Emmerdale star James Chase is reportedly set to exit after a year.
The actor, who plays Tom King, made his debut in the ITV soap just over a year ago and has taken centre stage in a issue-led coercive control storyline, with Tom abusing wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper).
The storyline in question reached a dramatic peak earlier this week, with Belle making a run for it when holidaying with the abuser in Wales.
Tom has since manipulated her concerned relatives into believing that Belle hasn’t been taking her medication, and he threatened to kill her in harrowing scenes.
According to a report in The Sun, actor James will leave the ITV soap in a ‘dramatic’ fashion, with Tom’s exit coming later this year.
‘It’s the right time to leave’, a source told the publication.
‘James has loved his time on the show playing such a powerful story but the truth is that characters like Tom have a shelf life for a reason.
‘There’s no long-term redemption for Tom coming – he has to leave one way or the other. And either way it will be dramatic.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Emmerdale for comment.
It was previously known that the Belle and Tom storyline would continue until the end of the year.
‘We said right from the beginning that we wanted to tell this story as authentically and truthfully as we can,’ said Emmerdale boss Laura Shaw.
‘Let’s face it, for people who are subjected to domestic abuse this isn’t something that’s over in a couple of weeks, it’s something that goes on for a long length of time and we wanted to be truthful to that.
‘I think you can expect that this storyline is going to run until the end of this year.’
