Belle Dingle is set to tie the knot with Tom King (James Chase) in upcoming Emmerdale scenes, though actress Eden Taylor-Draper isn’t entirely happy with how the story plays out.
Ahead of their big day, Tom is thrown when Belle explains that she doesn’t want to take his surname and, despite her reasonable excuses, the issue clearly weighs on his mind.
‘I think she’s so passionate to keep her name as she is Dingle and proud to be so,’ actress Eden explained. ‘The Dingle name means a lot to her. And I think especially with her mum not being there. I think that absence and their name is such a symbol for Belle.
‘Tom doesn’t have his parents any more and he wants to continue the King family line. So I think it is a combination of that. He is not really pressuring her but he explains the reasons why he wants to continue the King name. He said she had just assumed she could stay a Dingle.
‘And also if they do have children Belle would want them to all have the same surname. So she realises it is time to focus on her brand new family and not the Dingles anymore.’
Poor Belle is desperate to make him happy, and ultimately decides to put her own feelings aside as she agrees to become Mrs King – something that Eden was devastated by.
‘I am so upset to lose the Dingle name,’ she admitted. ‘Honestly, I read it in the script and I thought NO!’
Thankfully, it isn’t all change for Eden, as she revealed a sweet gesture from the scheduling department left her feeling like an honorary Dingle.
‘I went upstairs to the scheduling department where each family is colour coded on the wall. The Dingles are pink. I have literally been pink my whole life. Whilst the Kings are a completely different colour.
‘However the team in scheduling have said I can stay pink, so that means in my mind I’m still an honorary Dingle, thank goodness. I hope the Dingles will continue to think of me as a Dingle.’
Eden has played the role of Belle in the ITV soap since the age of eight, so we can totally understand why she would be upset by such a massive change!
