Back home from Wales, Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) has an awful lot of processing to do in Emmerdale.
Initially, Belle headed to the Welsh countryside under the impression she was about to enjoy a relaxing holiday with Tom King (James Chase).
In Tom’s head, the plan was a lot darker. After applying for a remote vet job in Wales, Tom was hoping to take Belle to the cottage and never return – but that didn’t happen.
Their holiday turned into a nightmare as Tom continued to gaslight Belle, locking her in the house and even violently attacking her. Thankfully, Belle managed to get away by running from Tom and getting a bus back home.
When she returned and Tom found her, she ended their marriage.
Of course, coming to terms with being a victim of abuse will take Belle a lot of time. In this new video, she is seen in Dale Head googling ‘was I being abused’.
Belle clicks on a website that details the events that sometimes follow once a victim leaves the person abusing them.
It explains multiple charities and organisations are able to help, but Belle is left fearful when she reads it’s also a dangerous time for the victim when they put distance between themselves and the perpetrator.
If Tom gets wind of what Belle has been researching, how will he react?
Given this is a dark and villainous storyline, we know it will eventually lead to Tom exiting the show.
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.’
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.’
