Emmerdale aired a special standalone episode centred on Bear Wolf on Monday (November 10), leaving viewers in tears over the “heartbreaking” storyline.
Fans of the ITV soap will recall that Bear (Joshua Richards) was last seen driving out of the Dales in a hire car more than three months ago.
In recent episodes, his son Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) discovered that his father wasn’t safe in Ireland as he had believed, but had actually gone missing following his long summer disappearance.
With concerns growing over Bear’s mental wellbeing, Paddy began to fear for his father’s safety and was wracked with guilt over their strained parting.
By the end of last week, it was revealed that Bear had been held captive by the sinister Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) and his mother, Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).
Viewers already know that Ray and Celia have been exploiting April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle), forcing the teens to work off an endless debt, with April becoming entangled in the dangerous world of drugs.
Tonight’s episode, now available to stream on ITVX, reveals what happened to Bear during his 100-day disappearance.
Over three months ago, Bear arrived at Ray’s property, where he was offered accommodation in return for physical labour — but it wasn’t long before he found himself trapped in a disturbing situation.
Constantly manipulated by his captors, Bear suffered an injury while working, leaving him increasingly vulnerable.
In emotional scenes, Bear pleaded with Ray to take him to the hospital, but the villain coldly refused, saying, “That’s because you never handed over your paperwork when you started.”
The episode also introduces newcomer Anya (Alia Al-Shabibi), who was previously taken in by Caleb (William Ash) and Ruby Miligan (Beth Cordingly). She developed a touching bond with Bear, but a chain of events soon led to danger for both of them.
Following the emotional instalment, many Emmerdale viewers took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their sadness.
One fan wrote: “Tonight’s Bear-focused episode was incredibly hard to watch. That poor man is so vulnerable. Emmerdale is handling these storylines brilliantly.”
Another commented: “Bear’s special episode was both harrowing and heartbreaking. Paddy will be crushed when he realises how close he was,” while a third praised: “Wow, Bear’s standalone episode — Joshua Richards, take a bow. This story is going to be devastating to follow.”
A fourth viewer agreed, saying: “Tonight’s episode was something else — dark, powerful, and painful to watch,” while another added: “I was in tears from start to finish. What an emotional and gut-wrenching episode.”
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