Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Charity Dingle (Emma Atkin) discover a house of horrors when they track Belle down to a Welsh cottage, but what’s happened to her?
Charity turns to Cain for support in saving Belle (Eden Taylor Draper) when she realises no one else will listen to her mad ramblings. Though everyone else sees her as overreacting and over-zealous, the truth is she’s been triggered by signs in Belle’s behaviour that remind her of how she was when Bails had his claws into her.
With no support from the Dingle women, Charity turns to Cain.
Cain is initially decidedly unbothered, as actor Jeff tells Metro.co.uk: ‘I think he thinks that Tom’s a good thing for Belle, in that he’s got a good job… I don’t think he senses anything amiss with him. Tom’s really clever at the way he operates and he’s masking everything that’s going on really well, so Cain doesn’t have a clue.’
But with Charity’s persistence, he comes around to thinking something is amiss.
Fearful after having not heard from Belle, they break into Belle and Tom’s cottage where they discover the surveillance equipment and Belle’s abandoned mobile phone. ‘They realise that Belle’s phone’s there and hot-foot it to Wales,’ Jeff adds. Still, on the journey Cain needs convincing that Belle really is in danger.
‘Even when Cain’s driving there he’s still like, “I’m still not 100% sure whether we’re going to turn up here and they’re going to be really happy and like, what are you doing here?”’ Jeff says. But the sight they’re met with when they arrive will seal the deal.
Producer Sophie Roper added: ‘The behaviour Tom is exhibiting is typical of a coercive controlling relationship and at times will prove difficult and uncomfortable to watch.
‘The assistance the charity Refuge has given us whilst researching this storyline has been enormously helpful in bringing this incredibly important storyline to our screens.’
They arrive to find a trashed holiday home with blood smeared on the walls and their fears multiply times 10,000.
The scenes in ‘Wales’ have actually been recorded at Burden Head Farm, a real property on the outskirts of the village set that was recently rebuilt.
Long-term viewers may recognise the environs, as the original building was previously used as Jack Sugden’s homestead Melby Farm between 1997 and 2002.
Head of design Gillian Slight said: ‘[The new property] hasn’t really been seen by the viewers so it’s believable that it’s a property 300 miles away from the Yorkshire Dales.
‘We have total access and control over the building, so we were free to decorate and furnish the interior and exterior. The garden was basically a pile of builders rubble, so landscaping and planting was necessary, to make it look pretty. The whole job took about 4 weeks to complete.’
The clarity for Belle comes in a flashback that sees the couple arrive at the cottage full of the joys of being on holiday. Not the Greek beach she had originally envisaged, but it’s a holiday, nonetheless. Of course, it isn’t. Belle has no idea that she’s not going home.
She’s gutted to be without her phone and Tom jumps straight into manipulation mode. And then, a key moment happens – Belle overhears Tom arranging to stay in the cottage longer and realises she has to act.
Then the rest of the week begins to play out and things turn sharply from a joyful getaway to Belle’s worst nightmare.
And finally, the true horror of what went on in that cottage is seen, with Belle and Tom nowhere to be found. Has Tom killed Belle in a blind rage?
