Emmerdale Spoilers: Emmerdale’s new Samson and Josh story has a problem

Emmerdale kicked off a dramatic new story for Samson Dingle, Matty Barton and newcomer Josh Cope last week, but the plot has arrived on screen with some flaws.

Fans of the ITV soap are crying out for justice to be served after Samson and Josh cruelly framed Matty with false allegations of a violent attack.

Josh and Samson tried to steal money from The Hide after a row with waiter Matty, who started to feel intimidated as he was working his shift alone.

The tense situation spiralled badly out of control, culminating in Josh pushing Samson in Matty’s direction. This caused Samson to be stabbed by the knife that Matty was holding.

Matty has since been left in a precarious situation as both teens are falsely accusing him of a deliberate attack. And yes, the restaurant’s CCTV system could have cleared the whole thing up, but it conveniently “wasn’t in operation” thanks to Jai Sharma’s cost-cutting.

So far, the story’s strengths have centred around Ash Palmisciano, who has been given a brilliant chance to shine in his role as Matty.

Soap storylines revolving around injustice, or likeable characters facing false allegations, can be some of the most engaging to watch and create big reactions from viewers. Just ask Coronation Street, with their regular cycle of locking up long-serving regulars for murder based on flimsy “evidence” every couple of years.

That’s proven to be the case here, with Ash delivering emotional and impactful performances as Matty faces the grim prospect of a long stint in prison.

Off-screen, Ash has spoken passionately about the importance of the story, which has explored transphobia. Josh made offensive remarks towards Matty in their initial altercation, and Matty is now living in fear of experiencing further abuse while being held on remand in prison.

While Matty’s side of the story has been explored with care and sensitivity, the same can’t really be said for Samson’s role in the saga so far.

It’s not clear enough why Samson is scared to speak up against Josh, but has no problem defying his dangerous relative Cain, who wants him to change his story. Cain is liable to plonk enemies in the nearest bin/abandoned barn/car boot (delete as applicable), after all.

One major problem here is the lack of build-up. New character Josh was introduced as Samson’s troublesome friend last Monday, then just three episodes later, they were already in cahoots to cover up the truth about the stabbing together.

Josh appears to have a hold over Samson, after seemingly appearing in the show from nowhere and never being mentioned until a week ago. However, aside from a vague threat of consequences if Samson speaks up, this hasn’t been properly explored given their lack of screen time together.

If Emmerdale bosses knew this story was coming up, it would have been more effective to see Samson and Josh’s friendship grow over a period of weeks rather than days, even if they were playing minor roles in episodes before eventually coming to the forefront.

Over on Corrie, teen character Dylan was given plenty of screen time this year while under the influence of school bully Mason, which helped viewers to maintain some sympathy for him as the story progressed.

It’s not the first time that legacy character Samson has been reduced to rapid personality switches to suit a storyline. A couple of years ago, Samson was always portrayed as reliable and good-natured, especially compared to his creepy cousin Noah.

That all changed in late 2022 and early 2023, when an abrupt switch appeared to take place between Samson and Noah’s characters. Suddenly, Samson was the “bad” cousin and Noah miraculously became “good” after serving time in prison for stalking Chloe Harris.

The on-screen change felt jarring and Samson’s character has never really recovered since, with him regularly playing the villain in storylines with Amelia, Noah, Sam and Lydia.

With reports suggesting that Samson could be leaving the Dales altogether this year, let’s hope the writers and storyliners can start digging a little deeper into his motivations before he goes.