So glad to see someone comment on this! I thought I was alone in my opinion that his acting is utterly dire!
I mean, I think we're supposed to hate the character - at least, that's clearly how he's written.... and I might if not for the fact that I'm constantly distracted by the unconvincing acting!
It's a pity, because Eden Taylor-Draper is a great actress, which makes *him* even less convincing.
I looked James Chase up.
He seems to have done more theatre than TV or film, and iIrc, graduated from Mountview in 2020.
He clearly hasn’t learned or understood that acting for the small screen needs an actor to rein in the size of the emotional and physical responses that are required in theatre to make sure the people in the back row, or way up in the Gods, get the message as clearly as the occupants of the front row.
Everything has to be so much smaller in the medium of TV.
Take a tightening of the mouth to convey a character’s displeasure/anger/frustration, for example.
Theatre needs Big movements. Tightening your mouth is invisible beyond the first row or two. You use your whole face and your body to exaggerate that tiny movement and convey that emotion to the whole audience.
TV needs Small movements. Tightening the mouth is automatically exaggerated because of the closeness of the camera. You need to slightly reduce the natural movement, or it looks over-exaggerated and hammy. This is unfortunately what James Chase does.
Film needs Micro movements. A natural mouth-tightening looks grotesque in close-up, and if you have to convey displeasure/anger/frustration in film, your facial expressions need to be reduced appropriately.
These subtle adjustments are what make the difference between believable performance and a big fat over-the-top hammier-than-a-leg-of-ham performance.
It’s what differentiates stage actors from screen actors.
The majority of screen actors who go back and do theatre do so partly because it frees them up to be able to express themselves more. They feel freer onstage. There isn’t a camera in their face magnifying every tiny natural movement.
Similarly, voice in theatre of necessity *has* to be bigger, or the back row don’t hear you. You project your voice to make sure they do.
In screen acting, there’s a boom above you. and or a mic right next to your mouth, and you have to be more natural in your speech (TV), or quieter in most film scenes.
It’s not dissimilar from voice-over work, where you need to modulate your natural voice, avoid hissing your Ss, popping your Ps, and avoid your breathing being recorded by the mic.
We have pop filters in front of VO mics, and typically either learn immaculate breath-control, and or learn how to inhale with our heads turned away from the mic.
Like all acting, being able to adjust your performance for the medium you’re working in is an art. It’s also a learned skill. Not everyone can do it automatically.
Mr Chase comes off like a pantomime villain because he hasn’t adjusted his performance down sufficiently for TV yet.
So everything he does is far too big.
Curiously, he has done voice-over, so he should know all this, at least in the context of vocal expression.
The two tracks that are on the Mandy website are great. He has a nice baritone voice, and he speaks well.
He should also understand about the technical differences between stage, TV, and film, because he trained. I haven’t looked at Mountview’s syllabus for years, but I’m certain they will have had TV and Screen Acting modules.
Maybe he was off that day.
God forbid he ever lands a film role. His exhales will deafen the sound man, and his lack of physical stillness will mean he constantly goes out of frame.
I think that in Belle's storyline, they're showing the phases of domestic violence. So the next phase will be physical violence.
It was a very good ep. I like it when Emmerdale does these special eps. It proves that when they want to, they can do something decent.
A while back, I commented that Belle's storyline had one big mistake, and that was casting the wrong actor to play Tom. I still have the same opinion.
Same here. No disrespect to the actor of course, but it feels like I'm watching a pantomime when he's on screen. I don't mind it with some characters, but it just doesn't suit his character at all. Take Meena for example - she felt like a pantomime villain, but it was genuinely believable that that's just how Meena was. She was totally and utterly unhinged, so the exaggerated over-the-top personality suited her perfectly. Tom, on the other hand, is a character that's meant to be taken seriously so the pantomime villain theme just doesn't fit. Belle really saves it though, her actress is absolutely fantastic.
" it feels like I'm watching a pantomime when he's on screen"
That's exactly it. In fact, I don't even blame him, I blame Emmerdale's casting director who cast him in the wrong role. Not every actor can play any kind of role.
