Emmerdale withdraws from BAFTAs after scriptwriter's conviction

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/emm...er-conviction/


Emmerdale has withdrawn its entry for the Best Soap award at this year's BAFTA TV awards after writer Martin Fustes was convicted of domestic abuse.

Fustes admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and intentional suffocation at Hull Crown Court earlier this week.

He was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, 150 hours' unpaid work, 15 days' rehabilitation and a 26-session probation service domestic abuse programme.

The writer was also ordered to pay ?2,000 compensation and ?150 costs and was given a ten-year restraining order.

In a statement to The Mirror, a spokesperson for the soap said: "ITV and Emmerdale have taken the decision to withdraw the episode nominations from this year's BAFTA TV Awards.

"This is in consideration of developments in recent days involving a member of the scriptwriting team."

Fustes has been working as a writer for Emmerdale since 2014 and had written over 170 episodes of the soap, with his most recent episode airing in February.

In December he wrote the episode which featured the trial of Tom King, who had been subjecting his wife Belle to physical and emotional abuse and coercive control.

Earlier this week an Emmerdale spokesperson confirmed to Digital Spy that Fustes is no longer working on the soap, saying: "We were shocked and appalled to learn about the recent court case involving Emmerdale writer, Martin Fustes. Mr Fustes is a freelance writer and he has been informed that he will no longer be writing for Emmerdale.

"Everyone at ITV and Emmerdale abhors domestic abuse, which is why we have been highlighting the issue in a major storyline over the last 12 months. The Emmerdale production team were not aware of these charges against Mr Fustes until we were alerted over the weekend."


I think it is unfair to the actors and the other writers and production team to lose out on what quite likely would have been a win for Emmerdale. And the sentencing is pathetic considereing what his partner endured for a decade....

Leeds Live reports that writer Martin Fustes made violent threats toward his partner and behaved in an "angry and aggressive way".

Hull Live further reports that the court heard the woman was afraid that she was "going to die" during one particular late-night incident in which Fustes began suffocating her..