The following article contains spoilers from an episode of Emmerdale that hasn’t aired on ITV1 yet, but can be viewed on ITVX.

Young Eve Dingle proved in the latest episode of Emmerdale that children really do pick up on plenty of things discussed between adults.

Eve’s dad Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) recently learnt some worrying news about his father Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards).

The character left the village in the summer following the breakdown in his relationship with Paddy. Prior to his departure, Bear was planning on visiting his friend in Ireland, but was then told those arrangements could no longer go ahead.

Feeling unwanted, Bear left anyway. We saw him very briefly a few weeks later, and the scenes confirmed that he had been living out of his car.

It was Monday’s episode of the ITV soap that revealed exactly what happened to Bear when he left, and what was happening to him now. We discovered that Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) had lured him onto Celia Daniels’ (Jaye Griffiths) farm and he’s been living there ever since.

He told Bear that he’d work on the farm and in return, he’d get food, water, and a roof over his head.

Bear has been groomed by Ray and Celia into believing that the life he’s living on the farm will continue for the foreseeable.

Paddy and Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) know that Bear never got to Ireland, but they are struggling to trace him. In today’s episode, Mandy went to the hire car company to see if she could learn anything about the vehicle Bear borrowed.

The woman on the desk informed Mandy that Bear’s car was returned but they never saw him take the keys back, they were just posted. She also confirmed the car was an absolute state, and then handed her a picture of Eve that was inside.

While this was happening, Eve was spending the day with Matty Barton (Ash Palmisciano) and Isaac. Eve wasn’t keen on the games they were playing on the farm and stomped away in a mood at one point.

It was in this moment that Eve made a huge discovery. In the distance she could see her Granddad, who was working on Celia’s land with some other slaves.

She called out to Bear, but he failed to hear or spot her. Eve raced to tell Matty but by the time he got there, the van carrying the slaves had disappeared.

It made it look as though Eve had just got confused amid playing a game and being aware of the fact her Granddad has vanished.

Mandy, Matty and Paddy supported Eve back at Tenants, completely unaware of the fact Bear is a lot closer than they think.

‘I think there’s a lot more to come,’ star Joshua Richards confirmed. ‘The seedy underbelly of this exploitative business will be peeled back for all to see.

‘It will be revealed in all of its vileness. I think it’s important that we’re not afraid to show these things and, as a continuing drama, I think we’re fortunate that we can highlight these things so that the public can be made aware.

‘It will be harrowing, but of course there’s always light at the end of every tunnel.’