Eli Dingle
Encyclopedia
Eli Dingle is a fictional character
from the British ITV
soap opera
Emmerdale
, played by Joseph Gilgun
. He first appeared on screen in the episode which aired on 13 July 2006 and made his last appearance on 30 April 2010.
Eli Dingle was introduced by series producer Kathleen Beedles
in 2006 as the previously unmentioned younger brother of Marlon Dingle
and the youngest son of Albert Dingle
. Joseph Gilgun
and Matthew Wolfenden
(who went on to play David Metcalfe
) were shortlisted for the role of Eli. However, the producers decided that Gilgun was more suited to this role. Before starting on Emmerdale
, Gilgun was working as a plasterer and described joining the soap as "a dream come true".
. He was "sad to leave", but felt it was time to move on. An Emmerdale
spokeswoman confirmed his departure but added that they were not "ruling out" the possibility of him returning to the show. Gilgun since admitted that he'd "had enough" of Emmerdale
and felt that it was mutual. He said that there wasn't much more that could be done with the character of Eli.
's doorstep and was told he was unwelcome. No one was pleased to see Eli - not even his older brother Marlon. It was soon clear Eli had gotten them into plenty of mischief in the past. Eli then witnessed the terrifying King's River showhome collapse which killed several villagers. Eli helped in the rescue and later defended his cousin Sam Dingle
and his terminally ill wife Alice against Cain Dingle
. Zak agreed to let Eli stay, but he soon got into trouble when Marlon emotionally blackmailed him into obtaining the morphine Sam used in the assisted suicide of Alice Dingle
. Eli was disowned when Zak found out he had provided the morphine. He returned when Sam found him living rough in the woods on the run from some vicious drug dealers. After the men attacked Marlon trying to discover his whereabouts, Eli came up with a plan to frame them for armed robbery at the post office. His scheme worked and Zak accepted Eli back into the family.
Eli had several negative encounters with the law and the other villagers, including being wrongly arrested for Tom King
's murder after unknowingly stealing the murder weapon from Home Farm. There was some flirtation with Kelly Windsor
and after aborting Jimmy King
's baby, Kelly ended up drunkenly kissing Eli. This was caught on film by Debbie Dingle
who used it to blackmail Kelly. After Jimmy dumped Kelly at the altar, Eli helped her leave town by stealing Debbie's car. Eli later began an on/off relationship with his cousin Debbie after agreeing to help her with some money-making schemes, including pretending to be Scott Windsor
in order for her to obtain a loan to buy his garage business.
When a local bookmaker refused to pay out, Marlon decided to rob the bookies in revenge. Eli initially tried to talk him out of it, but eventually helped plan the robbery. Marlon was shocked to discover Eli had brought a gun and he pulled out of the plan. Worried, Marlon later intervened to stop Eli, but the gun went off accidentally and Marlon was shot in the chest. Marlon recovered, but was angry with Eli. When a story about him being a hero appeared, Marlon was rewarded for his supposed bravery with enough money to buy himself and Donna a house, Eli was jealous and began to blackmail his brother. Zak eventually found out what was going on and physically attacked Eli, calling him a "snivelling little traitor".
Instead of leaving town, Eli lay in wait and kidnapped his brother, driving him to the top of a multi-storey carpark which Eli should have been arrested and spent time in prison for. When a terrified Marlon questioned why Eli was doing this, Eli admitted that it was because he had always resented Marlon. That he had spent his whole life being "the rubbish one" nobody loved, whilst everyone loved Marlon. During the argument, Marlon managed to get free and the two brothers had a fight that ended with Eli hanging from the side of the building. Marlon begged him to give him his hand, but Eli refused and when he was rescued anyway, he cried that he hadn't wanted to be saved and ran back to Zak, who furiously told Eli he was disowned.
was using her polytunnel to grow cannabis to help with her arthritis. He began to blackmail her so that he could sell some of the cannabis for money. This led to Sam Dingle
becoming unwittingly involved and arrested. Sam confessed and Eli was then arrested and named Lily. Luckily, Zak and Edna destroyed the evidence, and so the police were forced to drop the charges. Zak was disgusted with Eli and once again temporarily disowned him.
