‘It’s a very strange situation’: Emmerdale’s Matthew Wolfenden on David and Jacob’s Christmas baby plot

Emmerdale's Matthew Wolfenden has weighed in on David and Jacob's Christmas baby plot.

David, Jacob and Leyla are set to discover a newborn baby on their doorstep on Christmas morning. And given a heavily pregnant Maya Stepney's brief return when she was released from prison...well, it seems as if she may want the little one to be with their dad. Matthew Wolfenden, who plays David Metcalfe, spoke to DigitalSpy about the plot line - and what it was like to film with a newborn. "They only tell Dr Liam [Cavanagh] until they know more. Liam has become close to the family and Leyla fancies him now," he explained. "He's obviously their first port of call to check the baby over, but the baby is absolutely fine." Adding that it is "more and more mysterious" as the storyline goes on, the actor said that the characters will soon find themselves in a "strange situation." "The baby is in a brand new car seat, brand new clothes, looks very healthy and is well-looked after. The baby is very young, just a few days or weeks old," he added. And as for how David and Jacob will feel when they discover the newborn, it's safe to say that they're going to be pretty shocked. "It was probably a similar face to what I had when the producer pitched the storyline to me, that we were going to get a baby dumped on the doorstep on Christmas morning," the actor added. Wolfenden, who has three sons with his Emmerdale co-star Charley Webb, added that it was "strange" to be filming with a newborn baby.

"I've gone from leaving home with a newborn baby to arriving at work and being with a newborn baby. No rest for the wicked," he said.

"But what happens is we also film with a jelly baby, a full-sized human baby that's made with this kind of latex and it feels like real skin. They're so real that you could probably do a shot on camera and mistake it for a real baby. The more expensive ones, the limbs move.

"It's a bit creepy to be fair! We rehearse with those – you don't want a newborn baby on the doorstep for too long!"