David Metcalfe

David Metcalfe
Emmerdale character
Portrayed by	Matthew Wolfenden
Duration	2006–
First appearance	26 November 2006
Introduced by	Kathleen Beedles
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Occupation	Businessman
Home	Farrers Cottage
Family Father Eric Pollard Mother Lydia Metcalfe Stepmother Val Pollard Wife Alicia Gallagher (2012–13, 2013–)

David Eric Metcalfe is a fictional character in the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale. He is played by Matthew Wolfenden. He is the illegitimate son of Eric Pollard.

Casting

Wolfenden originally auditioned for the role Eli Dingle. He had several auditions for the character until it was between Wolfenden and Joseph Gilgun, with the latter winning the role.^[1] Wolfenden told a reporter from Inside Soap that he was not aware that producers were already lining him up for the role of David. He had never trained as a professional actor before joining the serial and had to adjust to working in front of a camera. Wolfenden revealed that he was contracted until December and said that he was committed to staying with Emmerdale beyond that point.^[1]

Character development

In July 2009, Wolfenden told a reporter from Inside Soap that he would have liked viewers to see a different side to his character. He noted that because he previously portrayed David's "businessman" and "daft side" - a new gritty storyline for David would be challenging.^[1] Wolfenden told Inside Soap's reporter that he had tried to make David likeable throughout his tenure. He compared David to Eric, in the sense that they are "rogues" but everyone still likes them. David needs to be a bit of a "bad boy" to achieve this.^[2]

He said that the question of "who is the girl for David?" was an open one. He said that David had been through quite a few relationship in a short time. However, he confirmed that David and Leyla Harding (Rokhsaneh Ghawam-Shahidi) would have longevity. Wolfenden was pleased with their romance because he had a good rapport with Ghawam-Shahidi.^[1] The following year, Ghawam-Shahidi told their reporter that David helped Lelya transform from a girl into a woman ready to run her own business. She added that David and Layla would face problems once again. However, they have a trackrecord for overcoming their problems and obstacles to overcome, but they have a "strong and believable relationship to build on". Ghawam-Shahidi concluded that this was a promising trait and she was "rooting for them".^[3] Wolfenden later affirmed that Leyla was the right woman for David, but he had trouble understanding. He noted that people ask him as to why David is still with Leyla. The actor added that David put up with Leyla's antics including theft, infidelity and hiding a secret son - therefore he must think she is "the one".^[2]

Storylines

David is the son of Eric Pollard and Lydia Holloway. Eric knew nothing of David until he turned up in the village.

David arrived in late 2006 and immediately turned the ladies' heads. He had come to the village to find his biological father, Eric Pollard. Eric had left David's mother before David was born and had also stolen £20,000 from her.

Before revealing his identity, he got a job at the factory, attempting to find out more about his mystery father. He also struck up a flirty friendship with fun-loving Del and hoped some romance would come of it. David was disappointed when Del mistakenly thought her uncle Zak was his father and distanced herself. The truth then came out, and Eric was stunned to discover that David was claiming to be his son.

Eric and David's relationship didn't start well. David told Eric how Lydia struggled financially and then when she married his adoptive father, Mr. Metcalfe, he treated David like dirt. Eric didn't seem to care about what David had been through and also implied David's mother had loose morals. Not surprisingly, David hit him and Eric was determined to prove David was lying. He conducted a secret DNA test which showed David wasn't his son but Eric hadn't sent David's cup. A 2nd test confirmed Eric was David's biological father.

David as he appeared in 2006.

He showed the village he was his father's son by evicting local businessman Rodney Blackstock from a barn he had rented from Eric. He also struck up a love/hate relationship with Jasmine Thomas.

David and Del were getting on well, despite Eric's disapproval. David told Del about the money Eric had stolen from his late mother. David was working on a plan to get the money back but Eric realised money was going missing. He set up a secret camera to watch who used the office and was devastated when he realised what David was doing. He confronted him and David admitted it and told him why. Eric apologised and they went into business together, burying the hatchet permanently.

