Why is Debbie Dingle not returning to Emmerdale amid Zak's funeral and who is coming back?

Viewers have been wondering for weeks if Debbie Dingle was returning to , so where is the character?

's character was tipped to be returning to the soap for Zak Dingle's funeral. But Wednesday's episode has heavily hinted this is off the table, and that Debbie will not be back.

While there's still time for her to make an appearance, a comment by Moira Dingle on Wednesday night appeared to reveal Debbie was not heading back to the village after all. So why is Debbie not coming back for such a huge episode?

Charley has not played the role since her brief comeback in 2021. Debbie appeared onscreen amid trouble with her teen daughter Sarah Sugden, while it was also revealed she was Al Chapman's other woman after he cheated on Priya Sharma.

Since then Debbie has remained away, while the Dingles often mention her and visit her. She's been living in with her young son Jack Sugden for a while.

Zak was also staying with his granddaughter up until his death this week. Debbie broke the news to her family of Zak's sudden and sad passing, before it was revealed the news had "hit her hard".

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As for her reasons for not returning to the village for the funeral, Moira was told by her husband Cain, Debbie's father, that she couldn't handle it. Cain revealed that Debbie would not be returning to the village with him and would stay in Scotland.

She said Debbie had chosen not to attend, unable to face it after Zak's sad loss. So it seems for now Debbie is not making a comeback to the show, while of course there is time for her to change her mind amid a mystery Dingle returning to the soap this week. Their identity is not yet revealed but fans will soon find out!

Charley had quit the soap for good with it reported in 2021, before she addressed this and confirmed this to be the case in early 2022. As fans continued to ask her on social media about her decision to leave the role behind after so long, Charley commented that she did not want to make a huge deal out of her departure.

She said at the time in an post: "This is always my most asked question but I’ve never answered it before because I’ve never wanted to make a big deal of it. I left to have Ace 2 years ago.

"I went back at the end of last year for 10 weeks to complete a storyline. So, I guess officially it’s been a year. I never felt the need to announce it which is why we didn’t."

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on , , , , , and .