Emmerdale star Emma Atkins recalled her horror at being branded 'a bit old to be having a baby' when her character Charity Dingle featured on a recent episode of Gogglebox. 

ITV viewers watched her soap alter-ego give birth to baby Leyla as a surrogate for her granddaughter Sarah (Katie Hill) - but unbeknown to Sarah, Leyla is the biological daughter of Charity and Ross Barton (Michael Parr) following a secret tryst.

Emma, 51, appeared on Wednesday's (May 13) episode of This Morning, speaking to presenters Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley about the storyline.

The actress recalled watching an episode of Gogglebox with her parents, only for things to take an unexpected turn when her scenes popped up on screen as households reacted to the week's television.

Emma said: 'It's quite surreal really, because I was watching Gogglebox with my parents and the birth came on.'

After Ben said "amazing!", she continued: 'No, it wasn't amazing. I'm 51 and Giles [Wood] was going, "Oh Mary, no, I don't want to watch this".

'And then one of the other guys was just like, "Oh, she's a bit old to be having a baby" and I was like "Ahhh!" [putting her head in her hands]. It doesn't get any more surreal than this.'

Only a few other characters know the truth about baby Leyla - Ross, Chas (Lucy Pargeter) and Dr. Caitlin Todd (Caroline Harker) - the latter blackmailing Charity.

Prior to her character giving birth, Emmerdale fans were left sickened by a stomach-churning storyline that saw Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) attempt to bed his pregnant cousin Charity in incestuous scenes.

The cousins previously had an incestuous relationship in their teens - resulting in the birth of daughter Debbie (Charley Webb).

At the Dingle family home, an uncomfortable interaction saw Cain try to prove to Charity that he was the 'best' she'd ever had.

He asked Charity about her sex life and subsequently boasted about their time together.

However, she insisted that her 'best' was actually ex-partner Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick).

Cain went on to tell her: 'It is just you and me here right now, why don't I prove to you that I've still got it. I am actually being serious. And if you really wanna help me, you know what to do.'

Seemingly playing along, Charity replied: 'Okay, where do you wanna do it? We could do it on the sofa, maybe we could just rag each other around the room. Smash the place up a bit – it wouldn't be the first time!'

Cain got up and approached Charity as he said: 'Shut up and come over here.'

She answered: 'Cain, I love it when you talk to me like that! Let's do it!'

However, this was soon revealed as a ruse, with Charity having no interest in bedding Cain.

Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and ITVX.