Despite knowing that Debbie didn't love him, Eli planned a picnic in order to propose to her. He said he wanted to help her to get custody of her daughter Sarah. Debbie initially agreed, but called it off when she discovered the ring was stolen. Rejected, a heartbroken Eli stole her taxi and ended up knocking over a pedestrian who was revealed to be an ex girlfriend, Danielle Hutch. Eli had served time in prison for Danielle, but he still had feelings for her and they slept together. It turned out that Danielle was on the run from local criminals the McFarlanes, who she'd stolen drugs from. Danielle was then arrested by Shane Doyle who was working for the McFarlanes. Eli tried looking for her, only to find her at a McFarlane-run nightclub. He tried rescuing her, but Danielle hurt his feelings to make him leave. When Chas Dingle
's young son Aaron was being kept as a drugs mule by the McFarlanes, Danielle tipped off the Dingles in order for them to rescue him.
That same night, Jasmine Thomas
and Debbie Dingle
had uncovered the truth about Shane Doyle and when he attempted to rape Jasmine, she had bludgeoned him to death. Trying to conceal the crime, Debbie went to find Eli and took him back to the crime scene. Horrified, he eventually agreed to help and they disposed of Shane's body in the lake. The body was found in January 2009 and Ross Kirk
was arrested after Marlon implicated him following his affair with Marlon's wife. Desperate to free her lover, Donna became suspicious of a guilty Eli and turned him in to the police. He was released, but his unusually withdrawn behaviour worried Zak and Eli started to reveal the truth, but was rearrested before he could. Faced with a life sentence, Eli cracked and confessed everything to the police. Debbie and Jasmine had been planning to run away together and leave Eli to his fate, but his confession led to Debbie being arrested whilst Jasmine escaped. When Zak realised that Eli has told the police the truth, he attacked him and declared him dead to the Dingle family.
Only Marlon stuck by Eli and took him into his house. Eli tried, but failed to correct his mistake and free Debbie. He tried changing his statement and then ran away from home when that went wrong. Marlon found him sleeping rough and convinced him to come back home. They then tracked Jasmine down to Scotland and tried to convince her to hand herself in, but were interrupted when her grandfather Sandy Thomas
entered, wielding a gun. When he found out that Danielle was now in the same prison wing as Debbie, Eli concocted a plan to free both her and Debbie. However, Debbie refused to leave and Danielle was later caught and returned to prison. A guilty Jasmine returned and confessed the truth, leading to Debbie's release a few weeks later. However, Debbie's distress at Jasmine's sentence upset Eli who thought she would now hate him. Depressed about this and Danielle's arrest, he broke down in tears to Marlon and made an emotional speech about how much he secretly hated how he was, before deciding it was best for him to leave the village.
A couple of months later, Laurel Thomas
found him living on the streets. He was filthy and confessed he hadn't eaten in days, but revealed he didn't dare to go home. She told Marlon, who went to bring Eli home, but Eli refused, saying that he was cursed and caused his family nothing but misery. Marlon told Eli that he loved him and the two brothers shared a tearful hug before Eli returned to the village to discover that his family were happy welcome him back. Eli moved back in with Marlon, who took in a new lodger called Lizzie Lakely
. Eli was initially jealous and suspicious of Lizzie, but they eventually became friends. He was involved in several dodgy schemes before his friendship with Priya Sharma saw him securing a steady job at the Sharma's sweet factory. Eli developed a slight crush on Priya, but it wasn't reciprocated.
developed feelings for illegal Ukrainian immigrant Olena Petrovich, Zak asked Eli to spy on them. This eventually led to Eli and Olena becoming good friends and she confessed that she did not return Sam's intense feelings for her, but was scared to tell him the truth. Sam picked up on the closeness between the two and became jealous and ever more possessive. Sam decided to propose to Olena so that she could stay in the country and tried to get Cain to obtain a fake passport. Concerned, Zak warned Olena to leave town rather than hurt his son. If she did not, he would turn her into the authorities himself.
