Following her trip to Wales, Belle Dingle’s (Eden Taylor-Draper) life has changed forever in Emmerdale.
A few weeks ago, Tom King (James Chase) put forward the idea of a relaxing holiday in the Welsh countryside. After a difficult time with her mental health and secretly aborting her and Tom’s baby, Belle agreed time away from the village would help with healing and moving forward.
As the couple got in their car and prepared to leave, Belle realised she had forgotten her phone, unaware Tom had hidden it in a drawer. Heading off, Belle was looking forward to her holiday, oblivious to the fact Tom wasn’t actually intending on returning to the village.
When Charity (Emma Atkins) and Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) headed to the remote cottage, they found that Belle had gone.
Viewers had seen Belle’s terror escalate as Tom’s behaviour got more abusive, and she managed to escape and make her way back to the safety of her family at Wishing Well. But Tom spun another story, saying she wasn’t taking her medication, and completely distorting the fact that Belle had had an abortion which she claimed was a miscarriage.
It seems his story has gained a lot of traction in the village as almost everyone thinks he’s just a nice, loving husband who wants the best for his somewhat difficult wife.
Meanwhile Belle herself is so far standing firm on insisting their marriage is over and she doesn’t want to be with him, though she hasn’t really opened up to anyone about exactly what went on.
Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) is trying to get her to talk, but his slip-up after revealing the abortion in a huge argument with Tom at the Woolpack has meant that Belle is wary of confiding in him.
Tom has always been jealous of Belle and Vinny’s friendship and in yesterday’s episode he used the fact that he saw them together as ammunition as he set his sights on another target – his aunt Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler).
He told Nicola how sad he was that Belle had apparently moved on so quickly to a relationship with Vinny. Nicola can always be relied on the distribute gossip without running it through a fact-check first, and she was soon passing on this nugget to Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy).
With Emmerdale fans aware of how close Belle and Vinny are, it has left many wondering if Vinny will be the one to free his friend from Tom completely.
‘Please let Vinny take Tom out eventually. #emmerdale’, one audience member said over on X.
Echoing the thoughts, this fan also wrote: ‘Imagine if it’s vinny that is tom king’s downfall. #Emmerdale.’
As expected when it comes to a storyline like this, we will soon see the back of Tom King – but how he will leave the show currently remains to be seen.
According to a report in The Sun, actor James will leave the ITV soap in a ‘dramatic’ fashion, with Tom’s exit coming later this year.
‘It’s the right time to leave’, a source told the publication.
‘James has loved his time on the show playing such a powerful story but the truth is that characters like Tom have a shelf life for a reason.
‘There’s no long-term redemption for Tom coming – he has to leave one way or the other. And either way it will be dramatic.’
It was previously known that the Belle and Tom storyline would continue until the end of the year.
