Matt Skilbeck

Matthew "Matt" Skilbeck is a fictional character from the British ITVsoap opera Emmerdale for a period of seventeen years from 1972 to 1989. One of the series' original characters, he was played by Frederick Pyne. Matt currently served as the eighteenth longest running character in the history of the show.

Character history

Matt married Peggy, Jacob and Annie Sugden's daughter in 1968. He helped out on the Sugdens' farm but Peggy became concerned for their future when the farm was bequeathed to her brother Jack after Jacob Sugden's death in 1972. After finding out she was pregnant, Peggy encouraged Matt to pursue a factory job in Hotten. At his interview at the factory Matt objected to being described as an "unskilled laborer" and stayed on in Beckindale to work for Emmerdale Farm Ltd.

Peggy gave birth to twins, Sam and Sally, but died of a brain hemorrhage soon after. Upon his wife's death, Matt inherited her shares in Emmerdale Farm Ltd. The twins were sent to live with Matt's Auntie Beattie but all three were killed in a car crash when the children were just three years old.^[1]

Matt married Woolpack barmaid Dolly Acaster on 29 June 1978.^[2] Matt and Dolly converted a barn attached to the Emmerdale farm house into a cottage, and moved in during the 26 October 1982 episode.^[3] Their son Samuel was born in December 1982, and was named after Matt's first-born son. Matt's former grandfather-in-law Sam Pearson was pleased with the naming decision.

In late 1985, quarry owner Harry Mowlem began harassing Dolly, to the couple's distress. Mowlem believed he had an old score to settle as Matt had taken the dog Mowlem was ill treating away from him in 1983. Early in 1986, Matt became engaged in a physical struggle with Mowlem after finding him stealing sheep. The following morning, Mowlem was found dead and Matt was charged with manslaughter. Matt was cleared when Mowlam's crooked associate Derek Warner confessed to the crime.^[4]

In late 1987 Matt discovered that he had inherited Crossgill Farm from the previous owner. Dolly insisted that they move out of Emmerdale but Matt refused. Dolly and Matt began to grow apart resulting in her affair with timber consultant Stephen Fuller in 1988. Crossgill's farmhouse ended up burning down.

After the failure of his second marriage, Matt left the village in December 1989 to run a farm in Norfolk but remarried Dolly offscreen in 1992 after she and Sam joined him.

References