Emmerdale’s Bear Wolf actor Joshua Richards spoke to the Mirror about his devastating standalone episode, as we finally find out where Bear is and what’s happened to him
It’s been almost four months since Emmerdale‘s Bear Wolf was last on screen, with Paddy Kirk’s father vanishing as part of a top-secret storyline.
As the troubled character finally returns next week in a harrowing special episode, actor Joshua Richards says fans will be “furious” when they finally find out what has been going on. The last time Bear was in the village he was suffering from mood swings, forgetfulness and appeared depressed, before a bust-up with his son led to him taking some time away.
As Paddy realises his father never made it to Ireland back in July, it dawns on him that something horrifying may have happened. Joshua, 66, has revealed that the standalone episode will flash back to the moment he fled in his car, with fans finally finding out what’s gone on in the days since.
With that, it’s explained that Bear is at the centre of a modern slavery storyline, and Joshua says that anyone can be exploited, even a “strong” character like his own. “I found it a bit disconcerting, really. I found it a bit frightening,” Joshua told us.
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“What experience do I have to bring to the table? It was a bit discombobulating at first. Of course Bear has been experiencing this depression and confusion. It’s a great thing to find him so vulnerable – a big strong man being vulnerable and exploited.”
Joshua has been working with the Salvation Army for the harrowing storyline, speaking with men who have found themselves in similar situations to Bear. He shared: “It’s something that you can slip into and if you’ve been manipulated a certain way, and being a certain age as well, where maybe you do think that you’re useless and redundant, if someone convinces you that no, you are worth something, that you do have some kind of currency.
“You can be somehow manipulated into a situation that you didn’t envisage seeing yourself in, in the first place. So it’s quite fascinating how these things actually do happen.” Joshua said the topic isn’t new to him, having appeared in a play in 2007 called Sold which focussed on modern slavery.
He now hopes the storyline has a similar impact to ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which shone an international light on the British Post Office scandal. “I think that soaps do have a responsibility to educate and maybe show things that go under the radar and you may not necessarily see on the main news,” Joshua said.
“I think it’s our job to do that and I’m very proud to be part of what ITV is doing with these wonderful writers and the great research which has gone on. Maybe it will prompt something and there will be action. But then again, we don’t hold hope for any government in light of the other scandals which have gone by and very little has been done.”
Joshua feared his time was up on the soap when Producer Laura Shaw warned him he’d be offscreen for a while. The actor was told he couldn’t cut his hair or shave his beard during his absence as part of the storyline, which went on for around three months.
“I became a raggedy old man while I was off,” he joked. Joshua said it adds to the confusion viewers will experience when they first see Bear onscreen again. “He’s at the real bottom, looking really filthy and scraggly and unkempt.
“Bit by bit we took it away. I’m almost back to where I was before now, but it’s been a very complicated way of portraying various stages in Bear’s journey and very confusing for all of us, because each day I’m in a different time zone or a different part of the story.
“So it’s been quite exciting and quite weird.” Joshua now hopes viewers will spot the signs of modern slavery, which he says “is going on under our noses”. He shared: “Be aware. We all have our cars cleaned and say: ‘Ooh, that’s cheap’. But who are the people cleaning your car? I mean, that’s just a very tiny part of it.
“It’s other things, it’s people who are picking your spuds, it’s people who are fixing your driveway, maybe there’s somebody doing work on your roof. You really don’t know. I mean, there are bona fide proper people – builders, farmers, other people – out there.
“But some are in the dark web of life, there are people who are gangs, who are criminals, who are ready to exploit people. Because the biggest bill you’ll ever get for anything you have done, for example your house extension, the biggest part of your bill is the labour.
“If criminal gangs can take that essence out, that you don’t have to pay for that labour, then that’s where big profits are made, people are exploited and misery begins.”
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok, Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.