Jedediah "Jed" Dingle is Zak Dingle's estranged father.
Jedediah Dingle was born in Beckindale in 1921 to Jonah Dingle. Jed married Peg in 1945 and they had their first son Albert in 1946, followed by four more sons.
In 1960, Jed and Peg had a huge row and while 8-year-old Zak was in bed upstairs he heard shouting and screaming followed by a sudden silence. Zak saw dried blood on the floor the following morning and no sign of his father. Peg had told Zak that his father had died while he had actually simply left the family, leaving Peg to bring up the children alone. The truth was not known to Zak for the next 40 years.
Zak did always wonder about the blood on the floor and had assumed that Peg killed Jed but was never quite sure. The blood was actually Peg's, as Jed hit her with an ornament during the row, before storming out.
In March 2002, Peg finally came clean to Zak and revealed that Jed was still alive. In December Zak managed to track down Jed, who was bedridden in hospital and has to be cared for by a nurse. Jed revealed that there was a hidden Dingle fortune in Chile and died shortly afterwards, resulting in Zak heading to Chile for a year in an attempt to find the treasure. However, his quest was unsuccessful.