Emmerdale is losing another character as an actor has quit the soap after nearly two explosive years in the village.
James Chase is reportedly set to film his final scenes as Tom King as the character exits the soap later this year.
A source told the publication: "It’s the right time to leave. James has loved his time on the show playing such a powerful story but the truth is that characters like Tom have a shelf life for a reason.
"There’s no long-term redemption for Tom coming - he has to leave one way or the other. And either way it will be dramatic. James is rightly proud of the part he’s played in raising awareness of the issue with the story but it’s time to go and spread his wings."
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The actor took over the role of Tom when the character was reintroduced in April 2023. It looked as though Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) was set to get her happy ending when she rekindled her romance with Tom.
However, after they tied the knot in February, the true extent of Tom's behaviour came to light and he has kept Belle under his control ever since.
The dark storyline has explored coercive control and domestic abuse and has been tough to watch for viewers. In a bid to keep Belle away from her family Tom travelled to Wales and planned to stay there for good.
However, she managed to escape from her abusive husband in Wednesday's episode (July 24) after months of torment. After learning Tom had no intention of leaving the remote Welsh village, Belle fled and returned to the Dales.
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Wanting to collect her belongings, she returned to her shared house with Tom, who was waiting for her. Tom warned: You are going nowhere," to which Belle defiantly responded: "You can't stop me."
The village vet issued a chilling threat to his wife, telling her: "I will kill you before I let you leave this house." Earlier in the week, James appeared on Lorraine to discuss this week's episodes which have exposed Tom's controlling and violent behaviour.
Speaking to Lorraine's stand-in host, Christine Lampard, James gushed over working with the "brilliant" Eden.
He said: "With me and Eden, my brilliant co-star, our main goal is to keep eye on the target. There's some difficult scenes but if we can walk away happy with what we've done then that's good."
