Lisa Dingle

Lisa May Dingle (née Greaser; previously Clegg) is the former wife of Zak Dingle and the mother of Belle Dingle.

Storylines
When Lisa Clegg met Zak Dingle, she was instantly smitten. While other women may have been turned off by Zak's dodgy dealing and oddball family but Lisa didn’t care. However, the path of true love didn't run smoothly for the couple - particularly when Lisa's ex-husband, Barry, tried to blow up the Dingle homestead.

Despite their problems, Zak and Lisa married on 28th January 1998. Various family troubles kept them busy during that year, but Zak and Lisa were surprised when Lisa went out to the barn and gave birth to a daughter, Lisa didn't even know she was pregnant with Zak's baby. The arrival of baby Belle Dingle served to deepen Zak and Lisa's marriage, even surviving Zak's ex-wife Nellie Dingle’s stay in the village.

Lisa was saddened when Zak and Nellie's son Butch was killed in a bus crash in the village. She moved out briefly when Zak blamed her as she’d fixed the brakes on the vehicle responsible but Zak eventually came round and, realising Lisa wasn't responsible, begged her to move back in.

In 2001, tragedy hit again when Zak was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Zak beat it with Lisa's support and repaid his wife by inviting his mother Peg to move in. With Peg around, tensions in the Dingle household reached fever pitch. When she went, everyone was relieved.

The family was split again when Zak went to South America in 2002 in search of the Dingle treasure. With her husband away, Lisa felt vulnerable - especially with Zak's sleazy brother, Shadrach, coming on to her all the time. In the end, Lisa resorted to violent tactics to make Shadrach back off and was relieved he got the message. Although she enjoyed a few dates with Bob Hope's brother Eddie, it was clear that Zak was still the man for Lisa - a fact confirmed by his return and their subsequent reunion.

Lisa and Zak were shocked to discover that Debbie had had a baby and no one had known that she was pregnant. Lisa felt she’d let Debbie down and was determined to support her but Debbie wasn't interested in being a mum. She did everything she could to avoid looking after baby Sarah, infuriating Lisa and they argued frequently but when Debbie gave Sarah to Emily Kirk, who then left the village, Lisa hit the roof. Unable to bear the sight of Debbie, Lisa was relieved when she departed the Dingle home.

More tragedy was to hit the family when Zak's son, Sam, announced his girlfriend Alice Wilson was pregnant and she had cancer. Lisa proved to be the backbone of the family as everyone tried to prepare Sam for Alice's death and looking after their baby son, Samson, alone.

The morning of a competition in 2008, Lisa accidentally knocked out Val when she fell down some stairs while carrying a big bag of linens. Lisa and Val had been arguing and Lisa was worried that Lisa might have it out for her. Eli Dingle tied and gagged Val whilst Lisa was gone, intending to ransom her. Val was fuming until Lisa let it slip that Eric was planning their wedding for that day. Val and Eric did get married in front of friends and family.

Lisa was relieved when Belle's time at private school came to an end. She went there initially because Rosemary King realised how intelligent Belle was and offered to pay the fees but the Dingles had to pay everything else. When Rosemary left the village, she stopped paying the fees and Zak and Lisa took over but struggled financially and borrowed a lot of money from Debbie, causing her to get into trouble with Carl, who she borrowed the money from. Matters worsened after Zak quit his job at Home Farm, following a row over breakages Matthew insisted Zak pay for, Belle's friends found out that the fees hadn't been paid and teased her. So, recognising the problem, Zak and Lisa removed her from the private school and re-enrolled her into state school.

Lisa also managed to create a bond between Debbie and her daughter, Sarah. Andy agreed to let the Dingles see Sarah regularly and by getting Debbie to visit at the same time as Sarah and play with her, a mother-daughter bond developed.

Towards Christmas 2009, Lisa started nude modelling as the Dingles needed the extra cash for Christmas. When Lisa told Zak how tight fisted she thought Nikhil was, Zak got suspicious as Lisa had said the money for Belle's laptop was from a works bonus so she had to tell Zak the truth. He initially wasn't happy that she hadn't told him, but he came round. When Eli and Shadrach found out, they kept making wisecracks so Lisa decided to stop, due to lack of support from people round her but admitted to Zak that she felt good about herself.

In 2010, Lisa was arrested for punching a policeman and was sentenced to three months imprisonment.

In 2010, Derek Benrose began working at the Sharma Sweet Factory alongside Lisa. They became close and Zak got on well with Derek too, but in January 2011, after agreeing to work overtime with Lisa, Derek took advantage of the fact they were alone and raped Lisa, Lisa faced further heartache when she eventually reported Derek to the police but there was insufficient evidence to pursue a case against him. Lisa was furious but accepted it as there wasn't anything that could be done.

By late 2011, Cain had turned everyone against him as his bad behaviour had annoyed everyone. In December, Cain was found badly beaten and close to death. The main suspects were John Barton and Jai Sharma, who both had reasons to hate Cain as Cain had an affair with John's wife, Moira, and Cain hated Jai as Jai was engaged to marry his ex, Charity. Lisa believed Jai could have been responsible but it all came to a head when in January 2012, Zak admitted that he had attacked Cain. Lisa was shocked, but stood by her husband while Cain decided not to press charges, but his relationship with the Dingle clan became strained. In April 2012 Lisa began to notice some changes in Zak's behaviour: he had been paranoid about his chickens and while a vet confirmed they were fine, Zak had them all killed. Alarmed, the family put it down to Zak's cancer returning, but doctors later confirmed Zak was having a breakdown and he was sectioned. While Zak was eventually reunited with his family, he still felt guilty over his acts.

Other Information

 * Lisa has Aerophobia - the fear of flying.

Background Information

 * Starting from May 2018, Lisa has been absent from the show as actress Jane Cox has taken a temporary sabbatical from Emmerdale. The character moved to Scotland following a major health scare and brief conflict with her family. As of January 2019, Lisa has yet to return to the show, though she has been referenced fairly frequently since her departure.

Quotes
"How do?" - First line

"You dare to call me a bad parent when that sick and twister son of yours is standing there. I'd rather have a messed up little girl than a sex pest for a child, any day." - to Chrissie White after slapping her for calling her a bad parent because of Belle's mental health issues

"No. I am sick of all this touchy feely nonsense. I don't need Zak. I don't need you and I don't need this flaming lasagne!" - Lisa showing Joanie Dingle her true feelings about her and Zak by throwing Joanie's lasagne at the wall