Faced with losing Olena, Eli now confessed that he was also in love with her and Olena claimed that she was also falling in love with Eli. They shared a passionate kiss and made a pact to elope. Marlon realised something was going on between them and angrily confronted Eli who tearfully declared that he loved Olena and wanted to help her and her family. Marlon demanded that they tell Sam the truth, but Sam saw the pair kissing in a field and was left heartbroken, In revenge, he reported Olena to Border Control and she was arrested in front of a horrified Eli. Upset, Eli got drunk and began to accuse the other villagers of reporting her, before Sam confessed that it was him. A furious Eli threw a glass at his cousin's head before being dragged away by Marlon, who told him it was partly his own fault for becoming involved with a woman Sam cared for and for not telling Sam the truth. When Eli confronted Sam, Zak threatened him and told Eli that he was no longer a Dingle. In retaliation Eli told Sam that Zak had already ordered Olena to leave town.
Depressed following the loss of Olena, Eli quit his job. He received a letter from Olena revealing that she was back home, but unhappy. Eli told Marlon that Olena had been his one chance of happiness and it had lasted a week and then been taken away from him - just like that. He then sank further into a downward spiral and began to steal again. With Marlon demanding rent, he decided to rob the cash box from the B&B. He made so much noise that he woke up a drunken Eric Pollard
, who fell down the stairs and knocked himself unconscious. Horrified, Eli tried to wake him and then struggled with his conscience before greed got the better of him and he took the cash box and ran. As Sam had been the one to find Eric, he was blamed for the theft. Eli planned to run away, but Marlon caught him and warned his brother that he had better get Sam out of this mess. Eli was about to leave, when he had second thoughts and advised Marlon that he was going away forever, so that he wouldn't keep screwing things up for everyone around him.
Eli then revealed himself to be the thief, before apologising to Sam. He left before he could be arrested and Marlon followed him, begging his brother not to leave on bad terms. The two had an emotional discussion about their childhood before Marlon kissed his brother goodbye. Eli returned the cash box to Marlon, which was later discovered to be empty apart from a note which read "IOU £400". Eli was last seen leaving the village. He took one last tearful look back, then turned and walked away.
No further mention was made of Eli until 6 October 2010, when Marlon mentioned that Eli was living in Arbroath
. Eli had been arrested, so Marlon went to pay his bail. he has not been mentioned since.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the British ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
, played by Joseph Gilgun
Joseph Gilgun
Joseph William Gilgun is an English actor best known for playing Eli Dingle in ITV's Emmerdale, Woody in the film This Is England and Rudy Wade in series 3 of E4's Misfits.-Biography:...
. He first appeared on screen in the episode which aired on 13 July 2006 and made his last appearance on 30 April 2010.
Casting
Kathleen Beedles
Kathleen Beedles originates from Rogart in Sutherland. She attended Golspie High School where she did some acting in a film with Tom Hanks. She is a former Series Producer of British television soap opera Emmerdale. She took over from Steve Frost during 2005. Kathleen was producer and series editor...
in 2006 as the previously unmentioned younger brother of Marlon Dingle
Marlon Dingle
Marlon Sebastian Dingle is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Mark Charnock. -1996–:...
and the youngest son of Albert Dingle
Albert Dingle
Albert Ezekiel Dingle was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He was played by Bobby Knutt.Albert is the brother of Zak Dingle, a long-running character in Emmerdale, and father to Marlon and Eli....
