Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) and Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) featured in the offending scene (Picture: ITV)

Emmerdale producers have found themselves in hot water after a transgender joke used on an upcoming edition of the soap left one of its actresses fuming.

Samantha Valentine – who starred as a transgender barmaid in the episode – complained to ITV over the sequence, which sees character Laurel, played by Charlotte Bellamy, getting her phone number in the gay bar where she was seen working as a dare.

However her boyfriend Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock), subsequently quips: ‘That’s not fair, that’s a he not a she.’

Valentine has since received an apology from Emmerdale creative director John Whiston after accusing the soap of being ‘transphobic’ and saying she would never have taken the part if she had known the content might offend the transgenger community.




Whiston called the inclusion of the sequence – which has since been cut from the episode – a ‘huge disappointment’, and described the line as ‘old-fashioned prejudice’.

‘Apparently it was added at a very late stage before filming when the show was in danger of under-running,’ he added.

‘It would no doubt have been picked up by myself, the producer or Compliance when we viewed and approved the programme prior to transmission.

‘But this would have been in early January, so it is really good you have brought it to our attention now and we’ve been able to take action at this earlier stage.’

The ITV show has caused its fair share of controversy in recent months, most notably with the murder of series regular Gennie Sharma at the hands of serial killer Cameron Murray.

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