Emmerdale star Rik Makarem has revealed that he thinks his character Nikhil Sharma will be “the most protective dad ever” when his child is born later this year.

Nikhil has of course only just learned that he’s to be a dad, and it was his sister-in-law Charity (Emma Atkins) who broke the news after Nikhil revealed to her that he’d broken up with Gennie (Sian Reese-Williams) because he thought she was about to end things with him!

But as fans of the show will know, Gennie’s increasingly odd behaviour has been because she’s terrified to tell Nikhil that she’s over four months pregnant, fearing that he’ll ditch her when he finds out.

In tonight’s episode – you can see a sneak peek clip after the jump – we’ll see Nikhil propose to Gennie, who is at first delighted, until she realizes that he now knows about her pregnancy, and so she assumes his proposal was only “doing the right thing” rather than because he truly wants her to be his wife…

Here’s a preview of tonight’s drama…

However, as we’ll see in forthcoming episodes, far from being horrified, Nikhil’s delighted that he’s going to be a father.

Speaking to the show’s website, Rik said, “He’s going to be the most protective dad ever.

“This is his baby, he’s going to love it and cherish it and of course the moment it might start to have a little number two I think he’ll be like, ‘Gennie, take it from me, the germs, the germs!’”

Rik concluded, “This could be life-changing for Nikhil, how he handles situations. It’s going to require him to change.

“I think he’ll be a good dad.”

Bless.