Ash Palmisciano has revealed that his Emmerdale character Matty will be left "completely bewildered" after a shock twist of fate in this week's episodes.
In the storyline, Samson (Sam Hall) visits the HOP with his lairy mate Josh (Osian Morgan) to celebrate their impending European road trip - but after Amy (Natalie Ann Jamieson) leaves work early due to Josh making her feel uncomfortable, Matty decides to kick the pair out.
An enraged Josh returns with Samson just as Matty is locking up to demand a refund for their drinks and a heated confrontation ensues. In the melée, Josh pushes his friend Samson into Matty, but Matty is holding a knife from a customer's plate and ends up stabbing the teenager.
"Josh actually picks up a glass bottle and hands one to Samson, they start threatening Matty and getting in his face, pushing to get the money from the till," explained Palmisciano. "They say to him in not so many words [that] unless Matty hands over the money they're going to do something really bad to him.
"It is very much a fight or flight situation, and Matty is not sure how to handle it. He tries to appeal to Samson's good nature, explaining how 'look, we are family - what are you doing? You don't need to be doing this.' He actually goes to send them away again.
"Then there's a bit of a tussle, an altercation. Matty tells Samson to leave, Matty carries on with his business, picks up his knife and fork from the plate he's been clearing up before they entered, he turns to them and just as he turns to them, Josh pushes Samson directly into Matty.
"At first you are not really sure what's happened, they're sort of embracing, and as Samson pulls away they realise Samson has actually been stabbed by the knife Matty was holding."
At this point Jai (Chris Bisson) walks into the HOP and is left horrified by the scene in front of him.
Palmisciano continued: "All he can see is Samson bleeding. Matty's in complete shock - it happened so fast and was a complete accident, he doesn't actually know what happened, he's processing how this could have happened.
"And Jai assumes Matty has stabbed him because nasty Josh decides to tell him that Matty has just come at Samson for no reason. Josh is acting panicked. All of a sudden he flips from being this nasty, horrible guy to this innocent, panicky friend acting all concerned and telling Jai to keep Matty away from them. He is lying basically and making the situation look far worse than it was."
Initially in a state of confusion about what has just unfolded, Matty starts to realise the gravity of the situation when the police arrive at the scene.
"Matty is completely bewildered," he said. "It is one of those situations that's got so out of hand, he's processing how it could have got to this point. It's so out of character for Matty - he's not one for confrontation, his day started off so joyful, so happy, he couldn't believe what has now happened.
"I think what makes it real is that when the police show up, he starts thinking how this might look and what that might mean for a character like Matty."
Emmerdale continues weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
> Picture Spoilers: This week on Emmerdale (Jun 3-7)
Neil Wilkes
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