Christmas is often a time for a soap birth, and on Emmerdale Christmas came early for Dawn and Billy Fletcher (Olivia Bromley and Jay Kontzle) when their baby was born in Thursday (December 21)’s episode.
Dawn’s contractions started at the Christmas Fair, but she refused to leave while Clemmie (Mabel Addison) was singing her solo – which ended up not being quite solo because she was nervous and was joined by Bear (Joshua Richards).
With Billy away on an errand for Kim (Claire King) it was left to Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) to time the contractions. By the time Billy got back they were every five minutes so they headed for the birthing pool at home.
Olivia Bromley told us that the birth scenes were quite unusual for a soap – because everything went to plan.
Billy was thrilled with the baby’s name
‘Dawn just went into the zone and without pain medication,’ she said. As a former drug addict Dawn had insisted she didn’t want drugs of any kind while she was in labour.
‘It’s quite an interesting thing to see, you don’t see water births and home births that much on screen, it’s often a big trauma around birth in soaps. It’s quite interesting to see one that goes well and to plan.’
As Dawn welcomed her little boy into the world with an adoring Billy at her side, she already knew what she wanted to call their son.
‘I like Evan,’ she said.
Billy was emotional. ‘Seriously?’ he said. ‘After my dad.’
Billy’s dad, Evan Fletcher, died suddenly when Billy was young. His mum married Al Chapman (Michael Wildman) after that, and Billy and Al always had a difficult relationship.
‘Billy’s dad’s not been seen on screen or anything,’ Olivia explained.
‘Because Billy had such a difficult relationship with Al it’s very important to him, it’s a nice gesture for the two of them.’
With their family now complete, Dawn and Billy can look forward to Evan’s first Christmas and to a period of contentment and stability.
‘We’re seeing this family unit at its best and again, that’s not something you see so much in soap because there’s always a tragedy,’ Olivia said.
‘So at the moment, at the moment, everything’s great. I think it’s important to have a period of happiness and joy for the characters,’ Olivia told us.
’It’s not going to last long, I don’t think.’
