Emmerdale boss confirms when abuser Tom King will get his comeuppance – and fans won’t be happy
EMMERDALE’S boss has confirmed when abuser Tom King will get his comeuppance – and fans won’t be happy.
The character – played by James Chase – has been terrorising new wife Belle Dingle for months in the ITV soap.
He started with coercive control before his abuse turned physical.
Tom has left Belle so terrified that after she discovered she was pregnant with their baby, she decided to have an abortion rather than raise a child with her abusive husband, with the scenes set to air on Wednesday night.
While fans will hope this is a sign that Belle has realised the extent of her husband’s abuse, they are in for a shock when they learn how much longer the storyline is going to play out.
Speaking to The Sun and other media, Emmerdale boss Laura Shaw said: “We said right from the beginning that we wanted to tell this story as truthfully and authentically as we can.
“Let’s face it, I think people who are subject to domestic abuse, this isn’t something that’s over in a couple of weeks, this is something that goes on for a long length of time and we want to be truthful to that.
“So you know, I think you can expect this storyline…it’s going to run till the end of this year.”
Asked if bosses have always had a plan for how they the storyline will conclude, Laura replied: “I think we’ve always had a good idea in our head exactly where we want it to end.
“If I’m honest you know obviously we’ve found new twists and turns as we’ve gone through but we’ve always had a pretty clear picture in our head of where it would end.”
Meanwhile James, 28, opened up about what it’s like to play the villain.
He said: “I always knew this role was going have this storyline within it.
“Even when you know Tom was relatively a good guy for the first six months, I knew this was going to happen because obviously this was the agreement we had initially.
“But like me and Eden [who plays Belle] have said before, you have to just honour the storyline as realistically as possible because this is something that does go on.
“I think if the audience do hate you it’s a good sign that you’re doing it properly.”
Laura and James were also asked if Tom has behaved like this before, and Laura replied: “You know I think it is something that will that will come up in in the future, yes.”
In his own twisted way, I think it comes from his love/obsession of her which I think makes him be like this
Emmerdale's James Chase
James added: “I feel like there’s maybe a portion of it, like maybe in previous relationships he’s been a bit controlling but I don’t think anywhere near to this extent.
“I think in a weird way, in his own twisted way, I think it comes from his you know love/obsession of her that I think makes him be like this.
“I think he’s probably only ever been like this with Belle.”
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Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available on ITVX.