Unfortunately there was a slight problem - Delilah. Her cousin Chas Dingle was a barmaid at the Woolpack and returning one night, saw David with Katie Sugden. Katie lived above the Woolpack and when challenged by Chas, confessed she and David had had a one night stand. Chas told Del, who also confronted Katie and realised Katie was telling the truth. Del's revenge was to transfer the money David had taken from Eric into an account in her name and run off to South America with it.

David's next relationship with part-time local reporter, Jasmine. They dated very happily for a while until Jasmine found out that Eric was swindling local pensioner Pearl Ladderbanks while pretending to be her friend and that David knew. Jasmine told Pearl and used her charms on David to get him to buy her a car which she also gave to Pearl.

Things were quiet for a while until Mrs De Souza came to the village. Jasmine remembered her as Nicola Blackstock, Rodney's trouble-making daughter. Nicola claimed she'd changed but Jasmine didn't believe her and was soon proved right when Nicola lured David into having an affair with her. Jasmine's revenge was an article about Nicola's husband, Donald De Souza, in the local paper and to get Miles, Nicola's stepson, on the wagon so he could inherit the family business.

David and Nicola's relationship was very up and down, due to Nicola's behaviour. After Donald regained consciousness and came home from hospital, Nicola, Donald and Miles tried living together as a family at Holdgate Farm. When Donald found out Nicola was sleeping with David, he hired actress Cindy Burton, telling Nicola she was his nurse to make her jealous. This didn't work because Nicola decided to frame Cindy for Donald's murder so she would inherit his money. Nicola tried numerous methods from torn carpet on the stairs to faulty wiring on a train set but none worked. Again, Donald found out what Nicola was planning. Donald persuaded Nicola to go with him up on the moors and challenged her to push him over but she couldn't do it. On their return to Holdgate Farm, Donald threw Nicola out. She went to David but he sent her away, not wanting to be with a woman capable of murder.

Not wanting to be alone, David tried flirting with Katie. Unfortunately for him, she was with Grayson Sinclair and also pregnant with his baby. Despite having had a fight with Grayson, she turned David down.

Undeterred, David tried flirting with Jasmine again. She had a few drinks with him in the Woolpack but knocked him back when he tried taking things further. David got nasty but Miles, (who Jasmine was now attached to), escorted him out of the pub and made sure David realised it was best to stay away from her.

In June 2008, Val's daughter Sharon Lambert returned to the village briefly for her mother's wedding. While in the village, David caught Sharon's eye and snogged him after the wedding. He only saw the relationship as a fun time, but she constantly called and texted him and helped get him business contacts.

One of her friends had a dog she couldn't take on an overseas trip. Nicola, Sharon's rival, offered to dogsit. A few days later, the dogs went missing and David and Nicola found one in the B&B where Sharon was staying. They overheard Sharon telling a friend that she didn't care about David and was only staying until time for another big party with the rich and famous. At the Woolpack, Nicola informed Sharon that David had dumped her for Nicola. They got into a catfight and when David broke them up, she hit him over the head with a tray.

Val, furious that Sharon had reneged on her offer to take her to the next big party, washed her hands of Sharon again. Sharon said she wanted nothing to do with any of them and left.

Nicola and David continued to date throughout 2008, but near the end of the year, the relationship began to unravel when they learned the church was going to be sold. Seeing an opportunity to make a good profit, David worked with his father Eric to get the church, while Nicola worked to sabotage efforts to keep the church from being sold. Unfortunately for David, Nicola resented Eric's involvement, and began to bask in the new respect that her old friends and family had for her, and she began making genuine efforts to help the choir win a local competition. When David and Eric learned of her true motives, they exposed her at the competition, and David dumped her.

