Emmerdale’s Belle Dingle refused to back down when face to face with Tom King

Emmerdale fans have praised Belle Dingle as she paid Tom King a visit in prison and stood her ground, demanding a divorce.

On Thursday’s (12th February) episode, viewers watched as Belle made her way to the prison to come face to face with husband Tom two months after he was sentenced for coercive control and abusive behaviour.

With it coming up to their one-year wedding anniversary, Belle has been eager to finally divorce him so she can move on with her life. However, she expected that Tom would fight her every step of the way and make the process extremely challenging.

In a recent episode, viewers watched as Tom spoke with the prison Chaplain to try and convince Belle that he had changed and even “found God”. Lydia encouraged Belle to make the visit, reassuring her that he’s in prison and he can’t hurt her anymore.

Fuelled with the desire to bid him a final farewell, Belle sat opposite Tom and the pair had a less than pleasant exchange. As Tom tried his usual mind games as he said: “I have changed Belle, you must have thought that that was a possibility or you wouldn’t be here. There is still something to save here, that we can still achieve something together.”

Belle set fire to his hopes immediately as she responded: “We can achieve a divorce.” She then proceeded to mention his chats with the prison Chaplain as she added: “Do not pretend it didn’t happen, because we’re not playing that game anymore”.

Tom shifted in his seat uncomfortably as Belle asked: “Have you told him? What you did to me? or are you still denying that ever happened as well?”

All he offered her in response was that he made “some terrible mistakes” and he was certain that it was her family “pushing the divorce idea”. When it became clear that Belle wasn’t falling for his tricks, his tone changed as he coldly announced: “You are gonna have a real scrap on your hands divorcing me, I will fight you for everything.”

Fans of the ITV soap watched on as Belle smiled confidently and replied: “Tom there’s not an anything never mind an everything. Do you think if you just sit here and you puff yourself up and you spout all these words that I’m gonna get scared? I’m gonna back down? You’ve learned nothing”

As she claimed: “You’ve underestimated me yet again” and irritated Tom loudly shouted “stop it” gaining the attention of the other prisoners.

Belle laughed and ended her speech with: “You have been gone for a very long time and this divorce it’s the cherry on top and I am having it”.

Fans took to social media to praise the scenes, on X (formerly known as Twitter) @Emmerdale2dae wrote: “You don’t want to miss tonight’s episode as a resilient Belle comes face to face once again with Tom!”

A second viewer @sir_jeffers7 also praised the soap and added: “The scenes between Belle and Tom were good. Well done belle!!”

On a Facebook fan group, one viewer wrote: “Can we take a moment to say how strong Belle has to be to face her abuser?” as another responded: “Yep, I’m glad they did it this way gives her a chance to move on. That smirk she gave him at the end was everything.”

Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.