Soap shines spotlight on modern slavery

When ITV’s Emmerdale decided to create a storyline highlighting the horrors of modern slavery, the show’s writers and Joshua Richards, who plays victim Bear Wolf, turned to The Salvation Army’s anti-human trafficking team for help.

Fans of Emmerdale could see it: something wasn’t right with Bear Wolf. He had become forgetful. A bit down. Prone to outbursts of anger. And then, one day, back in the summer, he disappeared from the village. This week, viewers of the ITV soap have been finding out where Bear went – and why.

‘Before Bear left, he was starting to get a bit confused and depressed,’ says Joshua Richards, the actor who plays him. ‘Viewers wondered if he might be developing Parkinson’s or dementia – but nobody could be sure.

‘The reality was that Bear was suffering from depression because he was feeling somewhat redundant in life, due to getting older. That’s why he had these outbursts of frustration and chose to leave the village.

‘But now that he has returned to the screen, viewers have been able to watch his story unfolding. They saw Bear living out of his car, all alone, having fallen to the bottom of the pit. And those feelings of worthlessness are what made him just ripe for somebody to offer him a helping hand – and for Bear to be desperate enough to accept it.’

In a special episode broadcast earlier this week, Emmerdale viewers learnt that Bear had become a victim of modern slavery, groomed and then trapped in forced labour by Celia (Jaye Griffiths) and Ray (Joe Absolom), a mother-and-son duo who run a criminal empire.

Each day, after working long hours on a farm that is run by his traffickers, Bear has been forced to spend the night locked in a filthy attic room, along with other exploited individuals. Life is a nightmare – and it appears there’s no way out.

In their efforts to portray the horror of Bear’s story as accurately as possible, producers and writers at Emmerdale turned to The Salvation Army for help.

Since 2011, the church and charity has been contracted by the government to provide specialist support for adult survivors of modern slavery in England and Wales. 

Such support includes relocating survivors to a suitable safe house; offering access to legal advice, healthcare, counselling, educational opportunities and financial assistance; and providing help in obtaining employment and housing.

‘A lot of people don’t know what The Salvation Army does to fight against modern slavery,’ Joshua says. ‘But I was aware because it’s an issue close to my heart. One of the biggest problems in the world today is exploitation. And a lot of people use labour.

‘If, for example, you are having an extension built on to your house, one of the biggest bills will be for the labour costs. But people who are unscrupulous recognise that if they can remove that expense, there are vast amounts of moneybto be made.

‘We’ve seen it happen throughout history. Whole empires were built on slave labour.’

Earlier this year, when producers came up with the idea for Bear’s trafficking storyline, they approached Joshua to discuss their plans as to how it might work.

‘The first thing that came to my mind was that Bear is quite a strong character, who doesn’t suffer fools quietly – so would this scenario be feasible?’ says Joshua.

‘But then, when we talked about Bear’s mental health and geriatric depression, it became more believable.

‘I thought that if Bear would be starting to doubt his capabilities and use to society, maybe he would become the kind of person who could be manipulated and persuaded against his will to do something that he wouldn’t usually entertain.’

Once the script was written, it was sent to staff at The Salvation Army, who had been asked by writers to check it for accuracy and authenticity. After a few minor tweaks, it was time to put the story into action. 

Set designers created a cramped attic space in which Bear’s to provide specialist support for adult survivors of modern slavery in England and Wales. Such support includes relocating survivors to a suitable safe house; offering access to legal advice, healthcare, counselling, educational opportunities and financial assistance; and providing help in obtaining employment and housing.

‘A lot of people don’t know what The Salvation Army does to fight against modern slavery,’ Joshua says. ‘But I was aware because it’s an issue close to my heart. One of the biggest problems in the world today is exploitation. And a lot of people use labour.

‘If, for example, you are having an extension built on to your house, one of the biggest bills will be for the labour costs. But people who are unscrupulous recognise that if they can remove that expense, there are vast amounts of money to be made.

‘We’ve seen it happen throughout traffickers would force him to live. I’m just an actor, so I would never profess to understand what exploited people are really going through,’ says Joshua. ‘Playing Bear, I’ve been made to look dirty when I’m not really dirty, and I’ve been working in a “horrid” environment that is not really horrid. 

'But for the people who really do have to sleep in terrible places, who are locked in at night, who have only disgusting food to eat, who never see their wages, who have no freedom – all of that must be absolutely soul-destroying.’

As the suffering that Bear has been facing is played out on screen, Joshua hopes that viewers will gain a greater understanding of the global problem of modern slavery. He believes it’s an important subject for Emmerdale to be tackling.

‘Society will often turn a blind eye to it,’ he says. ‘We all get our cars cleaned, but we don’t always think to ask: “How much is this person being paid for this job?” We’re just glad that it’s cheap.

‘I think it’s bold and brave that Emmerdale is focusing on this story, because all across the world, people are being forced to work for nothing. About 40 million people are in slavery today. 

