Emmerdale’s Matty Barton (played by Ash Palmisciano) has been grappling with the harsh realities of prison life after being falsely accused of stabbing Samson Dingle on purpose.
Viewers will see Matty’s prison ordeal intensify as official spoilers for the ITV soap reveal that he’s about to confide in a fellow inmate about being transgender.
In upcoming scenes, an intimidating prisoner named Robbo (John O’Neill) attempts to get information from Matty. However, when Matty remains tight-lipped, his cellmate Les (Stacey J Gough) decides to intervene.
Despite Les successfully warding off Robbo, Matty is left feeling increasingly anxious as the grim reality of prison life sets in. Later on, Les takes it upon himself to help Matty on how to navigate prison life.
Still apprehensive about how he’ll be perceived, Matty decides to probe Les about the kind of questions he might face from the other inmates. After listening to his cellmate’s advice, Matty takes a leap of faith and opens up.
Despite his nervousness, Matty reveals that he is transgender. to Les. After a series of questions, Les expresses curiosity about his choice to be in a male prison. While Les assures Matty he’ll mind his own business, he also warns him that others may not be as kind if they find out.
Currently, Matty is incarcerated after being mistakenly arrested for the stabbing of Samson Dingle (Sam Hall). Earlier this month, Samson was at The Hide cafe with his new troublesome friend Josh (Osian Morgan).
While Josh was shamelessly flirting with Matty’s missus Amy Wyatt (Natalie Ann Jamieson), the tension was ramping up as he chucked them out, while throwing away the beers they’d just bought.
But Josh wasn’t about to let Matty make a mug out of him and barged back in, demanding either a fresh round or their cash back.
The situation turned nasty when Josh started hurling vile comments about Matty being transgender, as he tried to boot the pair out before the police were called.
Chaos erupted when Josh shoved Samson into Matty, who was unwittingly holding a knife from cleaning up.
It wasn’t long before they clocked the horror of what had gone down as an ambulance and police were called to deal with the situation. When they arrived, Josh was all too keen to spin that Matty had knifed Samson on purpose.
Matty’s mum Moira Dingle ( Natalie J. Robb) is convinced that there’s more to the tale than the lads are letting on knowing her son wouldn’t do something so terrible, but Samson’s sticking to his warped version of events.
Will Samson come clean about the real score? Or is he going to let Matty face the music behind bars?
Viewers are livid with Josh for fibbing about Matty, but actor Ash Palmisciano has only good things to say about Osian, the actor playing the nasty piece of work warping Samson.
Chatting to Digital Spy, the soap star said: “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.”
