😢 “A PAINFUL FUTURE IS COMING”… Emmerdale star Joshua Richards has warned that darkness is opening up within Bear — and the road ahead will be heartbreaking to watch

In the wake of an astounding three-hander between Bear Wolf, Paddy Kirk and Dylan Penders which brings to an end a tense week of Emmerdale – and the mystery of who killed Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) – it felt like the perfect time to catch up with Joshua Richards, the versatile thespian who has won critical and fan acclaim for the portrayal of the anguished and gaslit slave.

For many weeks, fans were led to believe that Bear was dead (sorry for my part in that ruse…), murdered by the vile Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).

So his re-emergence to save son Paddy from a deeply unhinged Ray was met with cheers and relief.

‘It’s quite touching, really,’ told me in a chat for Metro. ‘I’ve had a few local people in my village who’ve come up to me and said, “Don’t you dare die! Don’t let Bear be dead or you’re going to be in big trouble.” I said, “I don’t know, I can’t possibly telly you what’s happened because nobody knows.”

‘I think somebody in the canteen here, I was filming the other day and I came in in a suit and they said, “My God, what’s the suit for?” and I said, “Well I just got out of the box!”

‘It’s very heartwarming that he is liked and people seem to be devastated even at the thought that he may be no longer with us.’

Delivering Ray the bear hug of death, Paddy’s distressed dad appeared to not know what was happening until it was too late. And while he is free of Ray, he will still be trapped by the legacy he and Celia have left

Recovery won’t be overnight, Joshua warned me.

‘How he moves on I don’t know. It’s a painful process and I’m looking forward to the complexities with the writers and producers and the directors to find out where the journey goes next and what pathways we’re going to go down.

‘We’ve just been filming stuff already today and I’ve been shouting at Paddy. So maybe he’s getting back to his old self if he’s shouting at people! But he’s still not right and this will take some time.

‘The relationship between the two is an ongoing one – sometimes tenuous, sometimes loving, sometimes difficult, sometimes exhilarating. I’m so fortunate to be having the pleasure and honour of working with the wonderful Dominic Brunt.’

Hope is not all lost, though, as the actor added: ‘You know the world of continuing drama – every day’s a new day, every day’s a new dawn and nobody is bogged down completely by everything that’s happened to them in a continuing drama because otherwise we’d never be able to move on.

‘I hope so anyway, or I’ll be applying for jobs on Coronation Street or EastEnders! In an ideal world, in a storybook world, justice must be seen to be done and everything in the garden is suddenly rosy again, but is life like that?’

Maybe not for the people caught up in the blame game – it looks like Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb), for example, could be forced to take the fall for what Bear has done, albeit accidentally.

Not in his right frame of mind and desperately protected by Paddy, could Bear miss his chance to put things right?

‘Just from watching what’s been happening now, the suspects are queuing up in droves. I think any one of them as a character would say, “Yeah, I did it,” and they’d get a slap on the back. That’s not how heroes are made, though, is it?

‘Unfortunately for Bear, who doesn’t see himself as any kind of hero whatsoever, it’s just a terrible darkness within him which has opened up because of this act.’

It’s clear that the story’s latest chapter is at a close with Ray and Celia killed off, but by fans and the team at Emmerdale alike, Joe Absolom and Jaye Griffiths won’t quickly be forgotten!

‘It’s been a joy. For a long time I was basically taken out of the show and wasn’t seen for a few months so we could clear the air to make it seem that Bear had disappeared forever. When I did come back I was working with the wonderful Joe Absolom, which was a joy,’ smiled Joshua.

‘He’s a wonderful professional. It was a joy to go into work every day because I knew he was ready and I was all ready. When you’re both prepared, as professionals, then you can play and you can have fun even when you’re doing a very dark subject like this.

‘Mutual respect and wonderful scripts, great directors, great crew and a great team behind us made it a joy to do, even though it was harrowing at times.

‘We all miss him here, and also the wonderful Jaye Griffiths who was a wonderful Celia – we miss her equally. She brought her ray of sunshine to our little family here.’

Emmerdale played a risk running a drug and human trafficking story in tandem, with a lot of darkness, abuse and harrowing scenes at play – but reactions from fans who have taken the journey have been positive. While many found it difficult to bare (bear) some of the scenes, the message hit home hard, which is the power of soap.

It is with honour, Joshua told me, that he was a big part of a wide story.

‘I think it’s a great testament to our producers, writers, script editors and also in conjunction with the Salvation Army – everybody who’s got together to make this very poignant story come to the fore and to discuss something that’s all around us and all-pervading.

‘In this modern world where people are regularly exploited, ripped off or scammed online, everything we thought the advantages of society would give us, we seem to find out we’ve gone back in time.

‘Exploitation of people’s labour and utilising people’s trust and good will or their innocence or maybe even their disabilities, these people are still there to be exploited by the bad guys who never went away and they’re still there – just in a different guise.’

So what now for Bear? Could we finally see him smiling again?

Joshua mused: ‘It would be lovely to get back into the comedy aspect of the character and the interaction and the relationship between Mandy and Paddy and young Dylan all in the same house. Maybe the laughter and the joking can come back.

‘I always think the great positive of soaps is when humour is used so well, which is character-based, because that’s a joy to do and it’s fun to see. Comedy is a very serious business and drama is hilarious!’