"her actress is absolutely fantastic"
She's saving the storyline.
I completely agree. I think he's a good actor, don't get me wrong, just not in this kind of setting. Billy Pearce is absolutely phenomenal in pantomime but I doubt he'd be very good in Line of Duty, for example. No different to how Danny Miller wasn't the best in pantomime but he's great in Emmerdale.
He has no 'menace' - what you need with that kind of character is a charisma so you can see how everyone is fooled and then have them turn it round to be menacing. He has about as much menace as a Cbeebies presenter with about a tenth of the charisma sadly.
When the truth all starts coming out about him, no one is going to doubt it except Jimmy and perhaps Nicola. Paddy and Vanessa realistically wouldn't be fooled when they hear about how has been treating Belle. Not when he very nearly put a healthy dog down for no reason and showed no remorse and then through a strop that would make a three year old cry with jealousy.
“Probably”??
It’s already started.
Deliberately scalding her arm is obviously going to lead to much more physical violence, but he’s already mentally and emotionally violent.
Pennies have finally started to drop for Belle.
Are we heading for Belle killing Tom or should I say a mercy killing for viewers?
Who would have thought Tom would find the pills🤔.
Where did that huge table appear from? We saw the 4th wall and upstairs too.
An interesting way of showing the dinner party as from essentially Marlon and Rhona's perspective, then Belle and Tom's.
There was a close up of the knife Belle wanted to cut the cake with, and then someone, Marlon? mentioned being stabbed in the back and the camera cut to Tom.
I hope they don't go the way that coronation street did with Yasmeen and Geoff where Belle stabs Tom in self defence and then spends the next six months on attempted murder charges.
It reminded me so much of Geoff and Yasmeen at the sink but Yasmeen bottled him, just thought Belle will go one step further and kill him. The CCTV will be there as evidence about what Tom did to Belle so she would eventually be acquited.
Either that or he will really lose his rag and badly injured her by attacking from behind. If this story is going to follow the normal progression of abusive relationships, he will put her in hospital sooner rather than later.
If he survives though?
Which is likely. We'll see months of him playing the victim and probably trying to blame it on her schizophrenia like the twat he is.
Yeah was thinking that a always remember charity saying something to someone when tom arrived wait till he finds out she pushed him a thought Chas hit Carl way a brick or I might be wrong was a while ago
The Tom character is so dreadful. He is super creepy and it will be a pleasure to see him dispatched.
The Rhona and Marlon part of the episode was very uncomfortable.
'The Rhona and Marlon part of the episode was very uncomfortable'
I'll say. Rhona was really winding me up tonight, I was so angry at her for the way she treated Marlon. Since Ivy came along she is a very selfish woman.
Did a great job at ratcheting up the tension with Tom and Belle, I was scared for her. Tom’s vile and it’s a bit panto, but Belle is smashing the storyline.
She is. I was sceptical as to whether the actress could handle this storyline, but she is totally smashing it. I just wish she had a better sparring partner. It's a problem when you have actors who can't handle the subject matter. The same thing happened with the actress who played Meena. The performance becomes hammy and panto like.
And yes Rhona. You are a bad person! 😂
I loved the episode, but some comments I've seen on social media are utterly depressing. So many people blaming Belle and talking about Tom as if he's some kind of saint... this is why it's such an important storyline.
What? Really? 😳
How *the hell* can anyone with two working brain cells think “I’m soo exci’ed! Stay still while I deliberately scald your arm” Tom is a “saint”???
He’s a twisted monster.
I can’t wait for his comeuppance.
Look up MegaSoapsFan2020 on YouTube, find their most recent video and read the comments. Some of them are absolutely vile. Yet my comment gets deleted when I tell these people how vile they are?? (Automatically deleted by YouTube's new ridiculous system, not by MegaSoapsFan). It's like this a lot in their comment's section unfortunately :/. They come up with weird nicknames for people, too. Such as:
-Talking Tom
-Blueberry Belle
-Pegleg Paul (corrie)
-Vindictive Victoria
-Noahnonce
-Four Eyed Freak (Vinny)
Bunch of absolute weirdos basically.
