Emmerdale star Matthew Wolfenden breaks silence over soap race row and confirms why he was suspended

FORMER Emmerdale star Matthew Wolfenden has broken his silence about the soap’s race row and finally revealed the truth behind it.

The David Metcalfe actor and co-star Isabel Hodgins – who plays Victoria Sugden in the ITV soap – disappeared from screens in 2021 after it was revealed a complaint had been made about them.

2

2

At the time Emmerdale denied the pair had been suspended, but now four years on, Matthew has revealed the truth of what happened revealing they were “mistakenly” accused of doing a Chinese accent. 

Speaking for the first time about it, he said: “We were falsely accused of doing an accent on set. 

“Whenever the word race is used they have to take it seriously. So a young cast member mistakenly thought he heard us doing a Chinese accent, so he went up to see the producer and said, ‘I’m not very happy about this, I think I’ve just heard them mimicking a Chinese accent so because of this we did have to get suspended because as soon as that’s an issue they have to go down the correct routes while they investigate what happens. 

“Unfortunately when you get suspended from a continuing drama, you have to get written out of storylines and that is not an easy process because the storylines are written six weeks in advance, you film six weeks in advance and then it’s on screen. 

“So even if you’re off for two weeks that could be three months of not being on screen. 

“Basically what had happened was me and Izzy were working lots together at the time because were were in a relationship [on screen] and we loved watching comedies. 

“So we were sat one day talking about what comedies we loved to watch and we were doing scenes, mimicking the scenes, doing the lines from the scenes. 

“And I said to her, ‘Have you ever seen the League of Gentlemen?’ And there’s a scene in the League of Gentlemen where Reece Shearsmith dresses up as a lady called Pam Doove and it’s called the Orange Juice Scene if anyone wants to Google it and see what I mean. 

“And he’s playing an actress who comes into an audition room and is very eloquent – it’s an old acting joke – and then the director says, ‘Go out of the room and come back in and say ‘Has anyone got a bottle of orange juice?’ for an audition. [She returns and does it in a different accent]. 

“So we were doing this in the accent that you heard me do and this young kid thought that was us doing a Chinese accent and wasn’t happy about it so he went and complained and that led to us being suspended, it led to all this stuff going in the press with the word ‘race’ and ‘race row’.”

Matthew claimed he was told by bosses not to speak out and explain what happened, and the situation left him vulnerable and saw him checked into a mental health clinic. 

He added on podcast The Lewis Nichollls Show: “I didn’t have a leg to stand on because the press team at Emmerdale just said to stay quiet. 

“All I wanted to do was tell my truth and tell that story and I was kind of told not to. And that was difficult because I was being accused of something that I hadn’t done. 

“It was hard and I got very very poorly and had a nervous breakdown. I ended up having a nervous breakdown and I ended up in the priory for a month.”

He added: “I thought I was going to lose my job over this over something I haven’t done. 

“I’ve always struggled with my mental health so just ended up with this big spiral down and ended up having a nervous breakdown. I had to be taken into the Priory for a month to get better.”

Matthew, who later quit the soap in 2023, added: “It was just a horrible, horrible time. It was a difficult couple of years to me.”

He also revealed that he would have struggled to speak to the cast member who made the allegation – but fortunately they left the show during his absence. 

The actor said: “That person [who made the allegation] had left the show before I started back which in hindsight yeah, it would’ve been difficult to go back and be face to face with the person who accused you absolutely wrongly. 

“I think there’s certain ways of approaching that conversation instead of going straight to the boss… where we would have to be suspended on that accusation. 

“It was a tough pill to swallow.”

Emmerdale has been contacted for comment.