Christmas on Emmerdale – Torvill and Dean help Belle propose to Tom

Next week on Emmerdale, Torvill and Dean make a surprise appearance in Emmerdale to help Belle pull off a special proposal…

It’s set to be a Christmas that Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) will never forget, as she manages to pull off a special proposal to boyfriend Tom (James Chase) with the aid of some celebrity guests.

The pair have had a whirlwind, rekindled romance since Tom’s return to the village back in April after a decade away, and moved in together at Dale Head only a couple of months ago.

What seemed to be dark cloud appeared over their relationship though when Tom then proposed to Belle. Frustrated when she turned him down, Tom ended up lashing out and pushed Belle away, causing her to fall and hit her head on the coffee table.

Tom was mortified at what had happened, and although shaken, Belle has resolved to put the incident behind her as a one-off.

“From that moment on they’ve been on a good path,” Eden Taylor-Draper explains, as EverySoap and other select press join the cast and crew whilst filming the proposal scenes at a Leeds ice rink last month.

“It was a sort of freak incident,” James Chase adds. “I think it shows how good of a person Belle is, if she was able to forgive him for that. Obviously, it was a terrible thing that happened, but I think they just move on and forget about it.”

Belle didn’t tell any of her family about what had happened, which is probably just as well, as neither Eden nor James would have fancied Tom’s chances.

“He would be dead, Cain would have killed him,” laughs Eden. “Yeah… that would not be good!” James adds.

As such, having heard about the proposal attempt, Chas (Lucy Pargeter) has been encouraging Belle to propose back to Tom.

“As much as Chas is like ‘Propose, propose, propose!’, I do think Belle is thinking ‘Well this is the love of my life, why not?” Eden explains. “She’s very quickly forgotten about what happened, and is just like ‘Wow, everything’s amazing and I’m so in love with you.”

“They were childhood sweethearts,” James reminds us.

When Tom heard that his childhood heroes, Olympic champion ice dancers Torvill and Dean, would be appearing as special guests at Emmerdale’s Christmas fair, his excitement was palpable. As Belle told Chas how the day was going to be a special one for Tom, Chas suggested that a proposal would be the perfect icing on the cake.

But as Nicola (Nicola Wheeler) led the special guests down to the village hall to the strains of Ravel’s Bolero, Tom was disappointed to see what his wily aunt had actually organised…

“She said ‘Torvill and Dean’ were going to be there,” James explains. “And Tom assumed it’s going to be these guys… but it was actually two random reindeer. That really annoyed Tom!”

As a result, Belle figured the time wasn’t quite right, and next week she starts to organise an alternative proposal. But even that gets scuppered when Sam (James Hooton) drags Belle away for a surprise—Christmas day being her 25th birthday.

Belle eventually puts yet another plan together, with help in the form of Leyla (Roxy Shahidi).

“It’s all thanks to me that this is happening,” jokes Roxy as she joins us in a break from filming. “Belle’s tried and failed, but obviously Leyla has a lot of experience given her line of work, being a wedding planner. They have a talk in the cafe and Leyla has this genius idea of the ice rink, and Torvill and Dean!”

“Apparently they owe Leyla a favour,” Roxy teases. “After some unspoken thing went down in Mykonos…”

When Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean later join us, we ask about this mysterious incident.

“We’ve no idea,” Jayne laughs. “I’ve never even been to Mykonos, there’s no ice rinks there!”

“I think they were trying to be a bit naughty in the script,” Chris quips.

Tom hasn’t got a clue what’s going on when he’s blindfolded and bundled into a car taking him away from the village. “He’s clearly very trusting in Leyla, letting her do that!” James comments.

After getting him into some skates, Leyla leads a nervous Tom out onto the ice, and when the blindfold is removed, Tom is stunned to see the real Torvill and Dean performing their Bolero routine before his very eyes.

“I think [in the story] they’re on tour near Leeds or something and are training, so Leyla pulls a few strings and they do her a favour,” Eden reveals.

