Emmerdale viewers were not best pleased after an announcement about upcoming episodes of the ITV soap during Monday night’s visit to the Dales

Viewers tuning into Emmerdale on Monday night were left “disappointed” by some news shared by a character.

Following the death of a major character in a recent episode, with Leyla Harding killed off after 16 years, fans had hoped for the perfect send-off for her when her funeral airs this week. But they were immediately infuriated when news of two absences were announced by Leyla’s son Jacob Gallagher.

Sarah Sugden found her love interest sobbing during Monday’s visit to the Dales, and he quickly explained what had left him so upset and angry. He confirmed he’d reached out to family members after Leyla’s passing, hoping to see her sister, Jacob’s adoptive mother Alicia, and Jacob’s dad David Metcalfe at the funeral.

Alicia left the soap several years ago and has not been back since, while David exited in 2023 on bad terms with his son. After Jacob got with his father’s ex Victoria Sugden, the romance left David in pieces and feeling betrayed as he’d hope to reconcile with her.

David soon fled the village with his young son Theo, and it seems he and Jacob have not fixed things since. David refused to return to the village months after his exit because of what his son had done.

Viewers tuning into Emmerdale on Monday night were left ‘disappointed’ by news about David (Image: ITV)

But given the loss Jacob is going through and how close David was to Leyla, fans were left appalled on Monday night as it was revealed onscreen that he would not be returning for the funeral. He’d told Jacob that his son Theo wasn’t well and so he had to miss the service.

Then he confirmed Alicia was also missing her sister’s send-off, despite him having stayed in touch with her and being seemingly close. According to Jacob Alicia said she had a broken leg so would not be able to go the village for the funeral.

Jacob was devastated and infuriated not to have his loved ones by his side and to have to grieve alone. He wasn’t the only one thinking this though with fans fuming online about the news.

One fan said: “Madness as they could have come back for one episode surely.” Another agreed: “You would think they would have David back for the funeral, for Jacob’s and Eric’s sake,” as a third added: “How many times has Alisha broken her leg? Seems to be the same excuse every time.”

Alicia left the soap several years ago (Image: TV Grab)

A further post read: “I know it’s because of the actor, but David completely washing his hands of Jacob is disgusting (and no I haven’t forgotten what happened with Victoria), his mums just died and he still doesn’t want to know.”

Another viewer said: “I’d have loved to see David and Jacob reconciling at Leyla’s funeral, or Alicia returning to comfort her son when he needs her most – just like I would have loved to see Debbie at Zak’s funeral – but the reality is that most of us don’t remain in call for our former employers when we leave the company. So it’s disappointing, and definitely a missed opportunity for some moving scenes, but not really a great surprise.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.