With a regular cast of over 50 characters, it’s only natural that Emmerdale can’t fit everyone into the show at the same time. Cast holidays, storyline priorities and the logistics of running multiple filming units all play a role in who’s prominent on our screens at various points of the year.
Even so, it can still be fun to remind ourselves of who’s conspicuously absent from key scenes when they really should be there.
Just this week, teen character Arthur Thomas made his first appearance in five months, after failing to play any role in his best friend April Windsor’s run of big storylines.
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With that issue finally resolved, here’s a look at some other characters who are currently missing in action…
1. Kim Tate
Queen Kim seemed to be on the cusp of a big storyline a few weeks ago, as she made outlandish plans to take over the world (or at least the village) by frantically buying up as much farmland as she could.
Just a few days into her antics, though, she decided to waltz out of the Dales for a while and left Joe Tate in charge of the whole masterplan. He’s made a right hash of it, too, failing to make any real progress in convincing Moira Dingle to sell Butlers Farm.
Amid frequent off-camera phone conversations, Joe’s helpfully been on hand to report back Kim’s opinion on whatever’s happening in that particular episode. It’s just not the same, though – let’s hope Kim’s back to speak for herself soon!
2. Noah Dingle
Noah has featured on screen recently, with a handful of appearances in July and August, but he’s still been suspiciously quiet amid the big storylines currently engulfing his family.
Charity’s son has only appeared in four episodes since June, so has largely stayed out of any conversations surrounding Sarah’s surrogacy plan, Joe’s villainy and Mackenzie’s shock departure. Not usually shy when it comes to having his say and complaining about Charity, has Noah finally matured by keeping his head down?
3. Cain Dingle
Emmerdale recently wrote in a break for Cain Dingle, after his daughter Debbie got in touch to moan about how much she’s missing him. She probably should have thought about that before she moved to Australia!
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Even so, Cain was soon convinced to drop everything to make the trip Down Under. Will he be back in time to see John Sugden unmasked as Nate Robinson’s killer? It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for…
4. Cathy Hope
Gabrielle Dowling, who plays Cathy, was announced to be taking a break from Emmerdale in March. It’s thought that she needed the time off for an excellent reason – concentrating on her A-Level exams.
Cathy went sailing the seas with former stepmum Brenda, who’d won cruise tickets in a competition. Those scenes aired in April, though, and the trip was supposed to last for three months, so we could probably do with an update soon on whether the ship’s captain got lost during the journey.
5. Angelica King
Angelica took centre stage in her biggest ever storyline last year, as she was revealed to be responsible for Heath Hope’s tragic death in a road crash.
Last November, the troubled teen was released from the Secure Children’s Home and started to settle back into the local community.
Surprisingly, though, she’s barely featured on screen this year. Some fans see this as a missed opportunity after the initial powerful scenes in Heath’s exit story and how the tragedy affected two of the show’s biggest families.
6. Elliot Windsor
Speaking of the kids in the King residence, Jimmy’s son Elliot has also been missing in action this year.
Elliot was born off-screen in 2008 so is entering his late teens now – an ideal time to start featuring in bigger storylines.
Nicola Wheeler, who plays Nicola, did recently tell us to expect “a little bit of trouble” coming up for the Kings, “caused by one of their children”, so it sounds like the family dynamic could be explored again soon…
7. Charles Anderson
Charles has appeared in over 20 episodes this year so has still had a presence on screen, but his involvement has largely revolved around the church or supporting the local community, rather than having a big plot of his own.
Even when Moira’s slurry leak caused chaos around the village and left poor Charles feeling unwell after drinking contaminated water, the drama for the vicar took place entirely off camera and we had to rely on the other characters for updates on how he was doing!
8. Bear Wolf
When Emmerdale announced a big storyline for Bear Wolf in early May, we didn’t think we’d still be waiting for it to get going nearly four months later!
Bear recently made a sad departure from the village after tensions with his son Paddy, lying that he had a place to stay with a friend. Show bosses have promised big scenes for him when he’s eventually back, so we’re sure he hasn’t been forgotten about.
9. Billy Fletcher
Billy had a dramatic start to 2025 but has taken a well-deserved break from the action recently, with no appearances over the summer.
Is Billy keeping a low profile to avoid his nemesis Joe? (We wouldn’t blame him.) Or did Kim take him off on her trip and not tell anyone? She does seem to have an unlikely soft spot for him, after all.