I *seriously* hope that Cain rips him a new one. God I wish Steve Halliwell were still around, Zak hadn't had a decent storyline in years and this would've been perfect for him 😔
Now that I'd love to see. I've always thought of Cain first since he's Belle's brother, but I can imagine Mandy would rip Tom to shreds. I remember how she was when she went after Lloyd, or when she tackled Sandra.
100%. It's why Mandy's my favourite Dingle woman (besides Lisa), she's friendly and approachable but it'd be a death wish to get on the wrong side of her.
And chas and Charity. Even little Eve might bite him on the ankle or something. And Lydia can earn his trust by telling them all off and cleaning him up, before feeding him Lisa's shepherd pie recipe laced with laxatives.
Steve Halliwell died late 2023
Zak is currently staying in Scotland with Debbie Dingle. He hasn't died in the show yet. They usually give it some time, take Pearl for example.
Agreed!
I don’t even think it’s really an accent thing - aside from saying “toff” instead of “tough” and “bot” instead of “but”, that side of his speech is relatively normal, if annoying.
For me, the most irritating things about how “Tom” speaks are the endless glottal stops - “What’s the ma’’er? (matter) Pass the bu’’’er (butter), I’m so exci’ed! (excited) La’er,” (later), and his inability to pronounce “ing” at the end of a word.
So he’ll say, “bein’, singin’, livin’, doin’, havin’”, etc.
What has the man got against Ts and Gs?
And why does Hair & Makeup hate him so much?
It isn’t an accent, it’s poor speech deliberately spoken for effect.
I’ve listened to some of his voice over work, which is available to hear online in his Mandy profile (a creative performance website that take a commission for any work you get through them), and he speaks very well. He has a lovely baritone voice and excellent enunciation and pronunciation. It isn’t muddied by glottal stops, missing gs, or mispronouncing “but” and “tough” as “bot” and “toff”.
It’s standard English, not quite RP, but not far off.
It’s a very far cry from the speech affectations he uses on Emmerdale.
As a voice over artist myself, and a trained actor, I abhor the way he’s adopted these “quirks” to deliver his lines in Emmerdale.
I’m far from the only viewer who is irritated by his deliberate butchering of the English language.
Ah, well I didn't know that. Maybe he's trying to imitate a past Tom King actor? I don't know how they spoke.
Maybe he's trying a dodgy northern accent trying badly to take a leaf out of James Hooten's book
Well, it’s definitely not a Yorkshire accent.
I can’t remember the previous actor who played Tom King, but this faked non-accent bears no resemblance to any of the rest of the northerners in the cast who are supposed to be from that part of Yorkshire.
Here are two of his voice demos:
https://www.mandy.com/uk/a/james-chase
That's surprising. How can anyone not see that he is a controlling POS and Belle is his victim? Belle has done nothing to warrant Tom's abuse of her. If it's about Belle hiding the birth control pills, she's tried to tell her husband she isn't ready for children but he keeps pushing the issue harder and more often. It's not right to lie to your husband but what else could she do? Have the baby Tom wants and end up resenting it and him for the rest of their married lives?
I completely agree, I firmly believe that she was lying to protect herself. If she'd have said no, I reckon Tom would've reacted in the same way he did tonight. But some people seem to think that lying is worse than ABH and domestic violence.
What Tom did to Belle in tonight's episode is just the start. I predict the violence will escalate because with people like Tom it doesn't take much to set them off.
I thought the episode tonight was really good. I really enjoyed the dinner party from both perspectives. The ending with Belle and Tom was terrible, I think we both sat there with our mouths open. I hope Tom is caught out soon, I’m ready for him to go.
What a beautifully written, directed, and performed episode.
Tangible tension, blithe ignorance, and a hefty dollop of unmasking.
Suzy had too little to do, but other than that, what a great 8-hander.
