Emmerdale's Belle Dingle star looks unrecognisable in first ever TV soap appearance

Emmerdale's Eden Taylor-Draper has been at the forefront of some of the most intense storylines recently, and fans were thrilled this week as her character Belle Dingle decided to leave her abusive husband Tom King.

Eden has portrayed Belle since she was a mere seven years old, making her debut on the soap in October 2005. Her initial scenes featured Steve Halliwell, who played her on-screen father Zak Dingle until his poignant departure last year.

In episodes broadcast that year, viewers saw Belle getting into trouble at school for initiating a fight and not shying away from answering back to her dad.

Perched in the Dingles' van, Belle angrily recounted an episode with a schoolgirl, venting: "She kept calling me! She keeps coming up behind me and pulling my hair going, 'Ding dong' like it's supposed to be funny!"

Zak cautioned her, saying: "You can't go round thumping folk," to which Belle retorted: "Cain does it!", reports the Express.

Subsequently, Belle found herself in hot water with her mother Lisa for the altercation, ending up doing the dishes while Sam and his wife Alice observed. This followed a period where Belle was conspicuously absent from the family, ostensibly caring for Granny Clegg a narrative device allowing the actress to be aged up for a recast.

Eden wasn't the first to step into Belle's shoes on the soap; initially, the character was portrayed by a boy, James Mather, followed by his sister Emily Mather from 1998 to 2005. Emily later pursued studies in sports with aspirations of becoming a teacher, marking a stark shift from her early acting days.

Upon securing her role and winning the British Soap Award for best young actor in 2007, Eden's mother Niki shared with the York Press how she kept her