Zak is the patriarch of the Emmerdale Dingles. Ostensibly a scrap dealer and pig farmer, Zak spends most of his time either doing nothing at all, or dreaming up scams and schemes. At times a violent man, Zak is also prone to jealousy, however, he will do anything for a quiet life and a pint in the Woolpack!
| Lives at |
Wishing Well Cottage |
| Works at |
Unemployed (poacher) |
| First appearance |
20th October 1994 |
| Likes |
Ale |
| Disikes |
Working |
| Did you know? |
Zak used to work on a fair ground running a ‘scrapping booth’ and fighting people for money |
History
1994
- Zak is involved in a bare knuckle fight with Ned Glover which he loses
1996
- While training for a bare knuckle fight Zak accidentally punches Mandy, not impressed she turns around and knocks him flat
1997
- Zak performs in the wine bar with the Woolpackers
1998
- Zak and Lisa’s wedding doesn’t go to plan when it is revealed that he got her wedding ring out of a pig he had got for his birthday
- Zak faints after Paddy shows him the new addition to the family (Belle) who has just been born in the pig barn
2000
- Zak and Lisa organise a party for Cain’s birthday and invite his parents to try and offload him. The party doesn’t go well and at the end of the night Faith reveals to Zak that he is in fact Cain’s dad and not Shadrach
2001
- Zak finds a lump and is eventually forced to admit it needs checking out. He is devastated to find out that he has testicular cancer
2006
- After Belle is excluded from school for disabling the nanny guard on the computers, Zak tries to home school her using the horse racing
- Zak and Lisa make a TV appeal for Sam to give himself up after he went on the run over the misunderstanding with David and the gun
2009
- Taking advantage of the decline of Butler's Farm, Zak and Shadrach decide to rustle some of the sheep flock
2010
- Coming home from a time-share pitch at a ‘posh’ hotel the Dingles are horrified to see the extent of the damage Shadrach has caused with his flooded bath
- Overjoyed to welcome Lisa back home from prison Zak throws a traditional Dingle do for her return
- Zak is devastated when his brother Shadrach dies of an alcohol-related illness. The Dingles hold a special ceremony for Shadrach and bury him at Wishing Well
2011
- Is devastated to find out that Lisa was raped by his friend Derek and further affected by the fact she felt she couldn't tell him as soon as it happened.
- Zak put Lisa off by turning up to support her in court. Derek was sent down but for attacking someone else.
- Zak asks Cain to leave Charity and Jai alone and gets a punch in the face for his troubles.
- Zak and Lisa help Hazel when she find's a baby left in the phone box. Belle admits that the baby is Amy's and Cain's the father.
- Zak is distraught at the chaos Cain is spreading through the village and tries to talk some sense into his son.
2012
- Zak reveals himself to be Cain's attacker and begs him to drop the charges on Jai, before Aaron takes his revenge
- Cain decides not to send Zak to prison and instead gets Jai off the hook by telling the police his attacker was an old associate from Spain who had a grudge. However Zak still has to defend himself against various members of his family who know the truth
- Zak's guilt over attacking Cain starts to manifast itself psychologically, causing him to have moments of forgetfulness.
- Zak is sent to hospital after a panic attack. Refusing to believe the diagnosis, he doesn't tell Lisa what's wrong with him, leaving her (and the rest of the family) to assume that his cancer has returned...