Tom King (James Chase) may finally be behind bars in prison in Emmerdale, but he’s still capable of inflicting trauma on Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper). When she gets the shocking news that he’s tried to take his own life in his prison cell, she’s devastated.
There are chaotic scenes in the prison as the guards declare a code red emergency and an ambulance is urgently summoned. Tom is rushed to hospital.
News soon reaches Belle about what’s happened, and she’s overwhelmed by the idea that she was the cause of his suicide attempt. Her mental health begins to spiral again. The family do their best to support her, but Belle is convinced that, if Tom dies, it will be because of her.
Eden Taylor-Draper explained that this harks back to an earlier part of the storyline. ‘Belle is very conflicted and confused because, when they were away in Wales at the cottage, Tom tried to take his own life.
‘Later on when she was chatting to Jimmy King (Nick Miles) she realised it was all a facade and in fact he’d set himself up, and set her up. So now she doesn’t know what to believe. Whether this is real or not, everyone around her is saying he is doing it again – he’s trying to play you, to get in your head.
‘She hates the thought of having his life on her shoulders,’ she continued, ‘I think she is trying to just navigate it as best as she can, but it’s obviously a horrible time for her. She doesn’t really want to commit either way as to whether it was a genuine attempt by him or that he’s playing her again. She doesn’t want the responsibility of that decision.’
Trying to understand what might have been going on in Tom’s mind, Belle heads to talk to Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt). He, of course, has had his own struggles with his mental health and once seriously contemplated taking his own life in a storyline that opened up a conversation about male mental health.
Belle hopes that he might be able to help her make sense of what’s happened to Tom. Can Paddy find the words to reassure her that none of this is her fault?
Sadly not, according to Eden. ‘I think it’s made more confusing,’ she reflected.
‘Not only does she feel uncomfortable for going to see Paddy because of what he’s been through, but everyone is different and Paddy can’t answer for Tom. I don’t think she expects him to but I think she is looking to Paddy for guidance and all he can really do is say only Tom knows – which is what she knows deep down anyway. But I think she was wanting to come away from there knowing 100 percent and obviously that wasn’t the case.’
James Chase, meanwhile, clarified that the ‘suicide attempt’ is all a ruse on Tom’s part to avoid having to face a trial, and to manipulate Belle into not testifying against him.
‘He has self harmed but he has done it in a place on his body where he knew he wouldn’t be seriously hurting himself,’ he revealed. ‘I think at this point he is pretty confident that he’s going to get away with not having to do the trial. I think that’s just the way he is.
‘I think Tom believes the more he can mess with Belle’s head the more he can get her in a state of stress and then the less likely she will be able to show up to court.
‘And if she doesn’t go to court she won’t be there to testify. So he hopes he can completely manipulate the jury to an extent where he wins and gets away with everything – I think that is his aim.’
But will he succeed?
