Emmerdale actor James Chase, who plays domestic abuser Tom King on the ITV soap, has opened up to Express.co.uk about his character’s future following months of manipulation and violence aimed at his wife Belle Dingle (played by Eden Taylor Draper).
Tom and Belle tied the knot on Valentine’s Day months after he physically assaulted her for the first time and begged for her forgiveness.
A trusting Belle believed his vile actions were a one-off incident and before long she proposed to him and hoped for a long and joyous marriage.
However, it wasn’t long before the verbal and physical abuse continued, with Belle being left a broken woman with no freedom due to Tom’s controlling behaviour.
To her horror, she recently discovered she was pregnant, but in upcoming scenes, she’s set to have an abortion behind Tom’s back.
Belle’s due to pack her bags and flee Emmerdale for her own safety, but will she go ahead with the plan?
Addressing a fitting outcome for Tom after his reign of terror, actor James said his character needs to go to prison “at least” and he also touched upon public humiliation.
When asked about his character having to bow out of Emmerdale, James said: “I think, yes, it has to happen because it’s what he deserves, like he can’t get away with it. You know what I mean?
“Like, I don’t know to what extent that would be as to how the character would, you know, how the storyline would end with Tom?
“But yeah, I think I would think that it would have to be something like that. Yeah, because [Belle] needs justice for what’s happened to her.
“I think also the viewer needs that from all the hell we’ve seen Belle get put through – we have to see her win in the end or at the very least, for him to lose.”
Will Tom’s character get killed off by a protective member of Belle’s family or will he spend a large part of his life behind bars for his crimes?
Reflecting on Tom’s twisted character, James said: “I always knew this role was going to have this storyline within it and 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 an agreement we had initially.”
He added: “You have to just honour the storyline as realistically as possible because this is something that does go on. I think if the audience does hate you, it’s a good sign that you’re doing it properly.”
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV and ITVX.
Support is available from Refuge’s 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247 and digital support via live chat Monday-Friday 3-10pm via www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk.