Emmerdale villagers to be suspicious of Tom King as Belle’s abuse ‘rumbled’

Emmerdale boss Laura Shaw has revealed characters will possibly cotton on to Tom King’s controlling and abusive behaviour in upcoming scenes on the ITV soap.

After a number of characters have witnessed his vile and manipulative tactics over recent months, it seems some villagers may finally question what’s been going on. So far, no one has worked out what is going on in Tom and Belle Dingle’s marriage, with her harrowing ordeal yet to be exposed.

With Tom actor James Chase teasing to The Mirror and other press that his character’s comeuppance could be on the way, it seems some residents might finally become suspicious, while it doesn’t seem as though it will be enough for him to be found out just yet. But soap producer Laura told us that eyebrows would be raised over recent goings on.

Viewers know that Tom has been manipulating, controlling and isolating his wife for months as part of a harrowing coercive control storyline. Tom has recently turned violent, and things are only set to get worse when he learns Belle has had an abortion after claiming to have suffered a miscarriage.

On whether the truth will be rumbled by those in the village, Laura said: “It’s a tricky one, we see people start to look a bit more quizzically [at Tom], wondering what is going on and questioning what they are seeing. Quite often people don’t really pick up on these things.

“It’s very difficult as an outsider to broach it and ask those questions so whilst we might see people pick up on it, I’m not sure we will see people put the whole picture together.” Actor James did reveal his character would be rumbled at some point though, and that he knew what was in store for Tom and Belle when he joined the soap last year.

James revealed his character had a “shelf life” and that an ending would happen, while he also said it was “needed” for Tom to face a comeuppance. He said: “I always knew this role was gonna have this storyline, even when Tom was a good character for the first six months.

“I knew this was gonna happen but you have to honour the storyline as realistically as possible as it’s something that does go on. If the audience do hate you it’s a good sign you are doing it properly.”

He went on: “I think it has to happen because it’s what he deserves. He can’t get away with it. I don’t know to what extent [how it will end]. Belle needs justice for what’s happened to her and the audience needs that.

“We have to see her win in the end or for him to lose.” Not wanting to give away what this ending might be, James teased Tom should “at least” face prison. But Laura warned it was far from over and there was more ahead, saying: “What we will see is Tom finding different ways to manipulate Belle and control Belle. We will see an escalation.”