Quarter of Emmerdale extras out

The news was broken to the extras in a letter from bosses

About a quarter of extras on soap Emmerdale have been dropped by bosses who have told them fewer faces will make village scenes more realistic.

The news that their services would no longer be required was broken in a letter to 31 of the ITV1 serial's 113 regular extra actors.

Acting union Equity said it was seeking "urgent talks" with producers.

ITV said it was "in the nature of production that there is a creative review from time to time".

'No warning'

One of the extras, who did not wish to be named, told The Stage magazine she had appeared in Emmerdale for 15 years.

She said there had been no advance warning.

"We got the letter and that was it - we're not going to get any more work," she said.

"It's the shock of the way it has been done - so many people in one fell swoop and without any thought to what it means to people.

"For some, it is quite a lot of money to lose."

She said it was "a double blow" at a time "when everyone is feeling the pinch".

Extras agency

The BBC understands that the 31 extras have been told there may still be work for them if they join up with an extras agency.

For any walk-on artist who's been working on Emmerdale for some years, it will be a major blow if they were no longer able to work for Emmerdale Martin Brown Equity

But an ITV spokeswoman said she could not confirm that the extras who had been written to were hired directly by ITV, while those hired through an agent had survived.

Equity spokesman Martin Brown told the BBC News website: "For any walk-on artist who's been working on Emmerdale for some years, it will be a major blow if they were no longer able to work for Emmerdale."

He stressed that ITV Productions had not breached agreements with Equity or with individual extras "by changing their administration in this way".

"But we are concerned that walk-ons who've been recruited direct in the future have to go through an agency and therefore their earning will be less because they'll have to pay an agency commission," he added.

"We want Emmerdale to give thought to that."

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