Louisa Clein had to film her surprise ‘Emmerdale’ scenes "undercover".
The 40-year-old star has reprised her role as paedophile Maya Stepney in the ITV soap, and viewers were left in shock last night (19.11.19) when it was revealed the character is pregnant in a shock twist.
She wrote on Instagram: "Well who saw that coming?? Hats off to @emmerdale for keeping that scene secret!! Undercover filming was super exciting!! #emmerdale #mayastepney (sic)"
The surprise revelation has had fans speculating over whether the baby is her ex David Metcalfe’s (Matthew Wolfenden) or his son Jacob Gallagher’s (Joe-Warren Plant), who she groomed and embarked on a relationship with.
As a result, Maya was sentenced to 12 months in prison earlier this year, but was released yesterday.
Upon hearing that she was coming out of jail, Jacob boarded a bus in an attempt to go and see her but in dramatic scenes David blocked the bus and tried to reason with his son, telling him Maya will be sent back to prison if he is spotted with her.
While his efforts were blocked, Jacob later rang Maya just as she was leaving the prison gates.
She snubbed his call and deleted him from her contacts, as he was leaving her a message declaring his love for her.
But the drama wasn’t finished there as the camera panned down to Maya’s stomach to reveal a baby bump.
Louisa previously admitted it was "difficult" filming her kissing scenes with Joe-Warren for their ‘Emmerdale’ grooming storyline.
She said: "It is difficult, but Joe Warren-Plant is a joy to work with and he’s so mature for his age. He’s been on the show for such a long time and has been working with adults since he was eight years old, so he’s very happy around adults. You wouldn’t necessarily pin him as 16 when you met him.
"Of course it’s awkward, but the scriptwriters are very sensitive to that, as are the directors and producers. We’re all very conscious of not making it (the scenes) sexually titillating. Any form of intimacy doesn’t need to be sexy. It’s about the implied emotional intimacy, which is the creepy bit in a way.
"It’s got to be that way. And Barnardo’s were very happy when we told them the way we were going to play the story through."