David Metcalfe is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Matthew Wolfenden. It was reported in August 2023 that he was set to leave the soap after 17 years, due to a lack of "gritty" storylines. David's final scenes were broadcast on 30 November 2023.
Storylines Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell) had never divorced from his first wife, Eileen (Arbel Jones), and went on to have an affair with a woman named Lydia Halliwell in 1981. They split up with Eric leaving, knowing nothing the existence of his son, David Metcalfe, who was born shortly after.
David arrives in the village in late 2006, immediately turning the ladies' heads. He came to the village, looking for his biological father, Eric. Eric had left David's mother, Lydia Holloway, before David was born and stole £20,000 from her. He gets a job at the sweet factory so that he can find out more about his father, striking up a flirty friendship with fun-loving Del Dingle (Hayley Tamaddon) and hoped some romance would come of it, but was disappointed when Del mistakenly thought her uncle Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) was his father and distanced herself. The truth came out and Eric was stunned to discover that David was claiming to be his son. For some time after, Eric and David's relationship was difficult. David told Eric how Lydia had struggled financially before marrying his adoptive father, Mr. Metcalfe, who treated David like dirt. However, Eric made it clear that he didn't care and implied that Lydia had loose morals, so David hit him, making Eric determined to prove that David is lying. He conducted a secret DNA test which showed David was not his son – but Eric had not sent David's cup. A second test, however, confirmed that Eric was David's biological father.
David showed the village he was his father's son by evicting local businessman Rodney Blackstock (Patrick Mower) from a barn he had rented from Eric and starting a love/hate relationship with Jasmine Thomas (Jenna-Louise Coleman). Despite his father's disapproval of his friendship with Del, they continued to get along and David told Del about the money Eric had stolen from his late mother. David starts working on a plan to get the money back but Eric realised money was going missing and set up a secret CCTV camera to watch who used the office, and is devastated when he realizes what David is doing. After confronting his son, David admitted it and told him why. Eric apologised and they went into business together, deciding to bury the hatchet. Delilah's cousin Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter), a barmaid at the Woolpack pub, saw David with Katie Sugden (Sammy Winward). Chas challenged Katie and she told Chas that she and David spent a night together. Chas told Del, who also confronted Katie and realised Katie was telling the truth. Del took revenge by transferring the money David had taken from Eric into an account in her name, and left for South America.
David enters a relationship with part-time local reporter, Jasmine, but Jasmine discovers that Eric was swindling local pensioner Pearl Ladderbanks (Meg Johnson) out of her money while pretending to be her friend, also shocked to find that David knew. Jasmine told Pearl what Eric was doing and used her charms on David to get him to buy her a car, which she also gave to Pearl. Nicola De Souza (Nicola Wheeler) later arrives in 2007, widow of a much older man, millionaire tycoon Donald De Souza (Michael Jayston). Jasmine remembers her as "Nicola Blackstock", Rodney's trouble-making daughter, disliked by many of the villagers for her past behaviour. When Nicola claimed she'd changed, but Jasmine didn't believe her, soon proved to be right when Nicola lured David into having an affair with her, after Jasmine catches them sleeping together. Jasmine then takes revenge by writing an article about Nicola's husband Donald, in the local paper, revealing that Donald was not actually dead as Nicola had claimed. Jasmine had used the help of Miles De Souza (Ayden Callaghan), Nicola's stepson, in her plan, so that he could inherit the family business and their estate. Nicola, unable to prove Miles was drinking, wanted to inherit everything for herself, and so had resorted to lying about Donald's death.
David and Nicola's relationship was frequently turbulent, 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 finds out Nicola is sleeping with David, he hires actress Cindy Burton (Tiffany Chapman), telling Nicola she was his nurse to make her jealous. This failed as Nicola schemed to kill him and frame Cindy for Donald's murder so she would inherit his money, and tried numerous methods from torn carpet on the stairs to faulty wiring on a train set, but none worked as David, disgusted with her plans – which he had refused to have any part of – sabotaged every attempt. Again, Donald found out what Nicola was planning, and persuades Nicola to go with him up on the moors. He challenged her to push him over, but she could not do it. On their return to Holdgate Farm, Donald throws Nicola out, leading to her going to David, but he sent her away, not wanting to be with a woman who was capable of murder. However, David didn't want to be alone, and tried flirting with Katie. Unfortunately for him, she was with Grayson Sinclair (Christopher Villiers), and also pregnant with his baby. Despite having had a fight with Grayson, she turned David down. David once again tried flirting with Jasmine, but she refuses to go any further than having a few drinks with him, and turned him down. Upset at being rejected, 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 (Charlie Hardwick) daughter, Sharon Lambert (Victoria Hawkins), returned to the village briefly for her mother's wedding. Whilst 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 could not take on an overseas trip. Nicola, who was Sharon's rival, offered to dogsit. A few days later, the dogs went missing and David and Nicola only 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 informs Sharon that David had dumped her for Nicola. They get into a catfight and when David broke them up, she hits 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 then 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. He became attracted to Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi), who worked at Eric's factory. When he helps catch a burglar, Leyla agrees to go out with him. They get on well, until she felt he had little interest in what she wanted. When she told him she was not like Nicola, he says that was part of the problem. They went their separate ways for a few months, but grew closer in April 2009. Leyla confided in him about her mother's medical problems, and he gave her some money. Eric and Val manage to convince David that Leyla was lying to get his money. Although David was reluctant to believe them, he asked Leyla a few questions, and 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 (Richard Thorp) 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 (Lyndon Ogbourne) in order to get a barn conversion for Declan Macey (Jason Merrells). 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. Leyla 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 (Joe-Warren Plant) 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 (Andrew Langtree) 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 Eric and Val.
Leyla and David have since reconciled, when they decided that they could not bear to be apart. David's recently adoptive sister Amy Wyatt (Chelsea Halfpenny) 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 (Jeff Hordley) 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 (Natalie Anderson), Leyla's sister, confesses to stealing from the shop. Amy then kisses David on the cheek when he says he believed it was not her.
Leyla could not bear to be around Jacob, and when Alicia attacks her for asking Jacob to stop calling Alicia "mum" and call her "mum" instead, Leyla leaves the village, leaving David with a shop, a wedding dress, and hundreds of pounds worth of debt. David gets drunk and goes into the Woolpack wearing Leyla's wedding dress. Alicia and David's best friend Nikhil Sharma (Rik Makarem) pull David out of the pub, after he agreed to marry Pearl. Nikhil persuades David to sober up and become a legitimate businessman. He sells his cleaning business and agrees to run the shop full-time, renaming it "David's".