There’s a devastating piece of news for Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) in upcoming episodes of Emmerdale when he hears from his dad, David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden).
David left the village in November last year, heading for London to spend time with his daughter Amba.
His departure came after he discovered that his step-son Jacob was in a romantic relationship with Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins) – David’s ex and the woman he still loved.
It was a traumatic time for David when he realised that his efforts to win Victoria back were never going to work because she was already seeing his son. An added blow was the discovery that his dad, Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell), had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
So when he got news that Amba was missing him, having moved to London previously with her mum Priya (Fiona Wade), he decided it would do him good to get away from the village for a while.
For actor Matthew Wolfenden his departure ended 17 years in the soap as he left to pursue other projects – the first of these being the starring role in Elf The Musical, in which he got to showcase the skating skills that led him to win Dancing On Ice.
As he prepared to leave Emmerdale Matthew hinted that we might not have seen the last of David. ‘What I can say is I’m not dying, which is a good thing!’ he told Metro.co.uk.
‘I don’t die, so maybe David will come back in a few years.’
Since David left Jacob and Victoria have had to face telling Pollard and Jacob’s mum, Leyla (Roxy Shahidi), about the real reason for David’s departure.
Once that hurdle was over, they were able to settle down and continue their relationship.
All the while, Jacob has hoped he’d get a chance to reconcile with David when he returned to the village.
Sadly the message Jacob receives puts paid to those hopes. It seems that – even though David’s not dead and he could in theory come back – he has decided he’s never returning to the Dales.
Not for the first time Victoria is overwhelmed by the fact that her pursuit of happiness with Jacob has resulted in his family being torn apart and upset so many people, can the relationship survive this latest shock?
