I think he’s definitely surprised when she does. He’s incredibly happy and it does reaffirm everything. They were childhood sweethearts.’

Eden Taylor-Draper agreed that Belle has put what happened with the violent outburst after Tom’s proposal behind her. ‘She’s just like wow, everything’s amazing, I’m so in love with you,’ she said.

But if the Dingles knew that Tom had hurt Belle, would they be as forgiving?

Eden insisted that Belle wouldn’t tell them, for one simple reason: ‘He would be dead.’

And she should know. The actress has been in the show for coming up to 20 years, first joining when she was only six years old.

So she’s grown up surrounded by her Dingle family including Mark Charnock (Marlon), James Hooton (Sam), Lucy Pargeter (Chas), Jeff Hordley (Cain) and Emma Atkins (Charity).

‘We are like literally a family,’ Eden told us. ‘We talk all the time and it’s very much that kind of relationship that we have and when you’ve known someone and worked with them every day for 20 years it is your family. I feel so blessed that I have that.

‘I am close to everyone. I’m close to Emma [Atkins]. There’s literally no age gap, I feel like we’re just the same age as sisters and we hang out all the time.’

She recalled her first episodes when she was a child, with no idea that she’d be filming marriage proposal scenes 20 years later.

‘I’d just turn up to work with a really tall guy who was called Marlon. That was literally my childhood, every time,’ she smiled.

We’ve seen recently with Lydia Dingle (Karen Blick)’s storyline that when one of the Dingles is wronged, the rest of the family are soon jumping into action to support them in whatever way they can.

And, knowing how they collectively dealt with Lydia’s rapist Craig Reed (Ben Addis), Tom should be incredibly worried in case they ever get a hint that he was violent towards Belle.

Luckily for Tom, Belle seems to have put it behind her.

‘Obviously that was a major thing that happened, but after it’s been so positive,’ Eden said.

‘It’s one of those things where she’s quickly forgotten that. From that moment on we’ve been on a good path.’