. Joseph Gilgun
Joseph Gilgun
Joseph William Gilgun is an English actor best known for playing Eli Dingle in ITV's Emmerdale, Woody in the film This Is England and Rudy Wade in series 3 of E4's Misfits.-Biography:...
and Matthew Wolfenden
Matthew Wolfenden
Matthew 'Matty' Wolfenden is an English footballer currently playing for FC United of Manchester. Wolfenden started out at Oldham Athletic, his hometown club, before moving to Wales to play for Wrexham in the summer of 2009.-Early life:...
(who went on to play David Metcalfe
David Metcalfe
David Eric Metcalfe is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by Matthew Wolfenden. He is the illegitimate son of Eric Pollard-2006–09:...
) were shortlisted for the role of Eli. However, the producers decided that Gilgun was more suited to this role. Before starting on Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
, Gilgun was working as a plasterer and described joining the soap as "a dream come true".
Departure
In November 2009 Gilgun announced his decision to quit in order to pursue other projects, including This Is England '86This Is England '86
This Is England '86 is a 2010 British drama series written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne. A spin-off from the 2006 film This Is England, and set three years later, it focuses on the mod revival scene rather than the skinhead subculture...
. He was "sad to leave", but felt it was time to move on. An Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
spokeswoman confirmed his departure but added that they were not "ruling out" the possibility of him returning to the show. Gilgun since admitted that he'd "had enough" of Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
and felt that it was mutual. He said that there wasn't much more that could be done with the character of Eli.
Personality
Eli had a history of getting himself and others into trouble. Scruffy, lazy and impulsive his criminal activities ranged from petty shoplifting to armed robbery. Loud and jovial, Eli was generally portrayed as an immature rogue who refused to take any responsibility for himself. He also had a far more dangerous, vindictive streak but could sometimes display a sensitive, thoughtful side as well. He had a tendency to fall in love easily and was drawn to women who needed his help. The character hinted at a troubled upbringing including time spent in a Young Offender's Institute. On more than one occasion, he acknowledged that he did not like the person he was, but felt unable to change.2006-2007
Eli - a penniless drifter, just released from prison - turned up unannounced on his uncle Zak DingleZak Dingle
Zachariah Bartholomew "Zak" Dingle is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Steve Halliwell. He first appeared on 20 October 1994 and has remained since except for a brief break from 2002-2003. On his time in the show he has been involved in a testicular cancer...
's doorstep and was told he was unwelcome. No one was pleased to see Eli - not even his older brother Marlon. It was soon clear Eli had gotten them into plenty of mischief in the past. Eli then witnessed the terrifying King's River showhome collapse which killed several villagers. Eli helped in the rescue and later defended his cousin Sam Dingle
Sam Dingle
Samuel Jonah "Sam" Dingle is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale played by James Hooton.-Storylines:Sam first appears in 1995 and he demands ransom money from the Sugden family. After his release from prison, he worked as a dogsbody for Eric Pollard and was constantly conned...
and his terminally ill wife Alice against Cain Dingle
Cain Dingle
Cain Dingle is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by Jeff Hordley.-Character creation:In 2000 series producer Kieran Roberts introduced three new members of the Dingle family. The new characters were introduced to the regular cast in 2000, who first arrived...
. Zak agreed to let Eli stay, but he soon got into trouble when Marlon emotionally blackmailed him into obtaining the morphine Sam used in the assisted suicide of Alice Dingle
Alice Dingle
Alice Edith Rose Dingle was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Ursula Holden-Gill.-Introduction:The death of her father left Alice Wilson alone on the family farm, trying to make ends meet...
. Eli was disowned when Zak found out he had provided the morphine. He returned when Sam found him living rough in the woods on the run from some vicious drug dealers. After the men attacked Marlon trying to discover his whereabouts, Eli came up with a plan to frame them for armed robbery at the post office. His scheme worked and Zak accepted Eli back into the family.
Eli had several negative encounters with the law and the other villagers, including being wrongly arrested for Tom King
Tom King (Emmerdale)
Thomas "Tom" Albert King was a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He appeared in the show from February 2004 to December 2006. Ken Farrington played him during the character's run.Tom grew up in Emmerdale and was keen to return...
