Earlier this year, Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) told his son Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) that he’d be leaving the Emmerdale village to spend time with his friend in Ireland.

It came after Bear’s relationship with his son faced a variety of challenges. When he announced his departure, Bear was quietly hurt when he realised Paddy wanted him gone.

But just before he left, Bear learnt from his friend that he’d no longer be able to attend. Feeling as though he was no longer welcome in the Dales, Bear got in his hire car and drove away.

A few weeks later, we saw Bear again. He was in the middle of a field, with his car parked beside him. The state of the vehicle allowed us to learn that Bear had been living out of it. He debated contacting his son, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

The ITV soap confirmed that a special standalone episode will air soon that reveals what Bear has been up to since leaving his family. it has since been revealed that the episode is set to air in November of this year.

An Emmerdale spokesperson said of this instalment: ‘When Paddy and Bear found life under the same roof difficult, Bear decided to leave for another life in Ireland.

‘Paddy believed his estranged father was safe with friends in Ireland, but when it becomes apparent he never made the journey across the Irish Sea, where did Bear disappear to?

‘A special standalone episode will explore the hundred missing days of Bear’s life and we’ll learn that he is sadly trapped in an all too common situation for a forgotten generation.’

One star who has confirmed his involvement in the story is Joe Absolom, who plays drug dealer Ray Walters.

As he discussed Ray’s romance story with Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy), Joe dropped a small hint about Ray’s upcoming scenes with Bear.

‘I think he sees a family life that he never had because he was adopted very early on by Celia when he was eight’, Joe said.

‘We see in episodes later on when I talk to Bear, we see little hints of what his life has been like.’

Although the subject matter of the storyline is still being kept under wraps, Joshua Richards, who plays Bear, previously hinted that it will tackle ‘quite a major subject.’

He went on to say, ‘I’ve done something on this subject which I’m not going to say, but I did a play about it with John Godber a few years ago and it was riveting – quite profound and upsetting and also full of alarming facts.’

In 2007, Joshua acted in John Godber and Jane Thornton’s play Sold, playing a journalist who tries to help a woman who has been sold to people traffickers. This would certainly be a difficult and powerful topic for Emmerdale to tackle if this is what’s planned.

Given the fact we know Ray is a drug dealer, and how he’s previously had discussions with Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) about collecting items from overseas, will he soon find himself in charge of trafficking people as well?

Could that be how Anya arrived in England?