MATTY Barton is trapped in a cell with a vicious thug after being outed as trans in prison in Emmerdale.
The character has been imprisoned while awaiting trial for stabbing Samson Dingle.
Matty has been terrified throughout his prison ordeal, fearing any repercussions if his fellow inmates discover he is trans.
This week, he plucked up the courage to tell his cellmate Les after he came to his defence when menacing thug Robbo was bothering him.
In upcoming Emmerdale scenes, Matty is slightly more hopeful having established that Les has accepted him as a trans man and is happy to relay this to wife Amy when she visits.
He is delighted to hear they have a new solicitor and is left hopeful he could be out of prison soon.
As visiting time ends, Amy’s glad Matty is more positive, but as she watches him go, she’s approached by Robbo, who she mistakes for Les.
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.
Matty returns to his cell as Les leaves to see his solicitor, and once he’s gone, Robbo arrives into the cramped cell.
Matty’s blood runs cold to discover this thug has spoken to his wife.
Meanwhile, upbeat Amy arrives home to tell them about Matty’s positive attitude.
However at the same time, Matty is trapped in his cell and terrified when Robbo reveals he’s learnt the truth and the menacing transphobe closes in on him.
What will the vicious thug do? And will Matty be OK?
Ash Palmisciano – who plays Matty – recently spoke about his character’s latest storyline, and how it was important to tackle transphobia in the plot.
He said: “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.
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“But sometimes we need to show the flip side 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.”
Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available on ITVX.