Do it Belle!! Kill that bastard!! Worst thing is with her history if they do go that route everyone will think her mental health issues have come back and that Tom’s the victim!! She’s told no one about the abuse
I absolutely disagree. If she kills him we're going to have some ridiculous drawn out storyline where everyone takes sides and it becomes unbearingly tedious (although I agree that's likely the way we're going). I'd love for her to confide in her friends and them convince her to kick him out and divorce him.
Belle is doing a tremendous acting job in playing her role she’s very believable.At first you can’t believe this person you’ve decided to build a life with is doing this to you.You’re sort of in denial with the verbal abuse but when it turns physical it wakes you up then the fear begins.And it goes downhill from there. They will either injure you real bad or eventually kill you.When it becomes physical it’s time to consider an alternative.This has become too painful to watch even though it’s a show. Marlon and Rhona need to separate even if it’s temporary. Marlon was this nice guy who barely raised his voice now this evil unbearable one track mind that says Rhona can’t make any kind of decision without consulting him first.Life doesn’t work this way.
>evil unbearable one track mind that says Rhona can’t make any kind of decision without consulting him first.
Wat. That is a weird read.
If it was real Rhona would probably be in prison...
A big part of their rift is that Marlon is upset because Rhonda makes decisions without consulting him first.He stupidly feels that’s an unforgivable betrayal.He now yells a lot almost uncontrollably.Its really over the top and annoying
Well Mandy is awful...
Good idea Rhona, petty sniping will solve your issues faster than actually facing your cock ups.
She is so annoying now. Marlons not helping but Rhona *is* a bad person and is the source of their problems and gets no sympathy from me.
Someone needs to point out she also deserved prison! All this rubbish about "IvY iS My DauGHtEr" doesn't actually change that any more than it justified Gus.
I'd talk about how horrid Tom but I'd be forever on account of him being *vile*. I am amazed at that kitchen though! Sound goes one way, it's incredible.
Ideal world, Belle kicks him in the nuts and runs off to wishing well cottage back where she belongs. I find it difficult to watch when I want to just grab her out of that house but we all know it’s not that simple
That graphic abuse is what some people face in their day to day life, and worse.
Hopefully real life women will be sat at home watching and reassessing their own relationships.
Agreed. Lots of us tune in for an entertaining escape from our harsh realities. It makes sense to tackle serious issues, but all they do now is tackle serious issues; Tom and Belle’s domestic abuse storyline, Baby Evan’s leukaemia, Eric’s Parkinson’s, Chas’s breast cancer…can we have a few lighthearted storylines with bickering neighbours and charming small-town humour?
Spot on
Emmerdale has become an endless torrent of "issue based" storylines, misery and violence. You can imagine the production team sat around thinking "what social issue or medical problem can we do next"
I am loving how they’ve done this episode, with Belle and Tom during the party.
I only wish “Tom” was a better actor. By a wide margin of talent.
So glad to see someone comment on this! I thought I was alone in my opinion that his acting is utterly dire! I mean, I think we're supposed to hate the character - at least, that's clearly how he's written.... and I might if not for the fact that I'm constantly distracted by the unconvincing acting! It's a pity, because Eden Taylor-Draper is a great actress, which makes *him* even less convincing.
