Emmerdale boss warns Tom King’s abuse of Belle Dingle will be ‘much worse’ after dog torture horror

EMMERDALE fans will be disappointed to learn that despite their protests against the storyline, Belle Dingle’s abuse will get even worse.

The poor bride suffered at the hands of Tom King from the moment they were married.

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It all started on their wedding night when he pressured her into consummating their marriage even though she didn’t feel ready, and then forced her to sleep alone on the couch.

From that point on, things began to deteriorate as Tom began abusing his wife, which eventually escalated into physical violence.

His secret abuse almost came to light when Belle checked herself into a mental health crisis centre, but in horrifying scenes he managed to lure her back by threatening her dog.

The controversial moment sparked around 1,000 complaints to Ofcom as viewers felt the violence went too far.

However, the creators of the series protested, claiming that the plot was based on research and reflected the behavior of real torturers who often use animals to hunt down their victims.

Belle was already planning to escape to Scotland when Tom found out she had an abortion, and in a fit of rage, she accidentally electrocuted herself.

He was confined to a wheelchair, which made Belle feel too guilty to escape.

Emmerdale’s new producer Sophie Roper has revealed that the subversive vet will use the opportunity to distance Belle even further from her loved ones.

In an interview at the press day, she said: “We will be airing a special episode soon where Tom and Belle go on a trip to Wales together.

“Tom isolates Belle from her family, from her surroundings, from everything she knows and loves.

“Which is unfortunately typical of perpetrators of abuse and those who attempt to isolate their victims from their families.

“So it’s going to be a difficult drama at times, but a really important message and a really important story that we want to continue to tell.”

On a lighter note, she also spoke about how hard the designers worked on set to transform the Dales into a rural Welsh setting.

Sophie added: “We’ve basically recreated Wales in Yorkshire. Our fantastic design team have a cottage in the village which we’ve renovated and created this beautiful Welsh haven.

“It’s really fantastic how much effort they made to create all this in our world.

“Of course, the story set against the backdrop of this beautiful cottage will be truly shocking and difficult at times.”