'We should be horrified by that. I think for ITV to put this subject on the agenda – and to get it into people’s living rooms at 7.30pm on a daily basis – fulfils a great duty.’

As well as depicting the trauma of people trapped in modern slavery, Emmerdale is keen to highlight the fact that organisations such as The Salvation Army are working round the clock to help victims find freedom.

‘There’s always hope,’ says Joshua, hinting that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for Bear. ‘Hope springs eternal.’

Isobel McFarlane, whose work in The Salvation Army’s communications office puts her into regular contact with survivors of human trafficking, agrees.

‘It’s important for Emmerdale viewers to see that modern slavery is happening, but it’s wonderful that the show is highlighting the support that exists too,’ she says. ‘With the right help, survivors can recover from trauma and rebuild their lives. There is freedom. There is hope. And that’s the message we want to get across.’

Isobel’s first contact with the soap’s creative team was back in the springtime, when she received an email outlining the show’s intentions for a modern slavery storyline and a request for The Salvation Army to help to make it as authentic as possible.

‘I was contacted by a woman who, a few years ago, had worked on a modern slavery storyline at Coronation Street,’ she says. ‘She’d remembered that the Army had helped the writers to put that storyline together, so she explained that she was recommending us to the Emmerdale team.

‘She then asked if we would be willing to work with them on a story that the producers had in mind. We replied: “Absolutely!”

‘After signing a number of nondisclosure agreements, a colleague and I were then invited to an online meeting with the Emmerdale team. They had a strong idea of what they wanted Bear’s story to be, but they wanted a few extra insights, so they asked us questions such as: “How might a criminal groom somebody? How would they threaten and control their victim?”

They also wanted specific details about the living conditions for exploited people, and the reasons why they might not be able to escape. I was able to share stories that survivors have told me, explaining that slavery isn’t always about being controlled physically – it can be psychologically as well.’

Every answer Isobel gave to the creative team prompted another round of questions. Then, the writers went away to start work on the scripts.

‘They would ask me to read them and highlight anything that didn’t feel right,’ says Isobel. ‘Although there has to be a bit of room for dramatic licence, everyone was keen for the scenes to be as authentic as possible.

‘Sometimes the writers would ask me more direct questions like: “We want this character to do such-and-such – how might that happen? Is it realistic for this character to behave in that way?”

‘I’d look at the script and share it with a few people from The Salvation Army’s anti-trafficking team, including first responders, who are responsible for interviewing victims in order to find out the facts about what has happened to them. All of them had a read-through and had the opportunity to come back with comments.’

Most of the feedback offered by Isobel and her team indicated that only minor tweaks to the script were necessary. But she reflects that when she worked with writers at Coronation Street back in 2019, her suggestions for their modern slavery storyline changed the direction of the plot entirely.

‘Initially, Coronation Street writers had planned to do a big police raid of the place where a victim was trapped in slavery,’ she says. ‘And this victim was going to be shot and killed, as collateral. But we said: “Don’t do that! There could be a massive message of hope here. There is support for survivors of modern slavery to rebuild their lives. If you shoot the victim, you’re missing that opportunity.”

‘And Coronation Street listened to us. The victim character survived, got support, went back to Romania and even came back to the cobbles a few years later.’

With Emmerdale, Isobel was able to see first-hand the ways in which the soap had taken on board her insights when she made a visit to the set. Joshua took her on a tour of Bear’s attic, showing her the dirty bedclothes on the floor, a metal basin used by the victims for washing, and a bucket in the place of a toilet, positioned behind a piece of cloth for privacy.

‘Viewers can see: this is all they’ve got,’ says Isobel. ‘They can see these victims being coerced and controlled – physically and psychologically – by clever, manipulative criminals.

‘It’s good that this story is being put on screen, because it shows that modern slavery is hidden in plain sight. Bear is trapped in a farm that’s very close to his own home.

‘A lot of people don’t believe that these kinds of situations are happening. Or they don’t think that slavery affects British nationals. But it does happen – and we hope that Bear’s devastating story will prompt viewers to report in the future anything they see that looks suspicious.

We also hope that victims will feel that it’s worth coming forward, because they will receive our support.’

Individuals such as Jakub, from Slovakia, are testament to the help that The Salvation Army extends to people who are being exploited. A victim of modern slavery, he lived with a family in the UK who confiscated his identity documents and took away the wages he received from his job in a factory. After assaulting him, they kicked him out, leaving him penniless and homeless.

When Isobel arranged for Jakub to talk with Joshua, in the weeks before Bear’s storyline was broadcast, he shared his personal story with the actor, and expressed gratitude for the way in which The Salvation Army had helped him to find freedom and rebuild his life. It was a conversation that Joshua promised never to forget.

‘My message is: don’t give up,’ Jakub told Joshua. ‘If people need help, support is out there. The Salvation Army offered me amazing help. I’m not giving up and I will never give up.’

• Jakub’s name has been changed