10 Emmerdale characters who were jilted at the altar - from Carl King to Charity Dingle and more

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By Laura Morgan

8th December 2024

By Laura Morgan

8th December 2024

Weddings in Emmerdale are known to bring the drama, and the occasional jilting. Over the years, several unlucky brides and grooms have found themselves dumped at the altar.

Often someone’s been a naughty cheat and it’s coming to them, but there are those that just didn’t deserve such a public humiliation.

Get ready to relive their embarrassment all over again as we look at 10 characters who were chucked on their wedding day.

Emmerdale jilted characters: Luke McAllister

We’re rewinding the clock back to 1995, a time when Tina Dingle had a different face and was engaged to wed local heartthrob Luke McAllister.

Their romance caused uproar in the village, particularly amongst the Dingles, who blamed Luke for the death of Zak’s son Ben. The lad had collapsed and died after taking a punch from Luke, although it later transpired he had a heart defect.

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Nevertheless, the Dingle clan never forgave Luke for their loss and drove his family out of the village. Luke stayed put and ended up falling for Tina, who he met at a dance. Naturally, her loved ones were livid.

After a whirlwind romance, Tina announced she was pregnant with Luke’s baby. A shotgun wedding was hastily arranged, but Tina wasn’t really in love with Luke. She waited until they were standing at the altar to tell her fiancé there was no baby, she just wanted revenge on him for what he did to Ben.

Luke did not take the news well. Weeks later he attempted to kill Tina in a speeding van, but she jumped out just in time. Luke wasn’t so lucky. He ploughed the vehicle into a fence and was killed on impact.

Albert Dingle

It’s hard to imagine Lisa with anyone other than her beloved Zak, but she nearly became another man’s Mrs Dingle.

Lisa and Zak hit it off straightaway after meeting in 1996, but Zak’s jailbird brother Albert also had his eye on her. When Zak failed to prove his feelings, Lisa agreed to marry Albert, even though she didn’t really love him.

Their wedding day ended up being one to remember. First Lisa’s horrible ex-husband Barry Clegg crashed the nuptials and had to be forcibly removed from the church. Then Zak came to his senses and declared his love for Lisa in front of the whole congregation.

Poor Albert was heartbroken and ended up fleeing the village after the police arrived to question him over an armed robbery.

Zak finally got his girl, and just four months later Lisa became his wife.

Kathy Glover

Twice-widowed Kathy Glover hoped it was going to be third time lucky when she became engaged to her former brother-in-law Biff Fowler. But sadly it wasn’t to be.

Twisted teacher Graham Clark managed to get into Kathy’s head. The pair grew close and Kathy started to wonder whether she was marrying the right man. However, she put her doubts aside and decided to go ahead.

Dressed to impress in a gorgeous gold wedding gown, Kathy made her way up the aisle. But just as they were about to exchange vows, Biff called the wedding off, declaring he was unable to trust her and Graham.

Kathy was devastated and begged Biff to carry on. But his mind was made up. Biff rode out of the village on his motorbike shortly afterwards and hasn’t been seen since.

Emmerdale jilted characters: Carlos Diaz

When Nicola Blackstock (now King) fell for dishy chef Carlos Diaz she had no idea he was sleeping with her sister, Bernice.

After the affair ended, Carlos ended up getting with Nicola. And she was so desperate to keep hold of him that she pretended she was pregnant. Carlos proposed and Nicola accepted. But that’s when it all started to unravel.

During her hen party, Nicola was caught necking vodka by Bernice. She confessed she wasn’t expecting and Bernice (who was actually pregnant at the time) insisted she had to tell Carlos before the ceremony. Nicola did the right thing, but was horrified when Carlos revealed the truth about him and Bernice and admitted he could be the father of her baby.

Appalled, Nicola stormed the church and declared the wedding was off due to Carlos cheating, before informing Ashley of his wife’s betrayal. Savage!

Charity Dingle

It’s not often we feel sorry for Charity Dingle, but she didn’t deserve to be jilted by Tom King. Particularly as it was all super bitch Sadie’s fault.

Sadie was Jimmy King’s first wife, and Tom’s daughter-in-law. She despised Charity and did not take kindly to the idea of a former prostitute  threatening her position at Home Farm.

