I noticed quite a few scenes between and Belle and Kirin the other day, and given that the 2 are supposed to be around the same age, does anyone else see them getting together?

No doubt the fledgling romance would be dead in the water when the baby news is revealed, but in the mean time they could make a pretty plausible couple?

Not sure how I'd feel to be honest!! Whilst Kirin looks way older, I still think of Belle as a little girl....

I posted about this in the discussion thread yesterday. Those two would be great together, they can have Vanessa lose the baby and leave town.

I noticed it too. From a 39 year old to a 16 year old

Her's old enough to be her father.

LOL!! Certainly looks it!

I dunno, I'm quite warming to the idea now....our Belle deserves some happiness, and lets get real, whilst he might look a bit older, Kirin is HOT!!

Poor Belle, there's only Kirin around for her to be with Everyone else is either way older, taken or related to her Other than CreepieBeanie but I doubt they'd have her back with him.

They looked alright together the other day. Have to see how it plays out.

Yeah, I think they've intentionally aged Belle up a bit, by giving her a job, and some professional clothes and make up, also her hair is different, she looks much less dowdy farm girl now. She wouldn't have got a second glance from superhotKirin before....creepybeenie or sinkestateShaun was the best she could hope for bless her.

Don't worry folks.....Kirin's father will pay Belle £20,000 to leave the village.

She looks 16 he looks 26. They will not look like a believable same age couple

Is she 16? I thought she was more like 18. Weren't they talking about her being about to finish school?

Surely it'd be less tedious than Vanessa/Kirin.

I think she's 17/18 but she still looks younger

I don't know, I actually thought they looked like a nice couple stood at the bar the other day. I know Kirin looks ridic in that school uniform and isn't really passable as a young teenager. but he could easily be 19 / 20.

She was born Xmas Day 1998 so is 16 and a half.

Our school system works a little differently to the US. Our exams are taken in stages. Basically you take one lot in the year you turn 16 (it was known as the 5th year when i was at School - it is now Year 18) which is supposed to give you a broad level of qualifications - everybody has to take Maths and English and also advised to take one foreign language, one science, one humanity, one art. . These are called GCSEs. There is then the option to stay on for another 2 years to study fewer subjects (usually 3 or 4( in greater detail. These exams, known as A (stands for Advanced) levels are taken during the year you turn 18 and are the qualifications you need to gain entry to University.

They are planning to make it compulsory for all kids to stay in School until 18 but it is actually quite usual for people fo finish at 16 and get a job with the qualifications they have taken then. In fact, until fairly recently, well over half of most kids did this and A levels were only considered necessary if you planned on going to University.

So, there is a HSC or 'graduation' in the way most Americans know and people aren"t considered to have 'dropped out' if they don't get that far.

Kirin has just taken his A levels and turned 18 a few weeks ago. Belle would have taken her GCSE's a few weeks ago but had to deferr due to missing so mich School whilst serving her sentence for Gemma's death and then becoming ill which is why they were talking about her having to repeat her 'last' year.

So, kirin and Belle are 2 academic years apart but he is only actually 18 months older than her.

That was all quite long winded but hope it helps.

Oh wow that sounds much more complicated than ours, thanks for the explanation though.

You're welcome.

I might also mention that taking A levels isn't a 'right'. You will only be accepted for the A Level course if you have done well enough in your GCSE'S - same as people can"t automatically get into University, they need to have reached a certain grad in their A levels. So, there can be a lot of 16 year olds that have no choice but to leave then and not stay in full time education until 18.

It used to be even more complicated because there were 2 different types of exams which could be taken at 16 - O levels and CSE - O levels were much harder. The child's performance up to the age of 14 would dicyate which course you were put on. Even prior to that, we used to have streaming from 11, the exam you took then decided how 'good' a school you went to for the next 5-7 years. So many people's futures were decided that early on. That aspect of things isn't quite as bad now.

It is a complicated system and failing even one set of exams or course work, even as young as 11 or 14 can have a hugely detrimental affect.

One last difference is that people can take A levels other than at a School. They used to be known as 6th Form colleges and only 16-18 year olds attend rather than remaining at the School they have attended since 11. Many prefer it for various reasons, a fresh start if you didn't like some of the teachers at your School for instance. This is where Kirin has been, so when he talks about going to college, he wasn't talking about University but actually finishing his Schooling. Kirin has effectively just finished Year 12.

Oh Kitkat this brought back so many painful memories for me!!!!! I failed my maths GCSE when I was 16 and was forced to resit 6 months later and reapply to my sixth form the year later, at which point it was oversubscribed and I was forced to attend the local college to study my A Levels.

The whole process was repeated again when I was 18 when I failed my double science award, and couldn't go to Uni. In the end I left Uni 6 months in, and went on an accountancy apprentceship.....that I could have joined 2 years earlier if I hadn't been so focused on getting a degree!

Wow that is way too complicated, its a lot simpler here, I know it varies state to state but here in Ohio you have to take one test it was called the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) , I think they are changing it and you get several years to pass it, people have a lot of trouble passing it though.

I'm a bit older than you and back in my day, Maths wasn't compulsory to move onto A levels provided you had the subjects you wanted to pursue. Just as well as i managed to fail my Maths O level, only one i did fail. As i was the last year of O levels I couldn't retake it, you had to start the GCSE course from scratch. So, I went on to do my A levels (English, History, Law, Economics and Public Affairs) and went from there. A few years later, when i was 22 and working, i decided it was embarrassing that i didn't have a formal Maths qualification, so went and did a GCSE at evening class.

Back to Belle and Kirin though. I don't think it is a bad match, there is actually only an 18 month gap between them and Belle is very clever and quite mature for her age due to her experiences.

Will proably be a short term fix.

I agree, once Kirin finds out that sprog of Vanessa's is actually his, he'll dump Belles ass and go trying to play happy families!

If they go that route it'd be a huge mistake, there is not enough (if any) following for Vanessa and Kirin to warrant a reunion. Him and Belle have had great chemistry and its about time she get a relationship. Most Dingle women at her age have had several relationships and children by this point.

She shares a birthday with about a dozen other soap kids.

Agree that would be awful, frankly there'd be no point to either Vanessa or Kirin in that scenario, like where exactly would Kirin go if saddled with a child to Vanessa. His character would be done.

Regardlesss of the characters' ages, Kirin looks and behaves too old and mature for Belle. They would make a weird couple . I just can't imagine Kirin seeing her in a romantic light. He's just being friendly to her, that's all.
From what I've seen, Kirin is pretty experienced with girls and he has no trouble picking up girls his age. Would he really be interested in Little Belle? She still looks like she's going through puberty . Kirin's into older girls/women, that much is clear.

On the other hand, Belle is a Dingle after all and the Dingle women always get their man (rather tediously), so it wouldn't surprise me if they had a one night stand or something. But I just don't see Kirin taking Belle on as his girlfriend. He's obviously being lined up to reunite with Vanessa once the baby is revealed to be his. But I think something will happen with Belle.

My prediction is that Belle is developing a crush on Kirin. Kirin is just being friendly to her, but is not romantically interested in her. But no doubt Belle will misread the signals and go in for a kiss. Kirin will pull back and she will get offended and run off like a typical teenager.
Then she will go back and tell Zack and Lisa that Kirin tried taking advantage of her to get revenge, and they will start huffing and puffing about their precious Belle, no less. This is when Cain will get involved and he'll go all panto villain on Kirin and tell him to stay away or else. You know, the usual tedious drama that comes with the Dingles. This is how it always ends with Belle and her love interests .