Exclusive: Emmerdale star Ash Palmisciano calls for "powerful" new Matty story

Emmerdale star Ash Palmisciano has revealed that he'd love to see his character Matty Barton become soap's first-ever transgender dad.

At last year's Inside Soap Awards, Ash was asked what he'd like to see for Matty's future following his wife Amy Barton's death – and revealed that he'd like for his character to continue with their shared dream to adopt a child.

In an exclusive chat with Inside Soap as part of the magazine's first-ever Pride issue, Ash reaffirmed that he would still love to see Matty become a dad and adopt on his own.

emmerdale, amy and matty barton sitting on the sofa talking

ITV

"Seeing a single parent anyway is always great but seeing a trans dad, we’ve never seen that on TV before," Ash explains. "It would be so powerful to show that just because you’re LGBTQ+, you can be an incredible parent.

"Matty would make a great dad, and I always had this romantic idea that he would go on and do it even without Amy."

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Back in 2024, Emmerdale aired the soap's first-ever transgender wedding between Matty and his partner Amy. Despite Amy dying in the limo crash last year, the wedding episode was still hugely monumental for soap as a whole – and Ash reveals that it's one of the things he's most proud of appearing in so far.

ITV

"That’s an absolute highlight," he gushes. "It was very sweet and genuine, and it was such a lovely, happy episode rather than someone turning up to stop the wedding in true soap fashion!

"It was just a couple that fell in love and wanted to spend their lives together, a universal love story. I’ll always be proud of that!"

Read the full chat with Ash in the new bumper Pride issue of Inside Soap, out now.