Matthew Wolfenden and Charley Webb

Matthew Wolfenden and Charley Webb

'Emmerdale' stars Charley Webb and Matthew Wolfenden have split up.

The couple, who play Debbie Dingle and David Metcalfe in the ITV soap, have ended their four-year engagement and are going their separate ways, but insist they'll "remain friends" for the sake of their three-year-old son, Buster.

An 'Emmerdale' spokeswoman said: "Charley Webb and Matthew Wolfenden have today confirmed that they have separated. They will remain friends and are focusing on their little boy."

Matthew has taken to Twitter to thank his fans for their support during such a heartbreaking time.

He said: "Thank you so much for all your lovely messages. Unfortunately these things happen, and it's very sad. Buster is our main priority always. X (sic)."

Charley recently said she would like to have more children with Matthew, but was focusing on her career for the time being.

She previously said: "I want more, but I have no idea when that will be. My best friend has four. They're amazing and they all play together. "

Matthew has also previously expressed his desire to have another child for Buster to play with, and believed the second offspring was more the likely to come before he tied the knot with Charley.

He said: "We definitely want to start planning for another, so that might end up coming first, before a wedding. It'd be great to have children involved in the day- I could see Buster running riot."