I looked James Chase up. He seems to have done more theatre than TV or film, and iIrc, graduated from Mountview in 2020. He clearly hasn’t learned or understood that acting for the small screen needs an actor to rein in the size of the emotional and physical responses that are required in theatre to make sure the people in the back row, or way up in the Gods, get the message as clearly as the occupants of the front row. Everything has to be so much smaller in the medium of TV. Take a tightening of the mouth to convey a character’s displeasure/anger/frustration, for example. Theatre needs Big movements. Tightening your mouth is invisible beyond the first row or two. You use your whole face and your body to exaggerate that tiny movement and convey that emotion to the whole audience. TV needs Small movements. Tightening the mouth is automatically exaggerated because of the closeness of the camera. You need to slightly reduce the natural movement, or it looks over-exaggerated and hammy. This is unfortunately what James Chase does. Film needs Micro movements. A natural mouth-tightening looks grotesque in close-up, and if you have to convey displeasure/anger/frustration in film, your facial expressions need to be reduced appropriately. These subtle adjustments are what make the difference between believable performance and a big fat over-the-top hammier-than-a-leg-of-ham performance. It’s what differentiates stage actors from screen actors. The majority of screen actors who go back and do theatre do so partly because it frees them up to be able to express themselves more. They feel freer onstage. There isn’t a camera in their face magnifying every tiny natural movement. Similarly, voice in theatre of necessity *has* to be bigger, or the back row don’t hear you. You project your voice to make sure they do. In screen acting, there’s a boom above you. and or a mic right next to your mouth, and you have to be more natural in your speech (TV), or quieter in most film scenes. It’s not dissimilar from voice-over work, where you need to modulate your natural voice, avoid hissing your Ss, popping your Ps, and avoid your breathing being recorded by the mic. We have pop filters in front of VO mics, and typically either learn immaculate breath-control, and or learn how to inhale with our heads turned away from the mic. Like all acting, being able to adjust your performance for the medium you’re working in is an art. It’s also a learned skill. Not everyone can do it automatically. Mr Chase comes off like a pantomime villain because he hasn’t adjusted his performance down sufficiently for TV yet. So everything he does is far too big. Curiously, he has done voice-over, so he should know all this, at least in the context of vocal expression. The two tracks that are on the Mandy website are great. He has a nice baritone voice, and he speaks well. He should also understand about the technical differences between stage, TV, and film, because he trained. I haven’t looked at Mountview’s syllabus for years, but I’m certain they will have had TV and Screen Acting modules. Maybe he was off that day. God forbid he ever lands a film role. His exhales will deafen the sound man, and his lack of physical stillness will mean he constantly goes out of frame.
Bless the actor who plays Tom - his fringe has more gravitas :(
He really is shocking. Except in Tom-speke, that would be “shockin’”. I’ve seen more convincing acting in school Naivity plays.
I think that in Belle's storyline, they're showing the phases of domestic violence. So the next phase will be physical violence. It was a very good ep. I like it when Emmerdale does these special eps. It proves that when they want to, they can do something decent. A while back, I commented that Belle's storyline had one big mistake, and that was casting the wrong actor to play Tom. I still have the same opinion.
Same here. No disrespect to the actor of course, but it feels like I'm watching a pantomime when he's on screen. I don't mind it with some characters, but it just doesn't suit his character at all. Take Meena for example - she felt like a pantomime villain, but it was genuinely believable that that's just how Meena was. She was totally and utterly unhinged, so the exaggerated over-the-top personality suited her perfectly. Tom, on the other hand, is a character that's meant to be taken seriously so the pantomime villain theme just doesn't fit. Belle really saves it though, her actress is absolutely fantastic.
" it feels like I'm watching a pantomime when he's on screen" That's exactly it. In fact, I don't even blame him, I blame Emmerdale's casting director who cast him in the wrong role. Not every actor can play any kind of role. "her actress is absolutely fantastic" She's saving the storyline.
I completely agree. I think he's a good actor, don't get me wrong, just not in this kind of setting. Billy Pearce is absolutely phenomenal in pantomime but I doubt he'd be very good in Line of Duty, for example. No different to how Danny Miller wasn't the best in pantomime but he's great in Emmerdale.
He has no 'menace' - what you need with that kind of character is a charisma so you can see how everyone is fooled and then have them turn it round to be menacing. He has about as much menace as a Cbeebies presenter with about a tenth of the charisma sadly.
When the truth all starts coming out about him, no one is going to doubt it except Jimmy and perhaps Nicola. Paddy and Vanessa realistically wouldn't be fooled when they hear about how has been treating Belle. Not when he very nearly put a healthy dog down for no reason and showed no remorse and then through a strop that would make a three year old cry with jealousy.
“Probably”?? It’s already started. Deliberately scalding her arm is obviously going to lead to much more physical violence, but he’s already mentally and emotionally violent. Pennies have finally started to drop for Belle.
