Real Men Talk
In tonight’s Emmerdale Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) attended a group session away from the fictional village of Emmerdale.
Filming for these scenes took place at Bradford City Football Club Ground in the room where regular Andy’s Man Club meetings are held every Monday.
Within this episode, four men with lived experience of being members of Andy’s Man Club, were featured, playing the roles of fictional attendees of the group. During filming of these scenes, the Emmerdale Digital team went behind the scenes to hear their real life stories.
The resulting video contains the personal stories of these men. Please note this video discusses mental health and suicidal thoughts. Actors Dominic Brunt (Paddy Kirk) and Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) have also contributed to this discussion on the importance of getting men to talk.
The video link with this content is below and can be viewed on YouTube from 20.30 hrs on Thursday 11th May. Ongoing counselling and support has been given by ITV to the men who shared their story so openly. Their hope is this video and content will encourage other men to open up and talk.
Neil Waine from Andy’s Man Club, who was featured in the episode, reveals why he took part in this filming: “Filming with Emmerdale in an actual Andy’s Man Club with Andy’s Man Club lads alongside professional actors was amazing. When Laura the Producer first asked me about doing this episode I jumped at the opportunity to let men see a bit of how Andy’s Man Club runs and this will hopefully help us challenge the stigmas around men talking. “