Emmerdale star talks Bear Wolf's fate - and teases Celia and Ray's comeuppances

The tragic Emmerdale story surrounding Bear Wolf reached a head on Tuesday 30th December, as Celia planned to kill Bear. Now, it has been revealed that she will succeed, and will tell Ray that Bear is already dead in scenes set to air on New Year's Day.

This means that Bear star Joshua Richards will be leaving the soap, following his powerful storyline depicting modern slavery.

As he leaves the soap, he has spoken about Bear's fate and the "outstanding" job that has been done in tackling such a sensitive, contemporary storyline.

He said of his pride in the story: "To bring a story like this to the forefront, which was up for analysis and discussion, makes great sense to us as a general public about the kind of things which are happening under our noses in plain sight in modern Britain today. Modern slavery is alive and well, and it's horrifying.

"I think it was very brave for people for them to bring this subject forward and I'm intensely proud of what we, as a team, have done. It was a huge collaboration and this is a subject that most of the time is brushed under the carpet. But they brought it to the forefront of our minds."

Richards added that Bear felt "redundant" and "obsolete", and that he had got "very distant" from his family, including his son Paddy.

When asked whether he could have gone back to his old life, he said: "I do believe that there's hope for everybody and there's the old saying hope does spring eternal. So I think with the right circumstances help, care, love, nurturing, counselling - people can be brought back from the brink.
Otherwise, there is no hope, and I firmly believe in hope."

Of course, thoughts now turn to Celia and Ray, and how and when they will get their comeuppance. When asked whether he is looking forward to seeing that play out, Richards said: "I think the viewers can't wait from the feedback I've been getting from people in the streets and from family...
They can't wait for them to get their comeuppance.

"And of course, I suppose we as arbiters of what's right and wrong on TV, ITV can feel justified in saying, yes, we can end this now, because the viewing public are fed up with these people and the terrible acts they are committing. But unfortunately, in society, you can't do that, because they're all pervading and they're always there, hovering in the darkness.

"But I thoroughly enjoyed working with Joe Absalom and with Jaye Griffiths who are both great actors and I do miss them now. As they've gone. But for the storyline, I think everybody in the village has nothing but benefits from their demise."

It has already been revealed that Ray star Joe Absolom will be leaving the soap, with the actor reportedly having filmed his final scenes in November.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1. Stream on ITVX.

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