There’s fresh love in the air this Christmas in Emmerdale, but how long will it last when there is a saboteur in the midst?

There are sparks for a cute young couple – Sarah Dingle (Katie Hill) and Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) who strike up a flirt. This has the potential to be something a little bit magical, except Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi) is around.

She already has form for ruining Jacob’s relationships. She was a big part of the breakdown of his romance with Victoria Sugden (Isabel Hodgins).

She gave Vic a particularly hard time for breaking David Metcalfe’s (Matthew Wolfenden) heart and refused to accept her into the family.

Leyla was determined to see Vic and Jacob split, and eventually guilt-tripped Vic until she broke up with Jacob so that she couldn’t hamper his future as a doctor.

At the time, Leyla urged Jacob to move on as fast as he could. But now that he’s ready to, she’s suddenly not so sure.

Sarah Dingle has caught his eye and the pair have been fluttering their eyelashes at each other.

Jacob is excited about having a new flirt and he wastes no time in arranging a date. But this is where jealous Leyla rears her ugly head.

She guilts him into having lunch with her instead and quashes Jacob’s first date excitement, she wants to keep him all to herself.

What will happen when Jacob realises what she’s done?

‘I think Jacob is a really kind hearted person but at the same time I would say he is very impulsive and he does let the emotions get the better of him in certain situations and it ultimately leads to him falling out with his friends and family’, actor Joe said.

‘So one thing I would say to Jacob is to take some time out for himself to deal with the pressures that he is going to be facing.

‘He’s got his training at the hospital, his grandad’s Parkinsons that he’s dealing with and also relationships as well so I think he needs to take time out for himself and kind of keep on top of all that really.’