Emmerdale pushes Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) to the brink as he gets violent with a vulnerable Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) in a desperate attempt to free his wife from prison.
The soap Gods seriously needs to cut Cain some slack. First he gets tangled up in the Corriedale car cash, then he takes a shotgun blast to the chest courtesy of crazed killer John Sugden (Oliver Farnworth). Next thing we know, he’s rushed to hospital where the doctors discover a worrying mass growing that turns out to be the early stages of prostate cancer.
To cap it all, his wife Moira is facing charges for people trafficking and murder, thanks to being framed from beyond the grave by her ruthless ex-business partner, the late Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths).
Now Moira is in prison for the murder of Celia, who was actually killed by her own son Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) and Anya, a forced labourer on Butler’s farm who Celia had buried in Moira’s blanket. The police put two and two together to make five… just as evil Celia had intended.
With the one person he can confide in behind bars, Cain has been feeling lost and struggling to come to terms with his diagnosis.
He’s desperate to exonerate Moira, but the police are having a hard time believing – understandably – that she had nothing to do with a modern slavery operation running right under her nose. Unfortunately, with Ray and Celia dead, there’s nobody who can clear her name.
Or at least, there wasn’t… until Bear Wolf turned up alive.
The formidable ex-wrestler and Dales legend had been reduced to a shadow of his former self after months of being groomed and coerced into a life of forced labour by Ray, the man he thought was his friend.
Emmerdale viewers mourned the loss of Bear when Celia bragged to Ray that she murdered him, which was seemingly confirmed when Ray discovered an unresponsive Bear upstairs at Butlers’.
However, reports of Bear’s death were greatly exaggerated when during a horrifying showdown where Ray was about to silence Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) for good, Bear made a shock return from the grave, turned against his captor and killed Ray to protect Dylan and Paddy.
While his son Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) was overjoyed to see his dad alive and kicking, he was left with a dilemma on his hands – and a murder to cover up. Can Paddy keep his recuperating dad as far from Hotten police station as physically possible?
Not if Cain’s got anything to say about it. As far as the deadliest Dingle is concern, Bear is the only witness to the atrocities that took place on Butler’s Farm and therefore his best chance at clearing Moira’s name.
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That might be easier said than done.
Only recently overcoming his Stockholm syndrome, Bear is emotionally traumatised by the nightmarish ordeal that Celia and Ray put him through. He’s in no state to do anything. Besides, how can Bear exonerate Moira without incriminating himself?
But Cain is not known for his understanding or empathy, especially when his family’s at stake. Upcoming episodes will see the tortured bad boy of the Dales to get violent with Bear in a desperate fight for Moira’s freedom.
Viewers will see Cain trying to physically force a shaken Bear to go to the police to help Moira. When Bear won’t budge, he violently manhandles the man-mountain only for Dylan to quickly intervene.
Has Cain gone too far?