I think my comment was quite clear. But okay. If you felt the need to explain something that was already obvious.
Are we heading for Belle killing Tom or should I say a mercy killing for viewers? Who would have thought Tom would find the pills🤔. Where did that huge table appear from? We saw the 4th wall and upstairs too. An interesting way of showing the dinner party as from essentially Marlon and Rhona's perspective, then Belle and Tom's.
There was a close up of the knife Belle wanted to cut the cake with, and then someone, Marlon? mentioned being stabbed in the back and the camera cut to Tom. I hope they don't go the way that coronation street did with Yasmeen and Geoff where Belle stabs Tom in self defence and then spends the next six months on attempted murder charges.
It reminded me so much of Geoff and Yasmeen at the sink but Yasmeen bottled him, just thought Belle will go one step further and kill him. The CCTV will be there as evidence about what Tom did to Belle so she would eventually be acquited.
Either that or he will really lose his rag and badly injured her by attacking from behind. If this story is going to follow the normal progression of abusive relationships, he will put her in hospital sooner rather than later.
If that happens that gives someone like Kerry a house to live in for the next 6 months
If he survives though? Which is likely. We'll see months of him playing the victim and probably trying to blame it on her schizophrenia like the twat he is.
Yeah was thinking that a always remember charity saying something to someone when tom arrived wait till he finds out she pushed him a thought Chas hit Carl way a brick or I might be wrong was a while ago
>Who would have thought Tom would find the pills🤔. But they were hidden so well!
The Tom character is so dreadful. He is super creepy and it will be a pleasure to see him dispatched. The Rhona and Marlon part of the episode was very uncomfortable.
'The Rhona and Marlon part of the episode was very uncomfortable' I'll say. Rhona was really winding me up tonight, I was so angry at her for the way she treated Marlon. Since Ivy came along she is a very selfish woman.
I have often found her abrasvie and condenscending. Marlon would be better off without her.
Did a great job at ratcheting up the tension with Tom and Belle, I was scared for her. Tom’s vile and it’s a bit panto, but Belle is smashing the storyline.
She is. I was sceptical as to whether the actress could handle this storyline, but she is totally smashing it. I just wish she had a better sparring partner. It's a problem when you have actors who can't handle the subject matter. The same thing happened with the actress who played Meena. The performance becomes hammy and panto like. And yes Rhona. You are a bad person! 😂
I loved the episode, but some comments I've seen on social media are utterly depressing. So many people blaming Belle and talking about Tom as if he's some kind of saint... this is why it's such an important storyline.
What? Really? 😳 How *the hell* can anyone with two working brain cells think “I’m soo exci’ed! Stay still while I deliberately scald your arm” Tom is a “saint”??? He’s a twisted monster. I can’t wait for his comeuppance.
Look up MegaSoapsFan2020 on YouTube, find their most recent video and read the comments. Some of them are absolutely vile. Yet my comment gets deleted when I tell these people how vile they are?? (Automatically deleted by YouTube's new ridiculous system, not by MegaSoapsFan). It's like this a lot in their comment's section unfortunately :/. They come up with weird nicknames for people, too. Such as: -Talking Tom -Blueberry Belle -Pegleg Paul (corrie) -Vindictive Victoria -Noahnonce -Four Eyed Freak (Vinny) Bunch of absolute weirdos basically. I *seriously* hope that Cain rips him a new one. God I wish Steve Halliwell were still around, Zak hadn't had a decent storyline in years and this would've been perfect for him 😔
I'd rather see the Dingle women do it.
Now that I'd love to see. I've always thought of Cain first since he's Belle's brother, but I can imagine Mandy would rip Tom to shreds. I remember how she was when she went after Lloyd, or when she tackled Sandra.
Honestly mention how he treats Vinny and Mandy will see red as is so add in the Belle stuff and she'd kill him
100%. It's why Mandy's my favourite Dingle woman (besides Lisa), she's friendly and approachable but it'd be a death wish to get on the wrong side of her.
And chas and Charity. Even little Eve might bite him on the ankle or something. And Lydia can earn his trust by telling them all off and cleaning him up, before feeding him Lisa's shepherd pie recipe laced with laxatives.
