Emmerdale’s Tom King actor speaks out as distressing dog abuse scene sparks backlash

Emmerdale’s Tom King actor James Chase has addressed a harrowing scene on the ITV soap that sparked Ofcom threats.

The latest episode of the show sparked a backlash with viewers who complained over sickening scenes of animal abuse. Villain Tom, who is currently at the centre of a domestic abuse storyline with his wife Belle, was shown deliberately making his pet dog Piper unwell.

A horrifying scene saw the vet injecting Piper with something that made her poorly, all in a bid to get his wife Belle to return home. Faking that Piper had suddenly deteriorated, he feigned concern over the phone knowing full well he’d injected Belle’s beloved pooch with something.

Viewers slammed the scene, and now actor James has had his say on the moment after Emmerdale was forced to share a message, confirming the dog playing Piper had not been harmed. Speaking on This Morning after winning the award for Best Villain during the show’s one-off awards ceremony, James shared his dislike of the scene.

Addressing the moment, he said: “Best villain, that’s kind of a dream come true in a way I think. I love playing villainous roles, and this one is definitely the most challenging I have ever played.

“Certain scenes like syringing the dog was not… I really didn’t like it, which is a good sign.” It comes after Emmerdale shared a message to viewers online saying: “These scenes can be distressing to watch, but we want to remind you that Minnie (AKA Piper) is a very good actor and is always living her best life on set! We can confirm that no harm has come to her whatsoever.”

But it wasn’t enough to stop fans complaining, threatening to go to Ofcom over the disturbing moment. One viewer wrote: “Nah I’m sorry but I draw the line at animal abuse. Terrible. A new low for this show.”

Another said: “Why are we seeing such awful scenes! This is so not ok!” A third penned: “I have just reported tonight’s show to Ofcom. It took me a couple of minutes only. The more people that report it the better.”

“This has gone too far now. I’m a huge Emmerdale fan but disgusted at this, it’s vile,” a fourth shared, with a fifth adding: “For people to hate Tom as much as what we all do just shows what a absolutely awesome actor this guy is, as hard as it is to watch this storyline is outstanding, if it helps one person out there then it has served its purpose, absolutely amazing work by everybody involved.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.