EMMERDALE star Mathew Bose feared he had "taken a step back" after quitting the soap seven years ago.
Mathew – who played Paul Lambert on the ITV soap – opened up about his decision to take a break from acting.
The actor who first appeared in the village in 2004 was a firm favourite with viewers.
He was the son of Rodney Blackstock and Val Lambert – and was always on hand to offer words of wisdom to sister Bernice.
Mathew made TV history after getting married to Jonny Foster (Richard Grieve) in the programme's first gay wedding.
Despite reprising his role in 2015 for Val's funeral, Paul decided to move to Portugal to start a new life.
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"This is the question…have I taken a step back from it or [has] it taken a step back from me, you never know as an actor in many ways,” he told the Express.
“I think the way a lot of people are viewed now is changing because we have a lot of demarcation, you know, it's like, what's your sexuality, what's your ethnic background?
“And I've always sort of skated over all those things because nobody knows where I am from or how old I am, that used to be good and now I think it’s less good and people don’t know where to fit me.”
Mathew went onto star in Channel 4's It's A Sin, written and created by Russell T Davies.
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The actor, who played Dr Sullivan in the series, discussed how his sexuality affected his career.
“I was gay on television when it wasn't really cool, you know?” the actor recalled.
“And so, I was doing drag on Emmerdale when it wasn't really cool and I was doing gay-kissing… Daniel Brocklebank and I did a gay kiss and it was a bit too passionate, [we got] hundreds and hundreds of complaints.
"And then I did the first Primetime marriage. So, I'm now in a way paying the price perhaps from being part of that."
"You know, it's quite interesting how I think gay history or LGBTQ plus history is very important, we all know that.
“We're built on the back of all these amazing people that did all this stuff before us."
The actor went onto star in a string of popular TV shows including Midsomer Murders, Citizen Khan and Doctors.
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