Emmerdale star James Chase has revealed his character Tom King’s role in upcoming “dark” special episode.

Next week, the soap will air a special episode involving a dinner party hosted by Tom and Belle, that will give a new insight into their relationship, as well as Marlon and Rhona’s marriage.

The episode, which will air on Tuesday, May 7, will show two different perspectives on the same dinner party, with the first half highlighting Marlon and Rhona’s escalating conflict, as their marital issues are aired in front of the other guests.

But while Tom’s terrifying abuse of Belle continues to get worse, the dinner party guests remain oblivious to the problem, and they outwardly seem like a happy couple during the meal.

“No one has any idea,” actor Chase explained. “Tom is a master of performance, able to hide his true feelings and convey something very different to get people on his side. Also, Rhona and Marlon’s rising tension only helps to disguise Tom and Belle’s true situation.”

Then the second half of the episode will rewind to the start of the day, allowing the audience to see the same event from Tom and Belle’s point of view and showing what is really happening behind closed doors.

Chase has revealed that the episode, particularly in the scenes after the other guests have left, allows viewers “to see the dark reality of [Tom and Belle’s] relationship come to light”.

Speaking about the special episode, he said: “It’s going to be a very interesting and different one for sure. We get to see two storylines from different relationships come to an intense peak. Having them collide like this makes for an exciting watch, though perhaps a difficult one.

“The structure of the episode is very different, but we knew the subject matter was going to be tricky to pull off, so I sort of immediately focused on hitting the tone of it right, to ensure what happens later feels believable.”