Joshua Richards has joined ‘Emmerdale’.
The ‘Troy’ actor has been cast as Paddy Kirk’s (Dominic Brunt) potential real dad, a wrestler called Bear Wolf, in the ITV soap, and he is "delighted" about joining the show.
He said: "I am delighted to be joining the cast of ‘Emmerdale’. Having been based in Yorkshire for most of my life, it’s fantastic to now be filming there too.
"Bear Wolf is a great character and I am looking forward to seeing what’s in store for him."
Joshua will appear on screen from mid-February when Chas (Lucy Pargeter) and Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) convince Paddy to head to a wrestling convention to confront Bear.
Paddy’s quest to find out if Bear is his real dad will see some of the stars head to Northern Ireland to shoot some special scenes in the coming weeks.
‘Emmerdale’ producer Kate Brooks said: "We are absolutely delighted to have an actor of Joshua’s calibre join our show.
"An actor of immense talent and charisma, he’s a brilliant addition to the ‘Emmerdale’ team.
"It proves quite the adventure when Paddy and Marlon track Bear down in Belfast as Paddy’s life is turned upside down by boisterous Bear.
"However, Bear isn’t the only familiar face our villagers find in Belfast."
As well as starring alongside Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger in 2004 movie ‘Troy’, Joshua has also starred in motion pictures ‘Panic Button’ and ‘King Arthur: Excalibur Rising’, and he made an appearance in ‘Heartbeat’ in 1999 as DI Haggerty.
Earlier this month, ‘Emmerdale’ bosses teased a favourite former character will return to the soap in special Belfast-based episodes.
Producer Laura Shaw said: "In March we’ve got some special episodes coming up where we go to Belfast.
"A group of our characters go to Belfast and there is going to be some fun and japes over there.
"What we can reveal is maybe they’re going to bump into somebody who was in our village quite a while ago who we’ve not seen for a while."
Joshua Richards joins Emmerdale
