Emmerdale stars confirm ‘terrifying’ outcome for Belle at the hands of ‘obsessed’ abuser Tom
'We see the dark reality of their relationship come to light.'
Over a long period in Emmerdale viewers have watched in horror as Tom King (James Chase)’s behaviour towards wife Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper) has become increasingly more controlling and abusive.
An upcoming special episode of the soap, which focuses attention on a dinner party thrown by the couple for Tom’s vet colleagues and their partners, is set to lift the lid on the terrifying reality of Belle’s life with Tom.
The format of the episode shows the drama from different perspectives, as Eden Taylor-Draper explained to us.
‘In the first scene you see all of the groups arriving and you think everything’s great. It kind of continues that way and you see snippets of them as a group and then at different points throughout the episode you see the reality of what’s happening behind closed doors.
‘The perspective of those at the dinner party are completely different to what’s happening in reality. It’s very much like everyone’s putting on a show in front of their friends, and then the audience becomes a fly on the wall and you see the reality of everyone’s individual scenarios.’
Much of the action centres on Rhona (Zoe Henry) and Marlon (Mark Charnock), whose relationship is close to disintegration following Rhona’s about-turn at Gus Malcolm (Alan McKenna)’s sentencing. This serves to distract the other guests – Vanessa (Michelle Hardwick), Suzy (Martelle Edinborough), Paddy (Dominic Brunt) and Mandy (Lisa Riley) so nobody notices the mounting tension between hosts Belle and Tom.
‘I think you can expect to see everything escalate throughout the episode,’ Eden said. ‘You’ll see how easily Tom can switch on and off and how he truly feels and his anger towards Belle. You’ll get a glimpse into Belle’s terrifying reality.’
Up to this point, we’ve seen extreme behaviour from Tom including him tracking Belle’s movements, faking a break-in and taking her dog and attacking Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson), but Belle has remained unaware, according to Eden.
‘Belle knows something isn’t quite right but whenever there’s any situation she completely blames herself and he does a great job gaslighting her into feeling that way. I think before this episode, all she wants to do is make him happy and keep the peace and just keep it calm.’
Eden’s co-star James Chase agreed that his character had so far covered his tracks well by gaslighting his wife, with who he is ‘obsessed.’
‘He’s so good at turning it on her and I think when that’s being drilled into her constantly, every day for everything, it’s easy for her to believe that she’s the one at fault,’ he said.
‘No one has any idea. Tom is a master of performance, able to hide his true feelings and convey something very different to get people on his side. Also, Rhona and Marlon’s rising tension only helps to disguise Tom and Belle’s true situation.’
Behind the scenes at the dinner party, though, troubling scenes are playing out. ‘We get to see two storylines from different relationships come to an intense peak,’ James said.
‘Having them collide like this makes for an exciting watch, though perhaps a difficult one. [We] see the dark reality of their relationship come to light.’