's murder after unknowingly stealing the murder weapon from Home Farm. There was some flirtation with Kelly Windsor
Kelly Windsor
Kelly Windsor is a fictional character from the British ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale, played by Adele Silva. The character first appeared on 10 August 1993. Silva portrayed her from August 1993 until November 2000. In February 2005 it was announced that Silva would be reprising her role and she...
and after aborting Jimmy King
Jimmy King (Emmerdale)
James Frederick "Jimmy" King is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by Nick Miles. He made his first appearance on 19 February 2004 and has appeared on the show ever since.-Backstory:...
's baby, Kelly ended up drunkenly kissing Eli. This was caught on film by Debbie Dingle
Debbie Dingle
Deborah "Debbie" Dingle is a fictional character in the British ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale. She is portrayed by Charley Webb...
who used it to blackmail Kelly. After Jimmy dumped Kelly at the altar, Eli helped her leave town by stealing Debbie's car. Eli later began an on/off relationship with his cousin Debbie after agreeing to help her with some money-making schemes, including pretending to be Scott Windsor
Scott Windsor
Scott Windsor is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale.From 1993-1996, Scott Windsor was played by Toby Cockerell...
in order for her to obtain a loan to buy his garage business.
When a local bookmaker refused to pay out, Marlon decided to rob the bookies in revenge. Eli initially tried to talk him out of it, but eventually helped plan the robbery. Marlon was shocked to discover Eli had brought a gun and he pulled out of the plan. Worried, Marlon later intervened to stop Eli, but the gun went off accidentally and Marlon was shot in the chest. Marlon recovered, but was angry with Eli. When a story about him being a hero appeared, Marlon was rewarded for his supposed bravery with enough money to buy himself and Donna a house, Eli was jealous and began to blackmail his brother. Zak eventually found out what was going on and physically attacked Eli, calling him a "snivelling little traitor".
Instead of leaving town, Eli lay in wait and kidnapped his brother, driving him to the top of a multi-storey carpark which Eli should have been arrested and spent time in prison for. When a terrified Marlon questioned why Eli was doing this, Eli admitted that it was because he had always resented Marlon. That he had spent his whole life being "the rubbish one" nobody loved, whilst everyone loved Marlon. During the argument, Marlon managed to get free and the two brothers had a fight that ended with Eli hanging from the side of the building. Marlon begged him to give him his hand, but Eli refused and when he was rescued anyway, he cried that he hadn't wanted to be saved and ran back to Zak, who furiously told Eli he was disowned.
2008-2009
Eli discovered that pensioner Lily ButterfieldLily Butterfield
Lily Butterfield is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Anne Charleston. She made her first appearance on 3 November 2006. Lily is Edna Birch's estranged sister and the biological mother to Edna's son, Peter Birch...
was using her polytunnel to grow cannabis to help with her arthritis. He began to blackmail her so that he could sell some of the cannabis for money. This led to Sam Dingle
Sam Dingle
Samuel Jonah "Sam" Dingle is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale played by James Hooton.-Storylines:Sam first appears in 1995 and he demands ransom money from the Sugden family. After his release from prison, he worked as a dogsbody for Eric Pollard and was constantly conned...
becoming unwittingly involved and arrested. Sam confessed and Eli was then arrested and named Lily. Luckily, Zak and Edna destroyed the evidence, and so the police were forced to drop the charges. Zak was disgusted with Eli and once again temporarily disowned him.
Despite knowing that Debbie didn't love him, Eli planned a picnic in order to propose to her. He said he wanted to help her to get custody of her daughter Sarah. Debbie initially agreed, but called it off when she discovered the ring was stolen. Rejected, a heartbroken Eli stole her taxi and ended up knocking over a pedestrian who was revealed to be an ex girlfriend, Danielle Hutch. Eli had served time in prison for Danielle, but he still had feelings for her and they slept together. It turned out that Danielle was on the run from local criminals the McFarlanes, who she'd stolen drugs from. Danielle was then arrested by Shane Doyle who was working for the McFarlanes. Eli tried looking for her, only to find her at a McFarlane-run nightclub. He tried rescuing her, but Danielle hurt his feelings to make him leave. When Chas Dingle
Chas Dingle
Chastity "Chas" Dingle is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Lucy Pargeter.-Storylines:...
