Emmerdale stars Laura Norton and Mark Jordan are expecting their first child together

Laura Norton and Mark Jordan have confirmed they are expecting their first child together.

The actors met when they starred alongside each other on ITV's smash hit soap, Emmerdale, back in 2014.

While the happy couple had intended to spend 2020 planning their dream wedding, they hadn't expected that they would be preparing to become parents.

Laura, who plays Kerry Wyatt in Emmerdale, revealed that she and Mark are completely thrilled by the exciting baby news.

"I had tears in my eyes, we're over the moon," Laura said, opening up on the moment she discovered she was pregnant.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, Mark admitted that he knew in his gut that Laura was pregnant before they pair even looked at the pregnancy test, explaining, "In my heart I knew before looking at the test. We both looked at the result and there was so much joy, but for a weird moment we were both deadly silent."

"I took the test on 1 June. We were out on a walk and I suddenly realised I was late. Mark asked how late I was and I said about three days but I looked at my calendar and it was 14 days," Laura added.

Confessing that the pregnancy was a very pleasant surprise, Mark went on, "We were always hopeful we would have a baby one day if we were lucky so it was a brilliant surprise. You may have noticed that we don’t seem to be able to stick to a plan! Things just happen and we go with it."

Revealing how the coronavirus health crisis has impacted the pregnancy, Laura said, " I’m really excited to be a mam. For the first scan we went private because I couldn’t imagine going through that moment without Mark.

"He isn’t able to come to the NHS ones because of the coronavirus restrictions. We both cried. It was so overwhelming and also knowing everything is alright and the baby is healthy."