Emmerdale spoilers: Dangerous Tom King exposes his true colours on wedding day to scared Belle Dingle
Belle (Eden Taylor Draper) and Tom’s (James Chase) big day rolls around in Emmerdale and while it should be the happiest of days, Belle is left scared and wondering if she’s made a huge mistake.
While us viewers have been privy to Tom being a wrong’un for weeks, Belle has tolerated his behaviour through her undying love for him.
In the final lead up to the day the couple are hit with a setback over her surname and once again, eager-to-please Belle concedes to keep Tom happy – this time relinquishing her beloved family name.
Through his sharpened skill of emotional manipulation, not only does he convince Belle to ditch the Dingle moniker, he has her thinking it’s a great idea.
Belle actress Eden Taylor Draper justified to metro.co.uk how Tom gets what he wants: ‘Tom doesn’t have his parents anymore and he wants to continue the King family line. So I think it is a combination of that.’
She added that though Tom doesn’t ‘pressure’ Belle, he still sticks the boot in by saying it’s her fault for assuming: ‘He said she had just assumed she could stay a Dingle.’ Using his parent’s deaths to take advantage, gross.
Actor James Chase added that it was a ploy for Tom to ‘distance [Belle] from her family’. Yikes. This manipulation is subtle yet serious.
Belle later learns that Zak cannot make it to the big day and floats the idea of cancelling the wedding, to which Tom responds with more malevolence – how dare she be so cruel as to cancel their wedding for her dad when he has no parents at all!
In a mood, he storms off, and in another controlling tactic he leaves Belle with no idea whether their wedding is even going ahead. He refuses to take her calls and is nowhere to be found. This leaves Belle in a pit of anxiety.
Eden spoke of Belle’s state of mind: ‘[The wedding] isn’t going ahead – he hates me – I’ve done this to myself – I’m not good enough. She is really anxious about it as she thinks she has ruined the one good thing that was going for her.’ Tom has her right where he wants her.
At the last second, he shows up at the church.
Belle is blinded by relief at this point, excited it can all go ahead. Sam (James Hooton) shows up to give her away and everything is perfect. He gives her a letter from Lisa but fearing it’ll be too emotional, she decides to save it until the vows are done. But when she comes to read it later, it will have a huge impact.
Initially after the vows, everything seems blissful, but it’s not long before Tom’s temper starts to show and the true colours Belle has helped hide rise to the surface. He gets easily irked by the Dingles’ wedding behaviour. They love a party, especially when it’s their wee Belle getting married, and he is not here for it.
James gave Metro.co.uk an insight into Tom’s thoughts: ‘I think he finds it frustrating, and he has lost control. I think control is what it always comes back to.’ And therein lies the key.
But this is the moment when Belle starts to wake up to the kind of man she’s married as she begins questioning who he really is.
‘I think that does change things a bit, as she can tell he’s getting annoyed about little things,’ Eden shared. ‘I think she is just saying to herself it is fine, it’s fine and then right at the end of the day something happens that just makes her think…have I done the right thing? Is this the right man for me?’
So, this could be the turning point for the young Dingle, but will it be? Both Eden and James have teased huge things ahead for this couple, meaning it sounds like this is just the start.
Eden revealed: ‘Personally I’m really excited. I think it is going to be a really fun year. A big year. It will be challenging but I feel ready for that challenge. And Belle has no idea what is coming.’
James added: ‘They made it clear when I joined what route the story would take but I think that is what makes the role so much more interesting and complex. You want to play complex characters, don’t you!’
