Episode 4240/4241 (25th December 2005)

Plot
Lisa returns from Granny Clegg’s on Christmas morning full of festive joy until the hungover Dingles admit they thought Belle was with her. The family begin to frantically search for missing Belle and Lisa calls the police. Zak remembers Sandy befriending Belle at the christening and goes on the rampage to find him. As accusations fly around the village, Zak interrupts the Christmas morning church service to beg everyone to help find his little girl. A formal search of the area gets underway but when Zak learns that Daz is also missing, his suspicion leads to fury and he launches himself at Jack. The argument is halted as Lisa finds one of Belle’s gloves on the ground and is terrified by what may have happened to her daughter. Despite having spent the night in the shaft with a frozen Belle, Daz tries to remain optimistic. But as the water in the shaft begins to rise due to the rain, he fears the worst and realises that time is running out. Meanwhile, it’s an unhappy Christmas in the King household when Tom learns that Dean has located Jimmy in a police cell. Tom gets him released on a caution for drunk and disorderly but is horrified when the police reveal that they found Jimmy on a motorway bridge. As Jimmy refuses to confirm whether he was planning to jump, Tom realises his son is a broken man.