Emmerdale's Natalie sheds tears at Alicia's return

Emmerdale's Natalie sheds tears at Alicia's return
Emmerdale's Natalie sheds tears at Alicia's return (Image credit: PA)

Emmerdale's Natalie Anderson has confessed she cried when she got the script for Alicia Gallagher's return to the soap. Feisty Alicia is set to return to the village after her spell in prison, and Natalie told Digital Spy the character's reunion with son Jacob is an emotional one. "It's really lovely. She manages to get to Jacob's nativity, which is being held at the pub. Unbeknown to anybody else, Alicia manages to get there and Jacob is the first person who sees her. So that's how we first see Alicia - through Jacob's eyes, which is really sweet," she revealed. "I actually cried when I read it, because I'm a mum myself now." While Alicia is thrilled to be back, her feelings for hunky David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden) have increased since the sham wedding and her prison stint. "That's what's really, really awful - being away from David has made Alicia miss him even more. Even though she's trying to fight those feelings and is very awkward with him, I definitely think her feelings for him are stronger," Natalie said. David has been romancing Priya Sharma in Alicia's absence, but Natalie admitted she'd love her character to finally get together with him. "Who knows how it's going to go? It's just really about David and how he feels. It would be fantastic, partly because I love working with Matthew anyway. But I also think, as a viewer, I'd want those two together. It's like a romcom where you're desperate for a couple to end up together."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.