Emmerdale star worries controversial baby story could have dangerous effect on fans
Emmerdale's Alan McKenna shared his concern over fans copying the soap after Gus welcomed a daughter after using his and Rhona's frozen embryos without her permission
Emmerdale star Alan McKenna has grown concerned about fans copying the soap.
Alan made his first appearance as Gus Malcolms in April 2023 and has caused quite the stir since his arrival. The character was introduced as the ex-husband of Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry).
Gus turned up in the village with his wife Lucy (Charlotte Asprey), asking Rhona if he could use their frozen embryos to have a baby with his partner as they struggled to conceive naturally. Despite considering it, Rhona refused to give them her consent.Months later, Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) bumped into Gus and a heavily pregnant Lucy and realised they had used the embryos without Rhona’s permission. Lucy died in childbirth shortly after, leaving a struggling Gus to parent baby Ivy on his own.
After visiting Ivy in the hospital, Rhona formed an attachment to her biological daughter and now wants full custody of her. Last week, Gus told Rhona of his plans to leave the village and she kidnapped Ivy, desperate to keep her before she was arrested.
The controversial storyline is something that has never been portrayed on a UK soap before and Alan shared his hopes that viewers won’t copy the characters. “I’m just hoping this story doesn’t create a whole industry of embryo thefts,” he exclusively told Daily Star and other press. “I hope we haven’t opened up a can of worms.”
The baby plot has certainly got people talking, with viewers constantly switching sides on who they believe is in the right. The Happy Valley star recalled a moment during his early days on set where viewers were already struggling with who to side with.
Alan explained: “When we were filming, especially when I was very new to the crew and the cast I remember on the camera department people going, ‘I’m definitely team Rhona’. Then we’d do another scene and they’d go, ‘Oh I don’t know now. Maybe I’m team Gus’.”
He added: “It’s really interesting because that was from the same person changing their mind from one scene to the next.” Mark chipped in: “It’s been fascinating to be part of it and just watching people take quite strong opinions on it. Even from a subjective character point of view, your empathy does swing from one person to the other.”
