‘It’s killing me’: Emmerdale star admits he can’t wait for storyline to end

Joshua Richards has been at the centre of a very dark storyline for almost a year in Emmerdale.

In the summer of 2025, Joshua’s character Bear Wolf was lured to a farm by Ray Walters (Joe Absolom). He was then thrown into a dark and dingy attic and made to work alongside other vulnerable adults.

As part of Emmerdale’s efforts to shine a light on modern day slavery, Bear was manipulated and groomed by Ray and Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths), and endured some truly horrific circumstances that left the man incredibly traumatised.

He escaped the farm at the start of 2026 and returned to the village. When Bear burst into Tenants though, he found Ray trying to kill Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt).

Bear grabbed Ray and strangled him so hard, he died. In the aftermath of this, Paddy and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) attempted to keep Bear’s murderous secret, but DS Walsh (Amanda Ryan) eventually discovered the truth.

It’s been an intense time for actor Joshua. While he’s blown us away with his performance as Bear, he’s admitted it’s been hard sometimes to totally switch off from work.

‘It’s quite difficult. You get home and you’ve got to learn the lines for the following day. You’ve got to go back. You finish work here, and then you go home. You sit down. You’re still working’, he explained to us.

‘And of course, it’s gone on from what you’ve already done today, you’re into another. So yeah, it’s difficult to switch off and sometimes you just think, “God. I hope this ends soon, because this is killing me”. I’d never thought I’d say that.’

When asked about whether he’s glad the storyline is drawing to a close, Joshua told us: ‘I’m over the moon. Don’t get me wrong I’ve really enjoyed doing it, because it’s a massive thing to do, and I think what’s humbling about it is the amount of people it involves.

‘There’s the massive crew, the writers, the script editors, the directors, everybody involved, the makeup, the costume, everybody’s got to be so involved, the other actors. It’s massive, and it’s a big journey for everybody. And at the end, I think everybody just says, “Well done, but thank God that’s over. Let’s move on to the next and I’d like to park it”.’

Paddy, Dylan and Bear will soon stand trial for the crimes they’ve committed. If the jury don’t believe the trio’s statements, Bear will go to prison for the rest of his life.

Discussing how Bear would cope in prison, Joshua believed his character would simply accept his fate. This is a man who was once a pro-wrestler, so Bear witnessing fights between in-mates wouldn’t bother him, according to Josh.

‘I think he’d be all right because of this ability to shut down, and also, I think because of a whole lifetime of being on the road in various small rooms, on his own, never really having anybody as a partner, only the love of his life, which was Paddy’s mother. He’s been on his own for most of his life, and he can cope with that.

‘I think even when we saw him being abused by Ray, the physical abuse, I don’t think in prison, at a confrontational situation, I don’t think he’d be too worried, because even though he is in advanced years, he can still take care of himself. He’s not afraid of anybody, and I think that’s from a lifetime of taking the knocks.

‘And it’s not necessarily about being kingpin or boss. It’s just the fact that he can physically take it because he’s used to being knocked around.’

Joshua added: ‘That’s one thing we did when Ray slapped me, bless him, which Joe Absolom did so well. When he gave Bear a slap in front of everybody, the director said, can you show more reaction? I said, “why? I don’t think he would. He’s been used to being slapped in the face all his life”. And Joe said, “he’s quite right, what I’d like to do is this”. So he slapped me and he shook his hand in pain and it worked. You made the point that he thought he had the right just to slap him around. But when he did hit him, it hurt his hand, because the guy’s been punched in the face for 40 years, it’s not going to hurt him.

‘So I think in prison, I don’t think he’d turn around and be ultra-violent to anybody, I think he’d just say, “oh right, fine”.

‘That’s not me, by the way. I’d cry!’.