Emmerdale fans are puzzled as they have "no idea" who Tom King Jr (James Chase) is as he reconnected with his family during last night's episode (Thursday, May 4).
The soap welcomed back a familiar face as Tom King — formerly known as Thomas King — returned to the village, ten years after his exit. However, fans have been left stumped by his return as they don't remember who he is.
Since returning to Emmerdale, Tom reunited with his childhood sweetheart Belle Dingle (Eden-Taylor Draper) and the pair have been sneaking around ever since.
Belle encouraged Tom to talk with his family in the village after ten years away, but he initially put off her suggestion as he was struggling with unresolved grief over his dad's death.
But in Wednesday's episode (May, 3), he eventually came face to face with his uncle Jimmy King (Nick Miles) and aunt Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) for the first time in years, who were astounded to bump into their nephew at The Hide.
Jimmy was hurt to realise his late brother Carl King's (Tom Lister) son had been laying low as they asked him on why he hadn't been in touch and why he was back in the village.
He insisted that he had come back to rekindle his romance with Belle and promised to catch up with them soon.
During last night's episode, Belle came clean to her family that she had secretly been seeing Tom.
Her brother Sam Dingle (James Hooton) was furious to hear about her antics after Tom tried to kidnap her years ago but eventually gave in when Belle said that he was now a changed man.
Later on, Tom told Jimmy the truth as to why he stayed away, revealing that he didn't come back as his dad Carl was an attempted rapist.
In 2012, Carl attempted to sexually assault his former fiancée Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) after she exposed his affair with Eve Jenson (Suzanne Shaw).
A terrified Chas defended herself during the attack by hitting Carl over the head with a brick.
"I don't wanna hear about him or talk about him. Ever," Tom said to Jimmy.
Jimmy was relieved to hear that his nephew didn't hate him and suggested that they spend some quality time together.
Now able to face the other residents, Tom showed up to The Woolpack and apologised to a stunned Chas for terrorising her all them years ago after he believed that she killed his father, when it was actually Cameron Murray (Dominic Power).
As Tom, Jimmy and Nicola had a happy reunion at the pub, it wasn't long before things took an awkward turn when Jimmy accidentally mentioned Carl's name.
Baffled fans couldn't remember Tom and took to Twitter to voice their confusion...
I wish they would have a character explaining Tom's history in #emmerdale to one of the others so viewers like me who have no idea what happened can follow it.May 4, 2023
Am I the only one who has no memory of Tom King or any storyline he was involved in? #emmerdaleMay 4, 2023
I really have no memory of this Tom and I’ve watched for a long time 😆 #EmmerdaleMay 4, 2023
Sorry, I'm lost ... don't recall 'Thomas' 'Tom' at all (I accept he's probably had a head transplant) who did Carl rape/attempt to rape? what horrible things did 'Tom' do to Chas? and who threw who out of a window??🤷 #emmerdaleMay 4, 2023
Emmerdale continues tonight at 7:30pm on ITV1.
