Fans of the ITV soap are worried that Bear Wolf isn’t going to surive much longer under captivity

Emmerdale star Joshua Richards has admitted that he ‘burst into tears’ over Bear’s ongoing modern slavery storyline.

Fans of the ITV soap are currently waiting for the historic Corridale event, where the cast of the Dales will cross paths with stars from Coronation Street. With a big car crash being teased, viewers are anxious to learn if their favourite characters will survive Monday’s (January 5) episode.

In spite of one of the biggest moments in soap history just days away and Christmas time winding down, Emmerdale hasn’t taken its foot off the gas. One of the biggest stories of the year has focused on Bear Wolf.

Viewers were concerned over Bear’s whereabouts for months after he told his son Paddy Kirk he was visiting Ireland to see some old friends. His disappearance came after there was a shift in his behaviour. Bear admitted to Liam Cavanagh that he was struggling with insomnia, he was becoming increasingly irritable and felt isolated.

It was revealed last month that Bear was trapped in the horrific world of modern slavery. The popular character has been forced to work under brutal conditions on Celia Daniels’ farmland, with many others also being trafficked and treated in an abysmal way.

In scenes aired on Tuesday night (December 30), Celia demanded her son Ray Walters that Bear needed to be dealt with in similar vein to April Windsor, who miraculously managed to escape from their captivity. Viewers were stunned to see Celia giving Ray a knife and telling him to make Bear and April ‘disappear for good’.

According to Bear actor Joshua, the storyline was a big challenge as it was ‘not like playing a role in a play where you repeat the same role night after night’. He explained: “This is an ongoing, developing role.

“And so every time you pick up the script, you think ‘it’s moved on again. They have gone to another level, we’ve gone deeper’. At times, I just sat home with my wife and just burst into tears and said ‘where do we go next?’.

“And as an actor, you don’t really have the opportunity that often to get that deep. So it’s been very important to me.”

The New Year’s Day episode will reportedly see Celia take great delight in telling Ray that Bear is dead. However, many remain hopeful that Bear will be able to get his happy ending.

Joshua, who has appeared in Hollywood films including Troy and King Arthur: Excalibur Rising, said the soap’s writers and producers had done an ‘outstanding’ job in telling the ‘harrowing’ story.

He added: “Modern slavery is alive and well, and it’s horrifying. I think it was very brave 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. I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

The soap’s producers worked with the Salvation Army on the storyline, and Joshia noted that he found it ‘very humbling’ to talk to some survivors as part of his preparation. He stated: “I found it very illuminating.

“These people who have been exploited, who are not gullible people. They are people who are bright, intelligent and have compassion, were shown a little kindness by unscrupulous people, and then exploited for that.

“A lot of people say, well, I’d never be scammed, for instance, online. But so many people are and they are intelligent and bright. And that is what we’ve got to be aware of in this modern day society.

“That there are people out there who can show you a bit of kindness, and then they will exploit you for it, and it does happen, and it’s happening now.”

With Joshia receiving plenty of feedback from viewers on Ray and Celia’s characters, he said that they’ve told him that they ‘can’t wait for them to get their comeuppance’.