Emmerdale’s Matty Barton and Robbo are far from friends on the ITV soap, but, thankfully, the actors who play them are on much better terms.

Ash Palmisciano’s character Matty is currently being bullied behind bars by fellow prisoner Robbo (played by John O’Neill). Robbo brutally attacked Matty after discovering that he is a trans man.

Despite their dark storyline, Palmisciano and O’Neill’s relationship is a lot more harmonious off-screen, as the pair have shared their admiration for one another on social media.

Taking to Instagram, Palmisciano shared a behind-the scenes photo of himself with O’Neill and Stacey Gough, who plays Matty’s supportive cell mate Les.

“The nicest prison baddie @jk0_91 I could be working with and the best prison mate ever @goughstacey, hats off to you both,” he captioned the post.

O’Neill shared some more behind-the-scenes photos to his own Instagram, captioning the post: “Had an absolute blast shooting on this job. We did laugh outside of the takes, promise.”

The actor added: “Proper joy getting to work alongside the talented @ash.p.x – thanks for making it such fun mate! You’ve smashed this! And big up @goughstacey, who helped keep Robbo in check.”

Palmisciano was full of praise in the comments section, describing O’Neill as “very talented” and “such a lovely person on set”.

In Tuesday’s (July 9) episode of the soap, Matty was left in tears when Les was released from prison, as he’s now more vulnerable without a friend behind bars.