Emmerdale’s Ash Palmisciano, who plays Matty Barton, has opened up about his character’s latest “challenging” storyline.
The actor joined the soap in 2018 and his character, originally named Hannah Barton before transitioning, has been at the heart of some major storylines over the past six years.
In upcoming scenes, Matty is hopeful after learning that his cellmate Les accepts him as a trans man, a fact he happily shares with Amy during her visit. He’s also thrilled to learn they have a new solicitor and is hopeful for an early release from prison.
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As visiting time ends, Amy is pleased to see Matty in a more positive mood. However, as she watches Matty leave, Amy is approached by Robbo, whom she mistakes for Les.
(Image: ITV)
Unbeknownst to her, Robbo’s sympathetic demeanour allows him to extract information about Matty, putting her husband in danger.
Speaking about the gripping storyline, Ash told the press: “There’s crazy levels of anxiety and to put myself in those situations was obviously challenging but it’s been really fun as an actor to do as well. It feels a real first to be honest.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen this on a UK soap before, and I think little representation on UK TV if any, so it feels a real privilege from an actor’s point of view to be able to tell a story that’s kind of untold because we don’t know that world or what it looks like so that’s been really great.”
(Image: ITV)
“Also, I’ve spoken personally about what it means for me to play a trans character let alone deal with such a major, difficult story. It feels really great to recycle maybe my own instinct feelings into something people can really get behind and It feels fantastic to be able to play this role.”
“It would have been a story as a kid I would have been interested in watching and seeing what it was like. As an actor, who happens to be trans, I can imagine those feelings maybe in certain situations but I have no idea what it’s like to be in prison so we were able to work with two fanatic guys, one who transitioned from female to male while working in a prison.”
Ash added: “There were challenging situations in there and really horrific attitudes and things towards Matty that were great to film but also scary.” I had to make sure I was unwinding at the end of the day and putting some nice TV on to cheer myself up and get myself out of that head space.”
“I love a bit of trash TV at the moment so I’ve been watching all sorts of things like Love Island and some good Netflix series and dramas. My girlfriend has got me into Bridgerton which is million miles away from prison.” Fans will have to wait and see if Matty gets out of prison in one piece.
Emmerdale airs weeknights on ITV1 and ITVX at 7.30pm
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
