Emmerdale's Ash Palmisciano 'honoured' over 'real first' but admits it has been 'tough'

Emmerdale star Ash Palmisciano has said he is 'honoured' to be leading the way in another first for the show. Earlier this year, the actor shared his pride at being involved in the ITV soap's first transgender wedding.

But it wasn't his first-ever ground-breaking involvement as the 34-year-old was also the first-ever transgender actor to appear on Emmerdale.

However, after a wonderful soap wedding between Matty and Amy Wyatt, their marital bliss was quickly interrupted when he was arrested for stabbing Samson Dingle. As viewers saw, Samson's mate Josh took a shine to Amy and continually flirted with her, despite admitting she's a married woman.

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Josh was introduced to Matty but unbeknownst to anyone else, he later branded Matty a 'freak' after discovering he'd transitioned from a woman. As he continued openly flirting with Amy, Samson was clearly uncomfortable at the exchange and tried to get his new pal to give it a rest.

However, once Amy had gone, Josh turned to Matty and continued to jibe him before he eventually had had enough. Pouring their paid-for beers away, Matty told them both to leave, which infuriated Josh. While outside, Josh made it clear the situation wasn’t over, as he told Samson they were owed their drinks.

Storming back inside, Matty tried to tell them both he had shut the cafe, although Josh was adamant they weren’t leaving without getting their drinks. As Josh started making awful remarks about Matty being transgender, and Samson joined in the aggravation, he warned them to leave before he called the police.

Josh started referring to Matty as “she” and as he tried to carry on with closing up, picking up a chopping board and a knife, Josh's anger escalated and he pushed Samson into Matty, pushing him straight into the knife leaving him staggering backwards while bleeding profusely.

Matty has since been behind bars, with Samson refusing to tell the truth through fear of Josh's actions, and in upcoming scenes, Emmerdale viewers will see Matty hopefully he may soon be released from prison and Amy was happy about her huband's new positive attitude.

However, as she leaves after visiting time, Amy is approached by Robbo, who she mistakes for Matty's cellmate Les, who Matty has told about his transition from female to male. Unfortunately, Robbo’s sympathetic front gets the truth about Matty from Amy, who is oblivious to the danger she has now put her husband in.

Speaking about taking on the latest storyline as Matty, Ash told the Manchester Evening News and other 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 aswell.

"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.

"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."

Sharing how the upcoming terrifying drama unfolds, Ash said: "They have this conversation where Robbo makes it obvious that he knows who Matty is, without saying it. And you can see, the penny drops within Matty: 'How has this got out? What is about to happen?'

"The actor that played Robbo is called John, and he played such a menacing stillness, it was all about the tension, it was all about the build-up of 'What's he gonna do with this information? What's he gonna do next?'. And it could have been anything. He's toying with Matty, basically, and sort of enjoying that as well. That was really sad to play, but really exciting from an acting point of view, as well. It was really, really terrifying, to be honest, to put myself in that position, but he played it beautifully."

And it was challenging for the actor to film as he admitted reaying on reality TV to help him switch off. Ash said: "It was tough, but it has been incredible; and I think it's been a real insight into a more grittier side, so I've really enjoyed that. But obviously there comes a lot of negative emotions with it like fear, crazy levels of anxiety, and to put myself in that situation was obviously challenging. When you've spent a full day in prison, you sort of come home and feel a bit bamboozled, really!"