List of Emmerdale characters (2023)

Marshall Hamston, played by Max Fletcher, first appeared on 5 January 2023. He was introduced as a classmate of Arthur Thomas (Alfie Clarke), who has a crush on Marshall. In a "cruel bet" arranged by Marshall's friends, he pretends to like Arthur back, but when Arthur learns the truth, he is left devastated. Arthur's friend, April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan), punches Marshall in the face and Arthur's mother, Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy), tries to stop them from contacting each other again. Weeks later, Marshall confesses to Arthur that he does like him romantically, but as the pair lean in for a kiss, they are interrupted by a phonecall from Marshall's father and he runs away. This formed the start of a "hard-hitting storyline" that sees Marshall's father, Colin Hamston (Mark Noble) become abusive as a result of his homophobic views. After Colin tries to force Marshall to go to boarding school and isolates him from everybody, Laurel forces her way into their home and takes Marshall to live with her.

''Leeds Live'' wrote that viewers had "taken to" Marshall and were rooting for him and Arthur to become a couple. Eventually, they become a couple. On 11 July 2023, it was announced that Marshall would be leaving the serial at the end of his storyline with Arthur, making his final appearance on 20 July 2023. The exit was described as "sudden" by ''Radio Times''. His departure was criticised by the ''Metro'', with journalist Stephen Patterson finding it disappointing that ''Emmerdale'' were showing an inability to keep their LGBTQ+ couples together. Patterson noted how Marshall had become a "fan favourite" in his time on the soap and opined that he had been involved in one of ''Emmerdale''s best storylines during his tenure. Provided by Wikipedia