David Metcalfe

David Metcalfe is the son of Eric Pollard and Lydia Metcalfe and the father of Amba and Theo Metcalfe, as well as a father-figure to his former step-son Jacob Gallagher who he views as a son.
==Biography==
===1981-2006: Birth and early life===
David Metcalfe was born on 27th November 1981 to Lydia Metcalfe as a result of an affair she had with her father's colleague Eric Pollard. Lydia went on to marry an abusive man for financial security with whom she had another child. He adopted David but treated him and his mother horribly.
In 2006, Lydia told David on her death bed the truth about his father, before she passed away from breast cancer. David decided to track Eric down. Eric knew nothing of David until he arrived in the village later that year.
===2006-2007: Arrival and meeting Eric===
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. In January 2007, a second test finally proved that Eric was David's biological father.
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 in April 2007, 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.
===2007-2009: Relationship with Nicola De Souza===
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 Lambert's daughter Sharon 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.
===2009-2013: Relationships with Leyla and Alicia===
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 were 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 bear 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 accuses Amy of stealing £500 worth of stock from the shop because she thinks that Amy also stole £25 from Eric and Val's B&B 'The Grange'. Alicia Gallagher, Leyla's sister confesses to stealing from the shop. Amy then kisses David on the cheek when he says he believed it wasn't her.
David's relationship with Leyla broke down shortly before their wedding, when Leyla tried to kidnap her son from her sister Alicia. David couldn't find a way to work past what Leyla had done and she left the village.
In 2011, David took a shine to Alicia. They decided to be just friends and got married so that Jacob could keep living with David whilst Alicia served a prison sentence for assault. However, this was short-lived when Alicia had been sent to prison for hitting Val.
In 2012, once Alicia had returned from prison 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 was shot during Cameron Murray's siege in The Woolpack David decided he wanted to be with Alicia and not Priya, realising that he loves her, 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. The pair get married and, coincidentally, David's ex-fiancee and Alicia's sister Leyla arrives back in the village, only to be told that it is David and Alicia's wedding day.
===2014-2015: Birth of Amba and split from Alicia===
In March 2014, David discovers that his ex-fiancee Priya, who is pregnant with his baby, is suffering from a severe eating disorder and that their baby could be at risk. He is angry with Priya for not telling him and later he realises that Priya had told Alicia and Leyla before him. Every time she was confronted about her disorder, Priya lied saying that she had it under control or sometimes said that she didn't have a disorder full stop. She collapses in the cafe and is taken to hospital. Later, in April, Priya realises that she is bleeding and is rushed to hospital. David finds out and goes too. Priya later realises that she has to face up to the fact that she has a disorder and decides to check in to a clinic to get professional help, much to the relief of David.
===2016-2018: Marriage to Tracy Shankley===
===2018 -2019 : Relationship with Maya Stepney, Jacob's abuse===
In 2018, David started seeing Maya Stepney. Unbeknownst to David, Maya started grooming his teenage son Jacob.
In November 2023, David feels that Jacob is seeing someone. He initially suspects it is Gabby Thomas, however unknown to him it is his ex-girlfriend Victoria Sugden. David finds out about Jacob and Victoria when he sees them kissing and is angry. He confronts Jacob about this and in the process found out that Eric had Parkinson's. He then demands that David and Victoria end their relationship. Victoria does so. When David badmouths Victoria, Jacob punches him. David then cuts all contact with Jacob and leaves the village with Theo and moves to London to be with Amba. On 2nd April 2024, David calls Eric and tells him that he will not be returning and is putting Farrers Barn up for sale. 
==Quotes==
"Yes thanks." (First line, to Louise Appleton)
----
"I'm gonna miss you all so much." (Final line, to Eric Pollard, Brenda Walker and Leyla Harding)
==See also==
*Full list of appearances
Category:Emmerdale characters
Category:1981 births
Category:Residents of Farrers Barn
Category:2006 debuts
Category:2023 departures
Category:Pollard family
Category:2012 marriages
Category:Metcalfe family
Category:Shopkeepers
Category:2013 marriages
Category:Councillors
Category:Businessmen
Category:Harding family
Category:Residents of The Grange B&B
Category:2016 marriages
Category:Clayton family
Category:Shankley family
Category:Guests of The Grange B&B
Category:Pollard's Factory employees
Category:Factory supervisors
Category:Residents of Woodbine Cottage