's young son Aaron was being kept as a drugs mule by the McFarlanes, Danielle tipped off the Dingles in order for them to rescue him.
That same night, Jasmine Thomas
Jasmine Thomas
Jasmine Thomas is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. She was played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.-Storylines:Jasmine arrived in Emmerdale on 30 June 2005. Sent to the village by her parents during her holidays from boarding school, she stayed with her uncle Ashley Thomas, the...
and Debbie Dingle
Debbie Dingle
Deborah "Debbie" Dingle is a fictional character in the British ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale. She is portrayed by Charley Webb...
had uncovered the truth about Shane Doyle and when he attempted to rape Jasmine, she had bludgeoned him to death. Trying to conceal the crime, Debbie went to find Eli and took him back to the crime scene. Horrified, he eventually agreed to help and they disposed of Shane's body in the lake. The body was found in January 2009 and Ross Kirk
Ross Kirk
Ross Kirk is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Samuel Anderson. He appeared from 2007 to 2009. A cousin of Paddy Kirk, Ross is a police officer and during his 15 months in the village he has an affair with Donna Windsor-Dingle, and is imprisoned after being charged...
was arrested after Marlon implicated him following his affair with Marlon's wife. Desperate to free her lover, Donna became suspicious of a guilty Eli and turned him in to the police. He was released, but his unusually withdrawn behaviour worried Zak and Eli started to reveal the truth, but was rearrested before he could. Faced with a life sentence, Eli cracked and confessed everything to the police. Debbie and Jasmine had been planning to run away together and leave Eli to his fate, but his confession led to Debbie being arrested whilst Jasmine escaped. When Zak realised that Eli has told the police the truth, he attacked him and declared him dead to the Dingle family.
Only Marlon stuck by Eli and took him into his house. Eli tried, but failed to correct his mistake and free Debbie. He tried changing his statement and then ran away from home when that went wrong. Marlon found him sleeping rough and convinced him to come back home. They then tracked Jasmine down to Scotland and tried to convince her to hand herself in, but were interrupted when her grandfather Sandy Thomas
Sandy Thomas
Sandy Thomas is a fictional character on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by Freddie Jones and made his first appearance on the show 6 November 2005...
entered, wielding a gun. When he found out that Danielle was now in the same prison wing as Debbie, Eli concocted a plan to free both her and Debbie. However, Debbie refused to leave and Danielle was later caught and returned to prison. A guilty Jasmine returned and confessed the truth, leading to Debbie's release a few weeks later. However, Debbie's distress at Jasmine's sentence upset Eli who thought she would now hate him. Depressed about this and Danielle's arrest, he broke down in tears to Marlon and made an emotional speech about how much he secretly hated how he was, before deciding it was best for him to leave the village.
A couple of months later, Laurel Thomas
Laurel Thomas
Laurel Thomas is a fictional character in the British soap opera Emmerdale, played by Charlotte Bellamy. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 3 September 2002. Laurel has been off-screen at various times while Bellamy has taken maternity leave.-Casting:In 2004, Bellamy announced she...
found him living on the streets. He was filthy and confessed he hadn't eaten in days, but revealed he didn't dare to go home. She told Marlon, who went to bring Eli home, but Eli refused, saying that he was cursed and caused his family nothing but misery. Marlon told Eli that he loved him and the two brothers shared a tearful hug before Eli returned to the village to discover that his family were happy welcome him back. Eli moved back in with Marlon, who took in a new lodger called Lizzie Lakely
Lizzie Lakely
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lakely is a fictional character from the British ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale, played by Kitty McGeever. She is Emmerdale's first blind character, and is played by a blind actress...
