Eli Dingle is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Joe Gilgun.

Eli was a penniless drifter, just released from prison, now working as a builder turned up unannounced on his uncle Zak Dingle's (Steve Halliwell) doorstep and was told he was unwelcome.

Zak agreed to let Eli stay, but he soon got into trouble when Marlon emotionally blackmailed him into obtaining the morphine Sam used in Alice's assisted suicide.

After the men attacked Marlon trying to discover his whereabouts, Eli came up with a plan to frame them for armed robbery at the post office.

After Jimmy dumped Kelly at the altar, Eli helped her leave town by stealing Debbie's car.

Eli later began an on/off relationship with his cousin Debbie after agreeing to help her with some money-making schemes, including pretending to be Scott Windsor (Ben Freeman) in order for her to obtain a loan to buy his garage business.

When a story about him being a hero appeared, Marlon was rewarded for his supposed bravery with enough money to buy himself and Donna a house, Eli was jealous and began to blackmail his brother.

Instead of leaving town, Eli lay in wait and kidnapped his brother, driving him to the top of a multi-storey car park.

During the argument, Marlon managed to get free and the two brothers had a fight that ended with Eli hanging from the side of the building.

Eli discovered that pensioner Lily Butterfield (Anne Charleston) was using her polytunnel to grow cannabis to help with her arthritis.

Rejected, a heartbroken Eli stole her taxi and ended up knocking over a pedestrian who was revealed to be an ex-girlfriend, Danielle Hutch.

He was released, but his unusually withdrawn behaviour worried Zak and Eli started to reveal the truth, but was rearrested before he could.

When Zak realised that Eli has told the police the truth, he attacked him and declared him dead to the Dingle family.

They then tracked Jasmine down to Scotland and tried to convince her to hand herself in, but were interrupted when her grandfather Sandy Thomas (Freddie Jones) entered, wielding a gun.

Depressed about this and Danielle's arrest, he broke down in tears to Marlon and made an emotional speech about how much he secretly hated how he was, before deciding it was best for him to leave the village.

Eli moved back in with Marlon, who took in a new lodger called Lizzie Lakely (Kitty McGeever).

When Sam developed feelings for illegal Ukrainian immigrant Olena Petrovich, Zak asked Eli to spy on them.

This eventually led to Eli and Olena becoming good friends and she confessed that she did not return Sam's intense feelings for her, but was scared to tell him the truth.

Marlon realised something was going on between them and angrily confronted Eli who tearfully declared that he loved Olena and wanted to help her and her family.

He made so much noise that he woke up a drunken Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell), who fell down the stairs and knocked himself unconscious.

Eli returned the cash box to Marlon, which was later discovered to be empty apart from a note which read "IOU £400".

Joe Gilgun and Matthew Wolfenden (who went on to play David Metcalfe) were shortlisted for the role of Eli.

Loud and jovial, Eli was generally portrayed as an immature, lovable rogue who refused to take any responsibility for himself.

In November 2009, Gilgun announced his decision to quit in order to pursue other projects, including This Is England '86.