David Metcalfe certainly got an eyeful tonight when he walked in on Phil tied to the bed with Tracy Shankley standing over him. And Emmerdale stars Matthew Wolfenden and Amy Walsh, who play the couple, have revealed that his reaction could be the beginning of the end for the marriage.
Tracy has been being blackmailed by Phil so in order to get the sleazy rat off her back, she arrived at a hotel room and planned to film incriminating footage of him so that she had ammunition to threaten him back with. But when David walked in, things look pretty bad!
In the wake of this, Tracy faces a fight for her marriage but even after David realises that the only real issue is Tracy’s past – not infidelity – she is hurt by his reaction. And it could just be the start of the trouble for the pair.
Matt, who recently wed Charley Webb in a surprise wedding ceremony, explained to Metro.co.uk: ‘He’d kind of got over the fact that she used to be this webcam girl and that she’d done this low-budget porn film. He was fine with all that. But I think it is the fact that it comes out eventually that this guy used to pay her for sex. So essentially she was a prostitute.
‘He’s married this girl who he thought he knew all her shady past and everything about her then all of a sudden he gets hit with this other thing. That’s what he really finds hard. But, on the flip side, there’s a line where David basically says to Tracy: “Listen I forgive you for everything you did in your past.” Tracy goes: “I don’t want you to forgive me. I want you to love me for who I am. It was my past. I was a kid. I was 17 and 18 years old. I don’t want forgiveness. It wasn’t a good time for me.”‘
Picking up the story from here, Amy continued: ‘What I think is interesting in that part of Tracy’s past is that no one does that for fun. No one does that unless they have to. It shows how desperate she was. She was the victim. It’s easy for people – even for someone who loves her from the outside – to just assume that she chose that path.
‘The reason she went to the hotel is because she was trying to do everything in her power to not have to have this conversation with David. Then after going through all that secrecy and the drama of it all and how horrible it was just before David comes in she has to tell him anyway.’
And it turns out that Tracy was actually right to dread having that conversation with David – as his reaction leaves her doubting the future of their marriage. Explaining how his alter ego reacts to the revelation, Matt wasn’t defending his character.
He shared: ‘At first, he doesn’t react very well to it, obviously. She tells him as he breaks into the hotel room and sees her with another fellow in his undies, chained to a bed and his wife with her top undone. It doesn’t look great. She kind of tells him what’s happened but he doesn’t take it too well.
‘But then beyond that he kind of tries to make things work. He does really try but in the back of his mind he’s thinking: “My wife used to be a prostitute.” He can’t get over this fact. But the time when he really messes up is when they’re having a heart to heart and he says: “I forgive you.” And she goes: “That’s not what I need from you.” So that is the initial breaking point for them as a couple.’
And it’s only going to get worse from there…
MORE: Emmerdale spoilers: Can Robert Sugden and Victoria Barton help Rebecca White to recover?
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