Bear Wolf’s trauma is far from over in Emmerdale.

Despite being spared time behind bars, actor Joshua Richards has revealed that his character will have some long-term effects following his heartbreaking ordeal at the hands of evil Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) and Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).

After killing Ray during the gripping modern slavery storyline, Bear was charged with murder but was found not guilty by a jury in tense courts scenes which aired last week.

His son Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) was handed a suspended sentence for perverting the course of justice but thing appear to be looking up for Bear as the village has rallied around him with a job offer at the depot coming his way.

Speaking on the Soap Scoop podcast from Inside Soap, Joshua said: “Everybody is being supportive towards him, but it’s taken a little bit of time to get himself back into a community where he does feel properly supported.

“He did have a very bad time that led him into this unfortunate predicament.

“I don’t think that will go away so easily. He has trust issues now, with what he believed to be right with Ray.

“He realised that he’d been duped and fooled, which made him feel very sad and stupid. I think his distrust is still very prevalent.”

 

Speaking about Bear’s concerns for Paddy, Joshua continued: “Bear feels incredibly guilty that Paddy got the suspended sentence and had the risk of his whole career as a vet being taken away from him.

“He still believes it was a mess of his own making, which of course it wasn’t. He was a victim.”

While the actor admitted said that the storyline could go in any direction, he shared his hope that Bear will give himself grace at some point. He added: “It could go any way whatsoever.

“The beauty of a continuing drama is that you really don’t know. I do feel that Paddy has been incredibly supportive and it wasn’t his neglect that put Bear in this situation.

“As for the guilt going forward, I’m sure he’s going to bear that for quite some time. Hopefully there’ll be some kind of reconciliation along the way where Bear realises it wasn’t his fault and that he was a victim who couldn’t do much about it.”

Fans will have to wait to find out how Bear navigates his freedom.