Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt has teased that his character Paddy Kirk will be involved in a “frightening” attack that leaves him feeling “vulnerable”. The actor made his Emmerdale debut in 1997. Paddy Kirk has had various relationships in the village, but his most recent and prominent one is with Mandy Dingle. Paddy is the village vet, and is currently involved in a storyline with his father Bear. During recent episodes, Bear has had sudden angry outbursts and struggles to sleep. While Bear refuses to open up, Paddy expresses to Mandy that he’s concerned Bear is battling with depression. Paddy himself suffered with depression after his marriage to Chas Dingle came to an end. Feeling isolated and alone, Paddy considered taking his own life. At the time, Dominic shared: “It鈥檚 a huge honour and a great responsibility to be portraying this storyline. It鈥檚 an inherent problem in today鈥檚 society that most men don鈥檛 talk enough about their problems. “We bottle them up, we don鈥檛 want to bother anyone, we become embarrassed, we feel we should be strong and not show weakness. If this story can shine a light on the issue or make even a small change to someone鈥檚 outlook or viewpoint, then it will have been worth it.” In upcoming spoilers, Emmerdale revealed that a new villain will be entering the scene. Paddy Kirk will find himself brutally attacked by one of Celia’s guard dogs which lands him in hospital, badly injured. Viewers will start to get the measure of her true colours from her reaction to the attack. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News and other press, Dominic shared: “I don’t think he’s at risk of dying, but he was certainly concerned that it’s a bad injury. His point is that kids play around there and the dog needs sorting out, really.” The attack causes Paddy’s fears around dogs to start, and the actor opened up about what this could mean for his vet career. He continued: “He thinks that he can’t be a vet anymore and doesn’t know anything else. He has no other skills, he has a small life experience… He’s not the most worldly wise person, he went to university and became a vet and that’s it.” As his relationship with his father is already rocky, Dominic added: “Bear, as he’s (Paddy) in hospital calls him a pansy and says he’s not a man. The worst things that a father can say to a son, really, you know and at the very worst time and at his most vulnerable, and he’s injured. “That’s the thing about the miscommunication as well, because Bear is venting, he doesn’t mean it. He doesn’t know what to say, he’s worried about his son… He wants it to go away and everything to be right.” Paddy decides to go round to the farm with a bolt gun for the dog, but bumps into Celia instead. Dominic said: “It’s not a very professional vet thing to do, so he’s clearly not thinking straight. But, he wants to get rid of this dog, he’s worried that this dog is dangerous.” He added: “I have to say Celia, played by Jaye Griffiths, is more frightening than the dog!” Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.