Known to millions of Emmerdale viewers as Matty Barton, this is the award-winning actor Ash Palmisciano [above].
Matty (and Ash) made history in 2018 by becoming the popular TV soap’s first ever regular transgender character – a major example of trans people being more prominently represented in popular culture.
Matty debuted on screen in a storyline about reconnecting with family, but the background work that led to that moment went back much further.
Heard first introduced Emmerdale to our All About Trans project in 2014. We organised an interaction between producers and writers on the show and five young trans people. It was about creating a space for conversation and connection. That coming together left a lasting, positive impression on the Emmerdale team.
The collaboration was rekindled in early 2018 when the soap’s story team set about introducing a trans character. Keen to ensure that character was developed in an authentic way, Heard once again brought them back together to meet and talk with members of the All About Trans network.
The group was intentionally diverse, so that producers might hear from a range of trans experiences, personalities and viewpoints. “That made him [Matty Barton] a really rounded character, because the writers had so much different information to draw on,” noted Tyler Luke Cunningham, an actor and All About Trans member.
Another of those All About Trans colleagues in the room that day? Ash Palmisciano. Following that interaction, Ash was invited to audition for the role of Matty Barton. He got the part, and the rest is soap history. Look, there’s Ash celebrating after winning the Best Newcomer award at the Inside Soap Awards (2018).
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Ash’s role was a happy by-product to come from the supportive role played by Heard and All About Trans, and the collaboration continued. In 2020, the Emmerdale team asked for input on a specific storyline – the character Matty Barton was considering having lower surgery.
To assist team Emmerdale Heard gathered eight trans people to discuss their lived experience around this topic. The goal was to ensure the story was told with accuracy, authenticity and sensitivity – that meant Matty’s personal journey, but also the friends and family around him.
To do this, Heard even connected Emmerdale staff with All About Trans associates – two medical professionals who are specialists in this area.
These dialogues weren’t just about ensuring Ash’s on-screen portrayal was realistic, but also building Emmerdale staff’s confidence and knowledge around the issue.
As one ITV producer put it: “You can read all the websites in the world, and read all the case studies, but somebody speaking to you, and just giving you that little bit of insight, you’re going ‘hang on a minute, you felt like that then?’ It can take the story in a whole different direction, it makes it so much more authentic.”
This is based on an independent evaluation of Heard’s work involving a series of interviews with all involved. The full evaluation is available on request.
