Emmerdale’s Belle Dingle star ‘lets slip’ new romance with telling comment

Emmerdale star Eden Taylor-Draper has teased a potential new romance on the cards for her character Belle Dingle, after her marriage with abuser Tom King.

The star joined Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley on the This Morning sofa this morning, as she celebrates 20 years on the ITV soap. Of course, Ben and Cat couldn’t let her go without questioning what’s to come for the star.

Eden joined Emmerdale in 2005 to play the role of Belle Dingle, taking over the role from Emily Mather, who had previously portrayed the character. At the time, Eden was just eight years old.

Emmerdale’s Eden Taylor-Draper teased a ‘new romance’ on the cards for Belle(Image: ITV )

The character Belle, however, first appeared on Emmerdale on December 25, 1998, when Lisa Dingle went into labour, unaware that she was pregnant.

Ever since, fans have followed Belle’s journey – most recently her harrowing abuse storyline with Tom King. She’s now free from her ex-husband, who is currently serving a three-year sentence. after he was found guilty of domestic abuse and coercive control.

With Tom out the way, Ben Shepard was eager to know whether we’d be seeing a new love interest for Belle, and although Belle wasn’t giving anything away – it seems like she could be hinting towards one.

“Life moves fast in soap land,” Ben said. “She’s no longer bound by this controlling partner, which means there must be love on the horizon for her at some point. Is there anything you can tell us about what’s going to be happening?”

Belle was in a controlling marriage with Tom(Image: ITV)

Remaining coy, Eden said: “I’ve been in work recently, yesterday actually. I had a really fun day working with people, so yeah…. let’s see.” She was hesitant to give anymore away, but who could ‘people’ be, and could a new love interest be on the cards for Belle?

Elsewhere, soap expert Sharon Marshall asked whether Belle would be the one to take John Sugden down, as she’s currently looking after Cain Dingle. Responding, Eden said: “She is looking after Cain. The roles have reversed and she’s trying to get him on the straight and narrow. But it’s Cain, can she do it?”

As she celebrates 20 years on the soap, Eden gushed to the Mirror on how much her onscreen parents Jane Cox, who played her soap mum Lisa Dingle and the late actor Steve Halliwell, who played her dad Zak Dingle, had helped her in her career.

“I have so much credit to give to Jane and Steve who played Belle’s mum and dad because they were just brilliant and helped me in that environment,” says Eden.

“I’m surrounded by such talented people and it’s such an honour to be able to work with them. I’m always trying to learn, I’m always trying to better myself and be, you know, very natural and also be so in it.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.