Bear Wolf (born Edward, surname unrevealed) is the father of Paddy Dingle as well as being the grandfather of Paddy's daughters Grace and Eve Dingle. Bear was a former famous wrestler.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Wrestler Bear Wolf embarked on a years-long affair in the 1960s with married Barbara Kirk, who he genuinely loved, but she never felt the same. The affair resulted in Barbara giving birth to his son, Paddy, on 1st July 1969, although Paddy grew up believing Barbara's husband was his father.
Paddy described Bear as "a true gent" that always had time for his fans.
2019 to 2023: Meeting Paddy and moving to Emmerdale[]
In January 2019, Paddy came into possession of a love letter Bear Wolf wrote to Barbara in September 1968. Born about nine-months after the letter was written, Paddy realised the implications the letter could have although he chose to ignore it as he couldn't face the thought that the man who raised him wasn't his dad.
The following month, Paddy's best friend, Marlon Dingle, decided to attend a wrestling convention featuring Bear Wolf at the Spinewick Way Social Club in Hotten, hoping to find answers for Paddy. When Paddy realised what Marlon was doing, he was furious but agreed to go along to the convention, where he met Bear for the first time but didn't dare to ask him about his mother.
After Paddy found out Bear was his father through a DNA test, he travelled to Belfast where met his father again and revealed that he was his son. Bear was shocked but the two took a walk along the beach, bonding before saying their goodbyes. He would later appear in the village in April 2019, later moving in with Paddy and his partner Chas Dingle in The Woolpack. They later grew quite close.
Bear then developed an interest in Chas’s mother Faith Dingle. They ended up sleeping together and tried to keep it quiet for the sake of their children. Bear eventually told Faith that he was illiterate, something he was very insecure about, and she agreed to help him learn to read. However, during a lesson, he snapped at her and she told everyone that Bear couldn’t read as payback. Bear was incredibly embarrassed by this and so he dumped her. He became jealous when she started seeing Eric Pollard and told her the gender of Chas and Paddy’s unborn baby in an attempt to reconcile. However, this put Bear at odds with Paddy as Faith told Eric, who revealed that they were having a boy. After the argument, Bear briefly lived and worked on Butlers Farm with Chas’s brother Cain Dingle and his family.
Following the birth of his granddaughter, Eve, in October 2019, Bear reconciled with Paddy. He also revealed that his real name was Teddy, so Chas and Paddy gave their daughter the middle name Theodora. Bear continued trying to learn how to read with help from Paddy and struck up a friendship with Zak Dingle. Bear was devoted to his granddaughter and did his best to help take care of her. In 2020, Bear tried to help as Paddy was worried that social services would take Eve away after he mistakenly left her in a car.
In late 2021, Bear moved into Mill Cottage along with the rest of the family after the Woolpack was set on fire. For the first few months of 2022, Bear, Chas and Paddy worried that they would be left homeless after the Woolpack was put up for sale. Fortunately, Charity Dingle and her son Ryan were able to buy it so they were allowed to move back in.
In August 2022, Bear was saddened by the news that Faith had terminal cancer and did everything he could to support her and Chas. In October, he was present at the beach party the Dingles threw for her. Faith passed the next day and Bear missed her greatly. On the day of her funeral, he, Zak and Eric had a drink in the back room of the pub and reminisced about the woman they had all loved.
In December 2022, it was revealed that Chas had been having an affair with Al Chapman and Bear was furious with her. He tried to be there for Paddy and told Chas that the only reason he was staying in the pub was for Eve. In 2023, Paddy went missing and Bear searched for him, blaming Chas for him running off. He was distraught when he learned that Paddy had intended to kill himself because of the affair. Bear later took part in an all-male lock-in at the Woolpack where the men all share mental health stories to help Paddy. Bear then moved in with Paddy and Liam Cavanagh as he couldn’t stand to be around Chas.
Later in 2023, Bear went for a beard trim at the Salon and got chatting to Mandy Dingle. He developed a crush on Mandy and kept going back for beard trims just to talk to her. He wanted to ask her out and was sure she would say yes. However, she turned him down as she had just started seeing Paddy and Bear was heartbroken.
2024 to 2025: Being there for Paddy[]
In 2024, Paddy and Mandy got engaged and Bear was happy for them as he had gotten over his feelings for Mandy. Bear started using a dating app for older people and met a few women on it but had no serious attachments.
In August 2024, Bear overheard Mandy arranging an online stream and watched it to find out what it was about. He was horrified to discover that Mandy had been working as a financial dominatrix to make extra money for the wedding. He confronted her about it and told she had to tell Paddy or he would. When Mandy didn’t, Bear revealed the truth to Paddy and Chas the day before the wedding. Paddy was initially uncomfortable and Bear told him to call it off but he eventually decided to forgive Mandy. Seeing how happy she made his son, Bear also made amends with Mandy, explaining that he was just very protective of Paddy.
Later in 2024, Bear started to have feelings for Claudette Anderson but she did not seem to reciprocate. He kept doing nice things for and they became friends.
In February 2025, Bear agreed to accompany Paddy, Liam and some others in a boys night out in a limo. During the journey, Caleb Miligan, almost crashed after revealing his brother, Cain, had slept with his wife. Bear was happy to stay in the car while they argued, but did threaten Caleb when he hit Paddy while trying to attack Cain.
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Residences[]
| Address | Duration |
|---|---|
| The Woolpack | 4th April to 20th August 2019 |
| Butlers Farm | 20th August to 23rd October 2019 |
| The Woolpack | 23rd October 2019 to 25th December 2021 |
| Apartment One, Mill Cottage | 26th December 2021 to 25th March 2022 |
| The Woolpack | 25th March 2022 to 23rd March 2023 |
| Tenant House | 23rd March 2023 to present |