“I think he’s in shock to start with,” James continues. “Being blindfolded for 20 minutes beforehand, he’s probably thinking he’s dreaming for a minute, wondering ‘Am I still in the car with the blindfold on?’. Torvill and Dean are here, no-one else is here, they’re dancing and it’s like his childhood. Then the love of his life is there, proposing to him with a silly ring!”

After James describes the ring as hilarious, Eden clarifies that it’s one that Belle and Tom have previously pulled out of a cracker.

Belle is elated when Tom says yes, and he finally gets to have his fanboy moment as Torvill and Dean skate over to them. 

“Obviously he did take it badly,” James comments about Tom’s original proposal. “But I don’t think he was worrying about their relationship, or thinking it was doomed. I think he thought ‘It is what it is, maybe I was too early’. So I think he’s definitely surprised when she proposes, and is incredibly happy. It reaffirms everything.”

With producer Laura Shaw teasing that Belle and Tom are set for a Valentine’s Day wedding, are the pair destined to live happily ever after, or is the coffee table incident foreshadowing further trouble down the line?

“It’s all pretty positive,” Eden tells us.

“When Tom initially came back into the show, I think everyone had eyes on him thinking that something was going to be up with him.” James explains. “Obviously he was going through his issues when he was younger and was quite aggressive, so I think it was easy to assume that he was going to be like that again.”

“Unfortunately with this happening, everyone’s back in that place again, ready to assume it’s going to go down that path. I think it was just something that happened, but it shows how strong their relationship is, and again how wonderful Belle is to move past it. Right now, how amazingly romantic all this is, I think that’s where they’re headed.”

So how are James and Eden’s respective Christmases going to compare to Tom and Belle’s?

“We’re not going to have Torvill and Dean,” they both say in unison.

“Well maybe…” James ponders. “We are friends with them now…”

“Yeah, we’re like BEST friends,” Eden confidently agrees.

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As fans of the show, once filming is completed at the ice rink, Torvill and Dean are looking forward to checking out The Woolpack back at the studios.

“We’ve done a couple of lines of dialogue, and we’re off to The Woolpack for a pint and a bit more dialogue later.” Chris reveals. “Apparently we might be in picture frames in their house as well…?” Chris asks, before it’s confirmed the art department have informed Emmerdale’s photographer of Tom and Belle’s wish for a photo on their mantelpiece.

But how did the pair come to be here today?

“It was quite the moment,” Chris explains. “We were at a function for ITV somewhere in Westminster and all the Emmerdale actors were down there. I think it was Mark Charnock who said ‘You should do something in Emmerdale’. One of the show producers of the time, Jane, was there and said ‘Yeah I think we can make that happen’.”

“They said would you be willing to do it?” Jayne continued. “And we were like, ‘Yeah!’”

“We did Coronation Street years ago [actually a Text Santa sketch] as ourselves, but we didn’t skate,” Jayne continues, after being asked if it’s the first time they’ve appeared as themselves in fiction. But it’s not long before they’ve been reminded of their famous appearance alongside Rowan Atkinson in a Mr Bean sketch for Comic Relief.

“Yeah that was fun, and quite the epic thing to do,” Chris recalls. “But with Emmerdale, it’s so current isn’t it, and we’re honoured to be asked to be a part of it.”

The day of filming actually marks the first time the pair have been on the ice together for some time.

“We hadn’t skated together for eight months until today because of circumstances,” Jayne reveals. “I’d had surgery for injuries, and Chris was working on another show, choreographing. He’s been there for weeks and literally flew back a few days ago. I’d skated a few times by myself when I was allowed to get back on the ice, but this was the first day together, and you saw it.”

“I did have a little tear,” she admits. “I’m usually known as the stone heart, but I was excited to get back on the ice.”

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The day was also quite surreal for Roxy Shahidi, who as an upcoming contestant on the next series of Dancing on Ice, has been training at this very rink amongst others with Christopher Dean’s partner Karen Barber.

“I actually didn’t realise how weird I would find it until I arrived, because I’ve been showing up here all the time. It wasn’t just that Emmerdale was filming here, but then Karen my coach was here, and Torvill and Dean… and I was like, this is a very weird merging of worlds. But it’s actually been a really fun day, it’s like a school trip whenever we film on location.“