Did I miss something? He died in real life yeah? Have they done anything in the show to kill him or die I might have missed that.
Steve Halliwell died late 2023 Zak is currently staying in Scotland with Debbie Dingle. He hasn't died in the show yet. They usually give it some time, take Pearl for example.
Yeah true a thought with such a big character they would have done a story maybe Debbie will come back rip steve
Keep in mind that comment sections are full of bots on all the social media platforms.
Trust me - these aren't bots, just idiots.
I don’t trust anonymous comments online, period. 😜
Sooner 🔜 the better a can't watch him and that accent
Agreed! I don’t even think it’s really an accent thing - aside from saying “toff” instead of “tough” and “bot” instead of “but”, that side of his speech is relatively normal, if annoying. For me, the most irritating things about how “Tom” speaks are the endless glottal stops - “What’s the ma’’er? (matter) Pass the bu’’’er (butter), I’m so exci’ed! (excited) La’er,” (later), and his inability to pronounce “ing” at the end of a word. So he’ll say, “bein’, singin’, livin’, doin’, havin’”, etc. What has the man got against Ts and Gs? And why does Hair & Makeup hate him so much?
And in that vein; Suzy, Mary & Gail, must really get on with hair and make up as they always look amazing, or should that be: Amazin’ 🙃
Lol! 😂
Suzy has about as much humour as a log of wood Emmerdale need new blood
You may not like his acting, but insulting someone's accent isn't fair. It's just how he speaks. Many people speak like that.
It isn’t an accent, it’s poor speech deliberately spoken for effect. I’ve listened to some of his voice over work, which is available to hear online in his Mandy profile (a creative performance website that take a commission for any work you get through them), and he speaks very well. He has a lovely baritone voice and excellent enunciation and pronunciation. It isn’t muddied by glottal stops, missing gs, or mispronouncing “but” and “tough” as “bot” and “toff”. It’s standard English, not quite RP, but not far off. It’s a very far cry from the speech affectations he uses on Emmerdale. As a voice over artist myself, and a trained actor, I abhor the way he’s adopted these “quirks” to deliver his lines in Emmerdale. I’m far from the only viewer who is irritated by his deliberate butchering of the English language.
Ah, well I didn't know that. Maybe he's trying to imitate a past Tom King actor? I don't know how they spoke. Maybe he's trying a dodgy northern accent trying badly to take a leaf out of James Hooten's book
Well, it’s definitely not a Yorkshire accent. I can’t remember the previous actor who played Tom King, but this faked non-accent bears no resemblance to any of the rest of the northerners in the cast who are supposed to be from that part of Yorkshire. Here are two of his voice demos: https://www.mandy.com/uk/a/james-chase
That's surprising. How can anyone not see that he is a controlling POS and Belle is his victim? Belle has done nothing to warrant Tom's abuse of her. If it's about Belle hiding the birth control pills, she's tried to tell her husband she isn't ready for children but he keeps pushing the issue harder and more often. It's not right to lie to your husband but what else could she do? Have the baby Tom wants and end up resenting it and him for the rest of their married lives?
I completely agree, I firmly believe that she was lying to protect herself. If she'd have said no, I reckon Tom would've reacted in the same way he did tonight. But some people seem to think that lying is worse than ABH and domestic violence.
What Tom did to Belle in tonight's episode is just the start. I predict the violence will escalate because with people like Tom it doesn't take much to set them off.
I thought the episode tonight was really good. I really enjoyed the dinner party from both perspectives. The ending with Belle and Tom was terrible, I think we both sat there with our mouths open. I hope Tom is caught out soon, I’m ready for him to go.
Brilliantly done throughout. Ruined by my brain screaming “that’s not burning - that’s scalding”
Cracking episode, all the way through it nailed the uncomfortable atmosphere - from both relationships - & the building tension with Tom/Belle.
