Emmerdale star Ash Palmisciano addresses transphobia in Matty's new story
Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale star Ash Palmisciano has spoken about the soap exploring transphobia in Matty Barton's new storyline.
Matty faces an upsetting ordeal in Thursday's episode (June 6) as an altercation with village newcomer Josh threatens to change his life forever.
In tense scenes, Josh and Samson Dingle cause trouble for Matty at work as they both behave badly while drinking together at The Hide.
Josh dead-names Matty and makes other transphobic comments. The dispute spirals out of control when Josh pushes Samson, causing the young Dingle to be accidentally stabbed by the knife that Matty is holding in self-defence.
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Speaking about exploring this story, Ash explained: "I think it is really interesting. It is something we haven't seen much of and it applies to anybody, whether you're trans or not – sometimes you encounter situations where people just aren't nice. Whether that's because of who you are or just because it is who they are as a person.
"So to show how vulnerable Matty can be in a situation like that was really incredible. It is also really topical – not everyone is super accepting.
"It is great Matty's got that support. It’s lovely to tell, we showed the wedding recently, it was an exciting joyous moment. It looked so incredible on screen.
"But sometimes we need to show the flipside of that, how it could go the other way and could be quite cruel for someone like Matty. It shows the bigger picture of what it is like to be him. I was really excited and it's fantastic we get to mirror that and to tell that story."
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On working with Osian Morgan and Sam Hall, who play Josh and Samson, Ash continued: "It has been amazing – although the subject matter is pretty heavy, as we're covering transphobia and we're covering an argument that goes too far and something terrible happens.
"This is a life-changing situation and you can't go back from that and it's really serious, but the guys were great and both worked so hard.
"Osian, the guy who plays Josh, is one of the loveliest guys ever. He is this really happy guy. He is a very good actor and delivered it perfectly. I think the audience will really dislike the character but that's because he nailed it and did such a good job.
"In terms of having action, it was great as we had a fight director, Kate Walters, on set who choreographed the action. It looks amazing on screen – it has been done so well. It was exciting to work with the actors in order to make it look as real as possible.
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"Our amazing director Pip Short was passionate about making everything make sense, everyone was behaving in a way that felt right for the characters. It was really exciting to be able to do something like that.
"That said, on set it's a strange job where you're going to go into work and you are pretending to stab someone that day, but it was really exciting to do and great to get into an exciting storyline."
Emmerdale previously touched on transphobia earlier this year when Claudette Anderson banned Matty and Amy Wyatt from using the village hall as part of their wedding celebrations.
Claudette argued that the building was "church property", but she later apologised for her behaviour after being challenged by her grandson Ethan.
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Ash added: "That was fantastic to show with Claudette and the beautiful thing about that story – Flo [Wilson] was great in how she played it – it wasn't that she was transphobic or against Matty, she just didn't understand.
"That is something I'm sure a lot of people can relate to – we're always learning about different types of people. Being trans is quite a modern thing in the sense we don't see it a lot on TV, it is only 1% of the population.
"Learning about it is really great and to be able to tell that story as it is happening in real life is fantastic. It is quite groundbreaking to tell a story as modern as this within an institution like Emmerdale, and just to have a character like Matty in that world is huge.
"It is a great representation and I think it's really honest. We are trying to show the most truthful representative that we can and how it isn't just plain sailing, it is really authentic. I think it is great that we do that."
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
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