ITV Emmerdale fans complain to Ofcom over harrowing Tom King scenes as soap issues warning

Emmerdale fans switched off tonight – amid some harrowing scenes with evil Tom King.

Tom has been coercively controlling his wife Belle Dingle ever since they got married, with it leading to a harrowing and heartbreaking physical abuse storyline when he pushed her hand under the hot water tap and burned her.

Belle believes she is to blame for Tom’s actions, as he has been gaslighting her and making her think it’s all her fault. She has been put under the care of a mental health team, meaning she is away from Tom and she has been refusing to speak to him.

As a result, he has become adamant he needs to find a way to get her home and has cruelly targeted their beloved pet dog Piper in a bid to get Belle back with him. Fans have found the scenes really tough to watch, and things turned worse tonight as the poor pooch was clearly struggling to breathe after Tom injected the dog to give her symptoms of being unwell.

Taking to social media, fans fumed as one wrote: “I know it’s not real but this storyline with Tom and the dog is too far.. too f***ing far and unnecessary #Emmerdale.” A second added: “You’ve crossed a f**king line with the dog @emmerdale #Emmerdale You’ll do anything for a storyline now!!,” with a third sharing: “This is sick with the dog. It’s bad enough Belle is going through abuse. But vile all together! #Emmerdale.” A fourth penned: “This dog storyline is a bit strange, not sure what the producers are trying to achieve is it just shock and awe for ratings, and fuck the quality of the writing. #Emmerdale.”

After the tough to watch scenes that also aired on Monday evening, Emmerdale’s social media posted a message to viewers. They wrote: “These scenes can be distressing to watch, but we want to remind you that Minnie (AKA Piper) is a very good actor and is always living her best life on set! We can confirm that no harm has come to her whatsoever.”

However, angry fans took to the comments to fume over the scenes. One wrote: “Nah I’m sorry but I draw the line at animal abuse. Terrible. A new low for this show,” whilst a second added: “Why are we seeing such awful scenes! This is so not ok!” A third penned: “I have just reported tonight’s show to Ofcom. It took me a couple of minutes only. The more people that report it the better.”

“This has gone too far now. I’m a huge Emmerdale fan but disgusted at this, it’s vile,” a fourth shared, with a fifth adding: “For people to hate Tom as much as what we all do just shows what a absolutely awesome actor this guy is, as hard as it is to watch this storyline is outstanding, if it helps one person out there then it has served its purpose, absolutely amazing work by everybody involved.”