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Joshua Richards has spoken at length for the first time about his Emmerdale character Bear Wolf’s shocking new storyline.

Bear, who has been missing for several months while his son Paddy Dingle (Dominic Brunt) assumed he was staying with a friend in Ireland, has actually been manipulated as a victim of modern slavery.

Shedding light on Bear’s circumstances, Richards told RadioTimes.com and other press that “basically it’s something that you can slip into, and if you’ve been manipulated a certain way”.

“And being a certain age as well, where maybe you do think that you’re useless and redundant, if someone convinces you that no, you are worth something, that you do have some kind of currency. Currency being the operative word,” he emphasised.

“You can be somehow manipulated into a situation that you didn’t envisage seeing yourself in, in the first place. So it’s quite fascinating how these things actually do happen.”

The actor has described Bear’s ordeal as “one of the most horrifying things you can possibly think of”.

“Some are in the dark web of life, there are people who are gangs, who are criminals, who are ready to exploit people. Because the biggest bill you’ll ever get for anything you have done, for example your house extension, the biggest part of your bill is the labour,” he explained.

“And if criminal gangs can take that essence out, that you don’t have to pay for that labour, then that’s where big profits are made, people are exploited and misery begins.”

Richards went on to share how he prepared for such a harrowing storyline.

“All I can do is be a very old-fashioned actor and read the script because I don’t hold with the method way of things,” he said. “I didn’t lock myself away in a tent or hide in the countryside and try to scrabble along.

“No, I just read the scripts and used my imagination to put myself in the position of other people, who are in the real position. Basically it’s done by the auspices of the great researchers and the writers of the drama.”

Something that helped the star, who joined Emmerdale in 2019 as Paddy’s long-lost father, was that he has already portrayed modern slavery in his career.

“But also what’s fortunate for me, in 2007 I did a play written by John Godber and Jane Thornton from Hull Truck [Theatre Company] called Sold. Which was all about modern slavery.

“That was 18 years ago and we did it in Hull and also in Liverpool University, so it’s not a new subject for me; it’s something I’ve been aware of for many years and even before I did that play.

“It is quite frightening that even as we speak, there are about [50] million people in modern day slavery, which is horrific.”

Asked about the instalment in which Emmerdale will detail how Bear was targeted, Richards revealed: “Yes, it’ll be a standalone episode, where we’ll have some kind of explanation of what exactly happened to him after he got in his car and drove away.

“We did see a few weeks after he’d left the village that he was still with his car and not with his friend Gnasher in Ireland at all. So we will find out exactly what happened to him.”

The episode was filmed backwards, meaning that, after being assured that he would be coming back to the show, Richards had one specific assignment during his time off.

“Clare Golds in make-up said: ‘Whatever you do, don’t cut your hair and don’t shave your beard. Go raggedy’. So I became a raggedy old man while I was off.

“You first see Bear when he’s at the real bottom, looking really filthy and scraggly and unkempt. Then bit by bit we took it away.”

While soaps have briefly explored modern slavery in recent years, this is the first time it will be covered in depth – and with an older character like Bear, who, notes Richards, typically considers himself strong and capable of defending himself.

“I thought it would be interesting, because of course Bear has been experiencing this depression and confusion. So maybe it’s a great thing to find him so vulnerable – a big strong man being vulnerable and exploited.”

On the message he hopes this story can send, Richards told RadioTimes.com and other media: “Be aware – it’s going on under our noses.

“We all have our cars cleaned and say: ‘Ooh, that’s cheap’. But who are the people cleaning your car? I mean, that’s just a very tiny part of it.

“It’s other things, it’s people who are picking your spuds, it’s people who are fixing your driveway, maybe there’s somebody doing work on your roof. You really don’t know. I mean, there are bona fide proper people – builders, farmers, other people – out there,” he said.

“I’m very proud to be part of what ITV is doing with these wonderful writers and the great research which has gone on. And maybe hopefully something… it will prompt something and there will be action.”

How does Richards think the viewers will react to the revelations about Bear?

“They’ll be furious!”

“I do get people coming up to me and saying: ‘How is Bear? We’re worried about him?’ You think ‘this is great’ because people who watch this soap really do care.”

Emmerdale is working with the Salvation Army on Bear’s story, which has also seen teens April and Dylan groomed in recent weeks.

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