Emmerdale star James Chase has teased his character Tom King’s future as his harrowing abuse storyline against wife Belle Dingle is due to come to an explosive end in the near future
Emmerdale star James Chase has teased the future of his abusive character Tom King and explains he wouldn’t benefit from going to prison as he would “probably come out worse”.
As fans of the ITV soap will know, Tom has been abusing estranged wife Belle King (played by Eden Taylor-Draper) for months and continues to torment her while the police try and again evidence against him.
ITV bosses have confirmed that a blockbuster episode is on the horizon where Belle gathers the courage to tell the police about her abusive husband’s behaviour. An hour-long special will air in December which will shine a light on the harrowing world of domestic abuse victims as the harrowing plot comes to an explosive end.
For 18 long months, viewers have witness local vet Tom’s behaviour spiral, but actor James has opened-up on whether or not he thinks his character would survive behind bars.
“Tom is a survivor to be honest so I think there would be an initial few months of the reality of the situation setting in for him”, James explained.
“He would likely be incredibly depressed and scared of where he is. But with time he would evolve and I fear that he would come out perhaps worse, depending on how bad the prison is and what kind of people he meets there.”
The soap star added: “He is a bad man but he is a survivor – he would no doubt survive in prison and adapt to be stronger.”
Tom has so far managed to convince his uncle Jimmy (Nick Miles) that Belle is lying and has a vendetta against him.
He has also managed to manipulate Amelia Spencer (Daisy Campbell) into having a relationship with him. But will Belle ever get justice for Tom’s evil behaviour?
James explains: “He thinks he can get away with it as he has a sort of God complex. He thinks he’s incredibly intelligent. He is intelligent.
“Tom is cunning, conniving and clever – and I would kind of compare him to Littlefinger from A Game of Thrones. Tom is good at manipulation. He’s good at turning people on each other for his own benefit.
“He enjoys playing people and playing scenarios. Tom is brilliant at it. If he was born in medieval times he would probably be a king! Pardon the pun with his name.
“But he has a lack of empathy and morality and it can get you a very long way. He thinks he can get away with it.”
He adds: “There are things that have happened like the axe going in his back and of course he has eye witnesses of people who saw Belle pushing him over.
“So he thinks he’s got a lot of ammunition against her. He wants to win and believes he still can”. Will Tom get away with abusing Belle?
Emmerdale airs weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX
