Emmerdale’s Bear will feature in sad and worrying scenes on the ITV soap soon, with actor Joshua Richards previously telling the Mirror how his character would vanish
Bear in Emmerdale sparked more concern on Monday, amid spoilers teasing a sad twist could be on the cards.
Actor Joshua Richards is about to take centre stage in a mystery new storyline, resulting in the character vanishing after some odd behaviour. We’ve seen Bear growing increasingly irritated and lashing out in recent weeks, as well as becoming isolated from his family.
He fumed at his son Paddy Kirk and partner Mandy Dingle not long ago, believing they were kicking him out. After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Bear apologised and told them he’d grown fond of his family.
Just weeks on and Paddy slammed his father Bear for leaving some medication out, with his young daughter Eve found playing with them. Eve had found his sleeping pills, with Paddy telling Bear he nearly killed her.
Since then things have been tense between the father and son, with Mandy trying to keep the peace. Spoilers had revealed Bear’s behaviour would escalate with outbursts ahead, before the actor confirmed his character would go missing for some time before a return would reveal something was very wrong.
READ MORE: Soap stars reveal huge storylines ahead: Epic returns, unexpected twists and sad goodbyes
We’ve already seen concerning behaviour and hints something is wrong, with him lashing out and acting strangely and the fact he’s taking sleeping pills suggests he’s not sleeping well. On Monday things escalated further as revealed in the episode for that evening which dropped on ITVX in the morning.
Bear sparked fury with Paddy once more, as he was shown using the kitchen table to dismantle his motorbike. As he had all the tools and dirty parts all over the kitchen Paddy called him out, suggesting this wasn’t the normal place for such a task.
As Bear got on with things he told Paddy and Mandy he was just popping upstairs as he’d left his screwdriver up there. This deeply concerned Paddy who was left wondering why he’d taken it upstairs with him, with emphasis on his reaction no doubt hinting something is not right.
Then when Mandy and Paddy moved the bike to Cain Dingle’s garage and told Bear he was allowed to fix his bike there, he seemed thrilled. He told the pair he was excited to be there and thanked them for their help.
But when the pair left, we later saw Bear having another aggressive outburst. As he dropped a tool and appeared to hurt himself, he began throwing the toolbox around and kicked the bike.
He shouted out before looking very angry, while his attempt to throw the toolbox left him staggering. He also could not chuck the box initially, almost like he was struggling to hold it before he appeared to shake after.
So what is wrong with Bear? Possibly sad scenes have been confirmed, in that we know this plot leads to Bear fleeing the village and disappearing for weeks, if not months.
Actor Joshua hinted he would be gone for some time, not onscreen for a while before making his return. When he is back, the actor, and soap boss Laura Show, revealed Bear would be very different, and it would be clear something is not okay.
Speaking recently to The Mirror about the plot, Joshua told us: «I’m not really sure the true nature of exactly what is going on, but there is a change there. I never saw sort of a more stripped-back Bear, emotionally through the ringer.
«So I think there’s something big coming up for him, which I’m really looking forward to.» He went on: «He alters somewhat. He’s not too good for some reason, which we don’t know why. So he’s been slightly erratic emotionally and with his moods.
«There are mood swings coming up for him, periods of forgetfulness, and maybe the kind of things that happened with a man of his age.» It was then confirmed to the Mirror that Bear will be offscreen for «a month or two».
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