David became attracted to Leyla Harding, who worked at Eric's factory. When he helped catch a burglar, Leyla agreed to go out with him. They got on well, until she felt he had little interest in what she wanted. When she told him she wasn't like Nicola, he said that was part of the problem.

They went their separate ways for a few months, but in April 2009, grew closer. She confided in him about her mother's medical problems, and he gave her some money. Eric and Val managed to convince David that Leyla was lying to get his money. David was reluctant to believe them, but when he asked Leyla a few questions, she was disgusted and dumped him. Annoyed with his father, David decided to find someone to run for Eric's Council seat. Former Councilman Alan Turner suggested David run. David was unsure, but when Eric mocked him about the idea, David decided to go for it.

In June 2010 David was blackmailed by Nathan Wylde in order to get a barn conversion for Declan Macey. Nathan set David up by getting a female friend of his to make a pass at David as it was being recorded on video. Nathan used the tape to blackmail David and also promised to ruin Eric's business, if David didn't give him what he wanted, he offered to pay the deposit on a house for David and Leyla, if David got him planning permission for the barn. David agreed and subsequently got a home for him and Leyla. His girlfriend Leyla Harding later found the tape when her and David were doing up the house and believed he was having an affair, he managed to convince her that it was a setup and they reconciled.

In August 2010, David found out about Leyla's secret son Jacob Gallagher and this almost tore them apart, Leyla promised there was no more secrets and they reconciled but another secret came out when Leyla revealed that her sisters husband Justin Gallagher was, in fact, Jacob's biological father. Leyla and David pulled together when Jacob went missing and Leyla tried to convince David she loved him, but he hated that she had lied to him and moved out of the house and into the B&B with his Father and Stepmother.

Leyla and David have since reconciled, when they decided that they couldn't bare to be apart.

David's recently adopted sister Amy Wyatt takes a shine to David. He gives out impressions that he likes her, he also says that he "Really likes" her to her face when she is upset. Amy begins to try to make him jealous by sleeping with Cain Dingle and she calls Cain a sophisticated older man. David worries about her the most. David also shows much more concern about Amy and sticks up for her when Leyla Harding accuses her Amy of stealing £500 worth of stock from the shop because she thinks that Amy also stole £25 from Eric Pollard and Val Lambert's B&B 'The Grange'. Alicia Gallagher, Leyla's sister confesses to stealing from the shop. Amy Wyatt then kisses David Metcalfe on the cheek when he says he believed it wasn't her.

In 2011, David took a shine to Alicia Gallagher. They decided to be just friends and got married so that Jacob could keep living with Alicia once Leyla had left the village. However this was short lived when Alicia had been sent to prison for hitting Val. In 2012, Once Alicia had returned she found out that David had begun a relationship with Priya Sharma. Alicia was jealous of this but hid her feelings for David but unbeknownst to her David had also felt the same way. In 2013, Alicia started a new relationship with local villager Dom Andrews and during this time David's feelings for Alicia grew stronger even though he was in a relationship with Priya but after Alicia got shot during Cameron Murray's siege in The Woolpack David decided he wanted to be with Alicia and not Priya leaving Priya devastated the night before their wedding. Alicia and David begin a new relationship but it becomes rocky when Priya announces she is pregnant, but David reassures Alicia that he loves her and not Priya and is only standing by Priya because she is carrying his child. After some pestering from Leyla's son, Jacob (Alicia's adopted son, but biologically nephew) David gets down on one knee and proposes to Alicia for real this time. Alicia delighted with David, happily accepts. ^[4]

Reception

Kate Woodward of Inside Soap said that "dreamy David is our kind of guy. He's loyal, gorgeous and going places - which makes Leyla one very lucky lady! Of course we also love him for being a chip off the old Pollard block, which ramps up the entertainment factor no end."^[5] A writer from Holy Soap named David's most memorable moment as being "a showdown with his father, which ended in a tearful happy ending."^[6]

References

External links

• Character profile at itv.com
• Character profile at Holy Soap