. Eli was initially jealous and suspicious of Lizzie, but they eventually became friends. He was involved in several dodgy schemes before his friendship with Priya Sharma saw him securing a steady job at the Sharma's sweet factory. Eli developed a slight crush on Priya, but it wasn't reciprocated.
2010
When Sam DingleSam Dingle
Samuel Jonah "Sam" Dingle is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale played by James Hooton.-Storylines:Sam first appears in 1995 and he demands ransom money from the Sugden family. After his release from prison, he worked as a dogsbody for Eric Pollard and was constantly conned...
developed feelings for illegal Ukrainian immigrant Olena Petrovich, Zak asked Eli to spy on them. This eventually led to Eli and Olena becoming good friends and she confessed that she did not return Sam's intense feelings for her, but was scared to tell him the truth. Sam picked up on the closeness between the two and became jealous and ever more possessive. Sam decided to propose to Olena so that she could stay in the country and tried to get Cain to obtain a fake passport. Concerned, Zak warned Olena to leave town rather than hurt his son. If she did not, he would turn her into the authorities himself.
Faced with losing Olena, Eli now confessed that he was also in love with her and Olena claimed that she was also falling in love with Eli. They shared a passionate kiss and made a pact to elope. Marlon realised something was going on between them and angrily confronted Eli who tearfully declared that he loved Olena and wanted to help her and her family. Marlon demanded that they tell Sam the truth, but Sam saw the pair kissing in a field and was left heartbroken, In revenge, he reported Olena to Border Control and she was arrested in front of a horrified Eli. Upset, Eli got drunk and began to accuse the other villagers of reporting her, before Sam confessed that it was him. A furious Eli threw a glass at his cousin's head before being dragged away by Marlon, who told him it was partly his own fault for becoming involved with a woman Sam cared for and for not telling Sam the truth. When Eli confronted Sam, Zak threatened him and told Eli that he was no longer a Dingle. In retaliation Eli told Sam that Zak had already ordered Olena to leave town.
Depressed following the loss of Olena, Eli quit his job. He received a letter from Olena revealing that she was back home, but unhappy. Eli told Marlon that Olena had been his one chance of happiness and it had lasted a week and then been taken away from him - just like that. He then sank further into a downward spiral and began to steal again. With Marlon demanding rent, he decided to rob the cash box from the B&B. He made so much noise that he woke up a drunken Eric Pollard
Eric Pollard
Eric Charles Pollard is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale played by Chris Chittell.Pollard has appeared on the show since 1986, making him the second longest running current character after Alan Turner who has appeared since 1982. He has lied to, cheated and swindled...
, who fell down the stairs and knocked himself unconscious. Horrified, Eli tried to wake him and then struggled with his conscience before greed got the better of him and he took the cash box and ran. As Sam had been the one to find Eric, he was blamed for the theft. Eli planned to run away, but Marlon caught him and warned his brother that he had better get Sam out of this mess. Eli was about to leave, when he had second thoughts and advised Marlon that he was going away forever, so that he wouldn't keep screwing things up for everyone around him.
Eli then revealed himself to be the thief, before apologising to Sam. He left before he could be arrested and Marlon followed him, begging his brother not to leave on bad terms. The two had an emotional discussion about their childhood before Marlon kissed his brother goodbye. Eli returned the cash box to Marlon, which was later discovered to be empty apart from a note which read "IOU £400". Eli was last seen leaving the village. He took one last tearful look back, then turned and walked away.
No further mention was made of Eli until 6 October 2010, when Marlon mentioned that Eli was living in Arbroath
Arbroath
Arbroath or Aberbrothock is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus in Scotland, and has a population of 22,785...
. Eli had been arrested, so Marlon went to pay his bail. he has not been mentioned since.
External links
- Eli Dingle at itv.comItv.comitv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
- Chorley Online story on Joseph Gilgun