Who was Ben Dingle in Emmerdale as Sam references late brother?

Heath had only been 16 years old when he passed away, and Sam told Brenda that, while he knew the circumstances weren't the same, he knew what it was like to lose someone before their time, as his brother Ben was aged only 20 when he died.

But who was Ben, and what happened to him? We have all the answers below, as we take a deep dive into the character's time on-screen.

What happened to Ben Dingle in Emmerdale?

As the very first member of the Dingle clan to appear on-screen, Ben (played by Steve Fury) was the son of Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell), who also shared four other children with first wife Nellie (Sandra Gough, Maggie Tagney).

Long before we met Zak, Sam and their many other relatives, Ben arrived in the village in 1994, during a rave attended by some local teens.

In his car, Ben nearly ran over Dave Glover (Ian Kelsey). Dave was saved by Joe Sugden (Frazer Hines), who had known Ben when he was a child - though the Dingles and Sugdens had stayed away from each other for years.

The near-miss with Ben's car led to a fight with Luke McAllister (Noah Huntley) and Biff Fowler (Stuart Wade). Ben threw fists at Luke, and Luke retaliated. But when Luke hit him back, Ben collapsed. He was declared dead in hospital, and cause of death was revealed to be inhalation of blood after the punch from Luke.

Later, a professor claimed that Ben had died of a rare heart defect, but the Dingles refused to believe this, because one of the doctors who examined Ben's body was in fact Luke's father.

Up until 1995, the Dingles made the other family's life hell as they accused Bernard McAllister (Brendan Price) of lying about the heart defect to get Luke off the hook for a manslaughter charge. Ben's sister Tina (Jacqueline Pirie) duped Luke, dating him and claiming she was pregnant to get him to marry her.

On the big day, Tina publicly jilted Luke, saying she had never been pregnant, didn't love him and would never forgive him for Ben's death. When Luke took revenge, kidnapping Tina and driving her in his van, she escaped just before Luke crashed into a wall and lost his own life in the process.

Ben has been mentioned a handful of times since his death almost 30 years earlier. Sam has visited his grave; and in 2012, when Zak was suffering with his mental health, he confused Ben's death with that of son Butch (Paul Loughran), who died in 2000. Ben was also mentioned by Zak in 2021.

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• Emmerdale 2024 preview: 10 spoilers for the year ahead

Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Soaps hub.

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