Emmerdale Les’ return ‘rumbled’ as fans issue same plea to bosses at ITV soap
Emmerdale viewers are convinced that Matty Barton's former cellmate Les will be returning to the long-running ITV soap as the beloved character makes his prison release
Emmerdale’s Les could be potentially gracing us with his presence once more following the release of Matty Barton from prison.
The character Les, charmingly portrayed by Stacey J Gough, made a striking debut this month as Matty’s cellmate. Matty Barton, played by Ash Palmisciano, a treasured resident of Emmerdale, was thrown into prison after Josh Cope (Osian Morgan) and Samson Dingle (Sam Hall) attempted to break into The Hide.
Threatened by this pair, the situation took an unexpected turn when Josh shoved Samson towards an armed Matty, resulting in Samson being stabbed. Josh and Samson deceitfully claimed that Matty had intentionally wounded him, leading to Matty’s abrupt incarceration, reports the Express.
In jail, Matty was petrified his transgender status would make him a target. However, he found support in cellmate Les who stood up for him against the transphobic Robbo (John O’Neill). However, Les left prison shortly after arriving, leaving Matty feeling vulnerable.
In a desperate attempt to escape, Matty rashly asked Les to assault him before his departure, but sadly, Matty soon returned to prison post hospitalisation.
Les’ memorable stint on the show got fans calling for the soap bosses to make his role permanent, with one viewer commenting on X: “Emmerdale has introduced so many useless characters in the last couple of years, I hope they’ve got the sense to make Les permanent. He’s been great so far.”
Another viewer chimed in: “Any chance we can keep Les as a character I quite like him.” A third wrote: “Can Les become a regular? .”Fans are now convinced that Les will be making a return. In this week’s episodes, following Samson’s confession, Matty was released from prison.
He quickly returned to the village – much to the joy of his wife Amy (Natalie Ann Jamieson) and mother Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb).
However, later in the evening, it was evident that Matty was still dealing with the trauma of his time in prison. In heart-wrenching scenes, he experienced flashbacks of his time behind bars.
Immediately, fans were left worried that Matty will be grappling with PTSD in an upcoming storyline. But viewers also believe this could signal the return of former cellmate Les, to “help” Matty.
On an Emmerdale Facebook fan page, one viewer pondered: “Such a shame the writers haven’t kept les Matty’s cellmate on as a permanent character what does everyone else think? “.
