The Dingles in Emmerdale are one of soap’s most iconic families. They’ve been in the show since the 1990s and at the heart of the drama for all that time.
But though we’re all familiar with Zak and his family – Sam and Cain, as well as cousins Charity, Chas, Mandy and Marlon, there are way more Dingles who we’ve met briefly, heard stories about, or never seen – and we’d love to get to know better.
Viewers of Classic Emmerdale will know that on screen in those episodes, Zak is trying to get rid of his troublesome mum, Peg.
Peg descended on the village when Zak’s cousin Elvis dropped her off, and on screen now viewers will see Zak trying to fool Elvis – and his wife Marilyn – into taking Peg back.
A few more Dingles arrived in 2004 for a brief visit to celebrate the family’s 10th anniversary of moving to the village.
But since then there’s not been a whole lot of new arrivals – and we reckon it’s time!
Here’s our lowdown on who the rest of the clan are and where they could be.
How are the Dingles related?
It’s the million dollar question, but we’ll have a go at explaining it all!
Way back when, Jonah Dingle married a woman called Dot. They had children including sons called Bert and Jedediah.
Jed married Peg and they had six sons! One of those sons was our Zak. Another was Chas’s dad, Shadrach – who was married to Faith. Albert, Marlon’s dad was another, while Mandy’s dad, Caleb, was another, and the father of Delilah (remember her?) was another brother, Zebediah.
Bert’s kids were Obadiah – Charity’s dad – Solomon, and Elvis.
No, we’re not sure there’s an Elvis in the Bible either!
Which Dingles could return?
Though Zak’s kids are at the heart of the stories in Emmerdale, there are many cousins who we’ve met over the years who could return.
Of course there are Elvis and Marilyn and their kids Daniel and Brando. As well as Delilah, and Marlon’s troublesome brother Eli.
Delilah’s sister Lilith was also in the show for a while, when she dumped her young sons, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Jon, on Marlon. And Lilith and Delilah also have a brother, Job.
We’d love to see one or more of them show up in Emmerdale!
Dingles we’ve heard stories about
Over the years we’ve heard so many mentions of other Dingles – as well as coming across the odd foreign branch of the family tree in spin-offs from the regular soap.
Charity’s Uncle Solomon, for example, has four sons. One is a fortune teller called Mystic who has been in the show briefly but who should definitely come back to Emmerdale for some fun. Then there’s Smudge and Moses, and our favourite – Adam, who emigrated to Finland to pursue a career as a pop star.
We’d love to see him doing karaoke in the Woolpack!
On the other side of the world the Australian Dingles include the legendary Crocodile Dingle. While the Venetian clan includes Giuseppe Dingle.
But we’ve got to be honest, we’ve got no idea how they fit into the family tree.
The mysterious Nathan Dingle
Of course we know Zak’s children were the dearly departed Butch and Ben, as well as Cain, Sam, Tina (another one who should return!) and Belle.
But way back when the Dingles first arrived in the show, they would talk about another son – Nathan. He never appeared and over the years they stopped mentioning him. Could he show up one day?
Would you like to see more Dingles in Emmerdale?
Read more: Who is in the cast of Emmerdale 2022? Meet the full line-up
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
Would you like more Dingles in the village? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!