Emmerdale stars reveal why they left soap amid launch of new project

Roxy Shahidi and Matthew Wolfenden became best friends working through Emmerdale (Picture: ITV/Provided/James Melia)

Emmerdale’s Roxy Shahidi and Matthew Wolfenden have left the comfort of soapland and launched themselves into the presenting and podcast worlds.

Roxy’s character Leyla Harding was killed during the limo crash in February. It marked the end of her time on the show after 16 years of the Take a Vow business owner.

For Roxy’s co-star and best mate Matthew Wolfenden, he’s had a little longer to adjust to life away from the soap, with his character David Metcalfe departing last year.

The two friends recently sat down with me to talk about their lives after leaving Emmerdale and what’s next for them following the launch of season 2 of their podcast.

‘I’m adjusting. I think it’s equally terrifying and really exciting’, Roxy told me.

‘You know when you’re like, stood on the edge of a cliff and you’re like, oh my god, it’s so exciting. But equally, you’re out of that bubble, you’re out of that comfort zone. And there’s also elements that you miss. You miss your friends, you miss your routine, you miss the character.

‘But also I’m 42 now, and I was lucky enough to spend 16 years in a show that I loved. Life is short, and I’m really ready for new adventures for new projects and to see where those things take me.’

David left the village last year (Picture: ITV) Leyla died in February (Picture: ITV)

Matthew revealed: ‘I was approaching 43 and the opportunity for me was something came up back in musical theatre, which is where I came from. I joined Emmerdale back in 2006 and it was only a three month contract, I was going to go straight back into the West End and carry on doing that.

‘Three months went into six, and then it turned into a year, and then it turned into 18 years later. I was lucky enough to be offered a lead in the West End over Christmas to play Buddy in Elf the Musical. 

‘That was a no brainer to me. I was heading towards 43 and as Roxy said, there’s a big wide world out there. Emmerdale is fantastic, it’s amazing to have the regular income, you’re settled in one place, you have to sometimes take the leap and do something different. It’s really scary. Being in Emmerdale you think you’re a big fish in a small pond and then you leave, and you realise you’re a very little tadpole in a huge pond.’

Matthew and Roxy are passionate about their new project

Matthew and Roxy’s podcast, Celebrity Side Hustles, sees people in the industry talk to them about the projects they have away from their usual jobs.

In the last season, stars including Danny Miller, Rita Simons and Lou Sanders spoke to the duo about books, raising awareness of important causes and charities.

The stars host the podcast Celebrity Side Hustles (Picture: James Melia)

Opening up about how they found recording the next series, Roxy said: ‘We’ve had a really varied group of people in terms of the kinds of stories and side hustles they’re sharing. Some of them are deeply moving and profound.

‘Mark and Laura [Norton] are talking about their children and the charity CureUsher and all the work they do around that. They have created so much attention around that charity and elevated it so much and created and raised so much money.’

‘There was also Amy [Walsh] and Toby [Alexander Smith], he’s written a film about male postnatal depression. No-one’s really done any work around that and it was really brave of him, I think, to share his story and how he chose to share that through the film and working with various charities. 

She added: ‘We also speak to Lisa Riley, I think she’s probably had more side hustles than any other celebrity that I’ve ever met. Back in the day, when she was first in Emmerdale, soap stars were huge. People had posters in their bedrooms, Lisa rode that wave – she released perfumes, all sorts of stuff. She says at one point that soap stars were like the Spice Girls. It was a completely different time.’

They met while filming Emmerdale (Picture: James Melia)

‘I was slightly fanboying when we interviewed Adam Rickitt!’, Matthew laughed. ‘My cousin Laura had her bedroom plastered in posters of him!’. 

‘What we wanted to do with season two was reach out to people that weren’t necessarily our friends at Emmerdale. Ross Adams, we worked together on The Good Ship Murder, so we wanted to talk to him about his agency. What we tried to do with season two was kind of reach out to other people that weren’t just in our little Emmerdale family.’

Stepping into podcasting has made Roxy and Matthew incredibly excited about future goals. Collaborating on a project away from soap has sparked a love for presenting in the friends, something they hope to pursue moving forwards.

‘We would love to do some presenting’, Roxy revealed.

‘We had so much fun doing the first series of the podcast and loved the way we worked together. We really enjoyed listening to people’s stories and discovering these facts about people that we thought we knew, and we did, but they also live these completely different lives we had no idea about. 

The two friends are looking forward to exploring life after soap (Picture: James Melia)

‘We had so much fun doing it, we thought we wanted to do more.’ 

Matthew and Roxy’s friendship was born when they began working together in Emmerdale. When they first started filming scenes as David and Leyla, Matthew knew a strong connection was forming.

‘It was around the time David was working at Eric’s factory, and Leyla was in the office. I remember them saying, we’re going to put you and Leyla together. I think the very first day we worked together, we realised that we’ve got something quite special. We both loved making scenes quite funny.’ 

He added: ‘There are a lot of actors that are quite aware of themselves and don’t want to do things that are possibly silly or that would make them look funny.’ 

Roxy smiled: ‘If something wasn’t working for my character, I always had the freedom to say, oh do you mind if I try this. Rather than Matthew being quite rigid and saying no, he’d always be like yeah let’s try it. I think we found a way to be creative together and explore the scenes more. 

‘When I first met Matthew, he’s always really friendly to new people. He’s a very jolly person that always went out of his way to meet the newbie. I was awful, it takes me about four years to remember anyone’s name!

‘Matthew was very polite and I remember asking how long he’s been there, and he said three years, I thought god, that’s depressing! I was about 26 at the time so the thought of being in the same job for three years was a big no.’

‘But you make friends, and it feels like home, and the rest is history.’