Emmerdale fans were quick to share their concern for a ‘missing’ character on Monday.

Soap watchers will recall that over the Christmas episodes, Belle Dingle’s beloved pet dog Piper ‘returned from the dead’ in a heartwarming twist.

Prior to this, Belle had become increasingly unsure about the fate of her pet dog Piper – who was understood to be dead thanks to her evil ex husband Tom King.

While at Piper’s grave, a confused Belle admitted to Vinny Dingle that she never saw the body.

Suspecting that abusive Tom may have been lying about her death, Belle asked Vinny to get a shovel so they could see for themselves.

Having dug up the grave, Belle and Vinny prepared to open Piper’s coffin but were left stunned to discover nothing was inside.

On Christmas Day, Belle visited her dad’s grave and she was overwhelmed with joy when Piper ran over alive, having been found by Vinny and Gabby Thomas in a festive miracle.

Taking to social media on Monday, one person said: “How come we never see piper anymore, she hasn’t been seen a screen since Christmas Day, not unless I’ve missed something, she a lovely little dog should see more of her!”

To which a different account replied: “We only really seen a lot of piper coz she was a crucial part of the Tom saga.. no storyline to include her just now”.

Another wrote: “How strange I had completely forgot about her till she was just mentioned that is weird she hasn’t been in it tho.”

Elsewhere, a different soap watcher put: “I was thinking the same”, another wrote: “We haven’t really seen much of Belle, Piper is small enough and quiet enough to go to work with Belle though x” while a different fan added: “Miss this dog.”

It comes as Eden Taylor-Draper, 27, who plays Belle, previously spoke to the media about Piper’s return being ‘a Christmas miracle’.

Eden admitted she wasn’t initially aware Piper’s great return was part of the writers’ plans.

She said: “It was really nice. Especially it being Christmas. I think it was just lovely and it felt like a real treat.”