James Chase has opened up about playing Emmerdale’s newest villian.

The actor took over the role of Tom King in April 2023 and has since been at the centre of a gripping domestic abuse storyline with his new wife Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Droper).

Over the past few months, Tom has become more controlling of Belle. The coercive control storyline escalated in recent

However, James has revealed his character will be rumbled at some point, and that he knew what was in store for Tom and Belle when he firstjoined the soap last year.

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James said he’s aware his evil alter-ego had a “shelf life” and that an ending would happen and admitted himself that it was “needed”. He told Daily Star and other press: “I always knew this role was gonna have this storyline, even when Tom was a good character for the first six months.

“I knew this was gonna happen but you have to honour the storyline as realistically as possible as it’s something that does go on. If the audience do hate you, it’s a good sign you are doing it properly.”

Tom and Belle in Emmerdale
He went on: “I think it has to happen because it’s what he deserves. He can’t get away with it. I don’t know to what extent [how it will end]. Belle needs justice for what’s happened to her and the audience needs that. We have to see her win in the end or for him to lose.”

Not wanting to give away what this ending might be, James teased Tom should “at least” face prison. Emmerdale boss Laura Shaw warned it was far from over and there was more trouble ahead for. Belle, saying: “What we will see is Tom finding different ways to manipulate Belle and control Belle. We will see an escalation.”

Tom in Emmerdale
James said he’s aware his role as evil alter-ego had a “shelf life”
“We said right from the beginning that we wanted to tell this story as truthfully and authentically as we can and let’s face it for people who are subjected to domestic abuse this isn’t something that’s over in a couple of weeks.

“This is something that goes on for a long length of time and we wanted to be truthful to that. I think you can expect this storyline to run until the end of this year.”