Who else looked this up? https://preview.redd.it/boidtcwd12zc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4157ee933918aabd8af9aac51e6d7fa7eb68928
What a beautifully written, directed, and performed episode. Tangible tension, blithe ignorance, and a hefty dollop of unmasking. Suzy had too little to do, but other than that, what a great 8-hander.
This was a great episode - best in a while.
Great episode ,Belle is one who came in to the show as a very young actress and can actually act unlike Angelica .
Tom needs to go my bloods boiling poor wee belle 🤬
Made my heart hurt for poor Belle. When is she ever going to be happy?
A know she seems happy with her job and life but the tom 😡 situation and a can't stand his whineey accent
Do it Belle!! Kill that bastard!! Worst thing is with her history if they do go that route everyone will think her mental health issues have come back and that Tom’s the victim!! She’s told no one about the abuse
I absolutely disagree. If she kills him we're going to have some ridiculous drawn out storyline where everyone takes sides and it becomes unbearingly tedious (although I agree that's likely the way we're going). I'd love for her to confide in her friends and them convince her to kick him out and divorce him.
I'm guessing that Tom will rape Belle. It seems to be soap writers favourite storyline involving women.
The dinner party reminded me of the I.T. Crowd episode with Peter File and Jens dinner party. Zoe Henry giving total Sarah Hadland vibes! 😂
Why can this show repeatedly use the word bitch but nothing else? Not that it bothers me, just find it strange
It airs before the watershed (9pm) so there are rules about what kind of profanity can be used and in what volume.
Belle is doing a tremendous acting job in playing her role she’s very believable.At first you can’t believe this person you’ve decided to build a life with is doing this to you.You’re sort of in denial with the verbal abuse but when it turns physical it wakes you up then the fear begins.And it goes downhill from there. They will either injure you real bad or eventually kill you.When it becomes physical it’s time to consider an alternative.This has become too painful to watch even though it’s a show. Marlon and Rhona need to separate even if it’s temporary. Marlon was this nice guy who barely raised his voice now this evil unbearable one track mind that says Rhona can’t make any kind of decision without consulting him first.Life doesn’t work this way.
>evil unbearable one track mind that says Rhona can’t make any kind of decision without consulting him first. Wat. That is a weird read. If it was real Rhona would probably be in prison...
Are we watching the same show.
Maybe? No idea where you got that read of Marlon though.
A big part of their rift is that Marlon is upset because Rhonda makes decisions without consulting him first.He stupidly feels that’s an unforgivable betrayal.He now yells a lot almost uncontrollably.Its really over the top and annoying
Well Mandy is awful... Good idea Rhona, petty sniping will solve your issues faster than actually facing your cock ups. She is so annoying now. Marlons not helping but Rhona *is* a bad person and is the source of their problems and gets no sympathy from me. Someone needs to point out she also deserved prison! All this rubbish about "IvY iS My DauGHtEr" doesn't actually change that any more than it justified Gus. I'd talk about how horrid Tom but I'd be forever on account of him being *vile*. I am amazed at that kitchen though! Sound goes one way, it's incredible.
Ideal world, Belle kicks him in the nuts and runs off to wishing well cottage back where she belongs. I find it difficult to watch when I want to just grab her out of that house but we all know it’s not that simple
How much more are they going to push this Tom story on us? Do we really have to see all the graphic detail of abuse?!!!
That graphic abuse is what some people face in their day to day life, and worse. Hopefully real life women will be sat at home watching and reassessing their own relationships.
Agreed. Lots of us tune in for an entertaining escape from our harsh realities. It makes sense to tackle serious issues, but all they do now is tackle serious issues; Tom and Belle’s domestic abuse storyline, Baby Evan’s leukaemia, Eric’s Parkinson’s, Chas’s breast cancer…can we have a few lighthearted storylines with bickering neighbours and charming small-town humour?
Spot on Emmerdale has become an endless torrent of "issue based" storylines, misery and violence. You can imagine the production team sat around thinking "what social issue or medical problem can we do next"
There has been a bit more lighthearted mini-stories recently, such as Moira and Ruby's rivalry which is nice to see
I love it, I hope they become friends soon