So Sadie started plotting to sabotage the couple’s big day. She recruited Cain to her dastardly mission, and paid him to make a move on Charity and capture the moment on camera. Although Charity rejected Cain’s advances, the incriminating pictures suggested otherwise.

Sadie showed the snaps to Tom on his wedding day. And surprise, surprise, he called off the nuptials, leaving Charity feeling totally distraught. And as for Sadie, she got her comeuppance. When Tom finally wised up to her scheming he cut her off without a penny.

Kelly Windsor

Jimmy King sure knows how to pick ’em. After being made a fool of by first wife Sadie, he fell for another manipulative minx – Kelly Windsor.

In the lead up to their wedding Kelly discovered she’d fallen pregnant. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Kelly had just landed a lucrative modelling contract and feared a baby would scupper her career. Taking her agent’s advice, Kelly underwent an abortion behind poor Jimmy’s back.

But Kelly’s lies caught up with her on her wedding day. Eli Dingle paid Jimmy a visit and told him about the abortion. And if that wasn’t bad enough Eli also revealed he’d shared a cheeky snog with Kelly.

Disgusted by her double betrayal, Jimmy told Kelly she could forget becoming Mrs King!

Emmerdale jilted characters: Michael Conway

Handsome Michael Conway was introduced to Emmerdale in 2009 as a love interest for Debbie Dingle.

The pair began a romance, but Debbie was devastated to learn Michael had failed to mention he had a pregnant fiancée. He claimed he’d called the wedding off, but Debbie’s dad Cain smelt a rat. He and Debbie found out where the nuptials were taking place and crashed the ceremony. But to their horror they discovered Michael’s bride-to-be was none other than Charity!

Cain outed Debbie and Michael’s affair and the fact that Debbie was her daughter. But despite the shocking revelations, Charity and Michael agreed to carry on with the wedding. That was until Debbie informed Michael that Charity had tricked him into proposing by pretending she was pregnant.

Charity was forced to admit there was no baby, and Michael called the whole thing off.

Cain Dingle

Once upon a time Cain and Charity were on the verge of becoming husband and wife. But the wedding never happened.

After a tumultuous on/off affair that had begun when they were underage teens, Cain proposed to Charity on Christmas Day 2009. He got down on bended knee and presented her with a plastic engagement ring.

Swept up in the excitement, Cain organised a surprise wedding with a little help from his sister, Chas.

On March 11, 2010, Charity was taken to the registry office, where Cain was waiting to make an honest woman of her. But although she was touched by the romantic gesture, Charity had to let her fiancé down gently. She explained she wasn’t quite ready to settle down, so they returned home.

Unsurprisingly, the couple split shortly afterwards. Charity went on to wed husband number two Jai Sharma, while Cain married Moira.

Emmerdale jilted characters: Carl King

Fans across the country cheered out loud for Chas the day she dumped love rat Carl King at the altar.

It was Christmas Day 2010 and the locals were invited to Chas and Carl’s festive nuptials. But no one – apart from Chas and her cousin Charity – knew what was about to happen.

Chas had discovered Carl had been sleeping with Woolpack barmaid Eve Jenson. In revenge, she told Carl she was pregnant with his baby and asked him to marry her. He agreed, completely unaware of the trap he’d fallen into.

With her stage set, Chas took great pleasure in outing Carl and Eve’s affair to everyone. And as a final sucker punch, she informed Carl there was no baby after all.

Gabby Thomas

Gabby’s jilting may have happened in the more private setting of Home Farm, but that didn’t make it any less humiliating.

It should have been the happiest day of Gabby’s life as she prepared to marry nanny Nicky Fox. But she discovered their whole romance was based on a big fat lie.

Nicky Fox was actually Nicky Miligan, Caleb’s son and the grandson of the late Frank Tate. He’d been faking his feelings for Gabby as part of a scheme concocted by Caleb to steal Kim Tate’s millions.

On the morning of their intended nuptials, Nicky couldn’t carry on the cruel deception. He told Gabby he couldn’t marry her because he was actually a gay man. She was devastated, but that was nothing compared to Caleb’s fury that his scam had failed.

Read more: Characters we want back in Emmerdale

Emmerdale usually airs weeknights on ITV at 7.30pm, with an early release on ITVX at 7am.

Classic Emmerdale usually airs every weekday on ITV3 at 6am and 6.30am, plus 1.40pm and 2.10pm.

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