There were powerful scenes in tonight’s Emmerdale, as Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) finally made the decision that she had to reach out for help over the abuse she’s suffered at the hands of Tom King (James Chase).
The episode had an unusual format, in that the first half played out three different scenarios about what could potentially happen in the future. Tom has recently started a relationship with Amelia Spencer (Daisy Campbell), which he’s only doing as another means to get at Belle. Belle’s fears for the younger girl were what drove each of these potential scenarios.
In the first, Belle pretended to be still in love with Tom to make him dump Amelia. This meant Amelia was safe, but as events played out we saw Belle subjected to more violence and abuse and eventually end up pregnant in a desperately bleak Christmas scene.
Another alternative future saw Belle trying to tell Kerry Wyatt (Laura Norton) what Tom was like, to get her to protect Amelia. Kerry at first seemed sympathetic, but then Amelia revealed that Tom had already told her everything that Belle had said, but Tom made it sound like it was all in Belle’s mind.
Kerry’s attitude changed, but Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) had overheard the conversation and went straight out to beat Tom up so badly that he almost killed him. Belle realised the price of telling anyone about Tom could be Cain ending up in prison.
In the third scenario, Belle tried to forget about Tom and Amelia and went back to work as a wedding planner. Meanwhile Tom and Amelia got married and the pattern of abuse started again but with Amelia as the victim – and she ended up dead after ‘falling’ down the stairs.
Finally, in the real world, a shaken Belle went to Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins)’s house. ‘I need help,’ she told her.
These were incredibly powerful scenes, as Charity gently supported Belle to tell her everything that had been happening. At first Belle couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud but Charity said she had to.
‘Tom’s been hurting me,’ she said.
As we saw flashbacks to earlier in Belle and Tom’s story, Charity heard how poor Belle had spent her wedding night on the sofa alone after Tom banned her from the bedroom. She said the wedding had been a shambles, but Charity knew these were Tom’s words and pointed out that Belle looks happy in the wedding video.
‘I was happy,’ Belle agreed sadly. ‘Until Tom wasn’t.’
She detailed Tom slagging her off, comparing her unfavourably to Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham), undermining her. Then she tried to excuse his behaviour, saying he wasn’t bad, just sick. Charity pointed out that if he was sick he wouldn’t be able to hide it at work, or with Jimmy (Nick Miles) and Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler). Obviously he was in control of how he behaved.
Charity said that it wasn’t just Belle, the whole village had been brainwashed by Tom. ‘It’s what men like him do,’ she pointed out. ‘Tom is an abuser. You don’t have to knock seven bells out of someone…’
She stopped as she realised that the abuse had also been violent. ‘The first time was just a push,’ Belle said and recounted some of the times Tom had physically hurt her.
She also talked about when she had an abortion – something Tom has repeatedly used against her as he played the victim. ‘There was no way I was going to bring a child into that home,’ she said, heartbreakingly.
Charity has known for a long time that things were not right between Tom and Belle, and she said she regretted not doing something sooner and should have trusted her gut. Belle told her that she’d hidden what was happening because she felt stupid and weak and thought nobody would understand. ‘You have no idea what it’s taken to knock on your door,’ she said. ‘There’s so much more.’
The two women hugged, and Charity said it was an ‘honour’ that Belle had come to her.
She told her that she wasn’t fighting it alone any more. ‘I promise you, things are going to change,’ she insisted.
‘That man is never going to hurt you again.’
