The Yorkshire Vet star Matt Jackson-Smith has revealed he was once held at gunpoint during a terrifying robbery ordeal. The Channel 5 programme, which has been a hit with viewers since it first aired in 2015, follows Peter Wright and his co-star Julian Norton as they tend to animals in need at their practices in North Yorkshire. The show also features supporting veterinary surgeons including Matt Jackson-Smith, David Melleney and Shona Searson.
Teenage robbery at Blockbuster
Matt, 37, joined the show in 2020 and has been a fan favourite ever since. Back in 2024, the vet opened up about the terrifying incident, which saw him held at gunpoint during a robbery when he was a teenager. Working at a Blockbuster store aged 18, Matt was confronted by two masked men who entered the video rental shop. Wanting to gain access to the tills, the robbers pointed a gun in Matt's face to force him to comply.
"It was quite surreal. Two men burst through the door – one in a Green Goblin mask, another in a balaclava – and they put a gun in my face," he recalled. "Everything seemed to slow down. The guy with the gun shoved my female co-workers into the backroom and locked them in. The other one was with me, trying to open the tills."
The masked men ended up fleeing the store when another customer entered and interrupted the robbery. "That really shook me up," Matt added to The Mirror. "I remember shaking afterwards when the police came. It wasn't until I left that I remembered there was a panic button I could have pressed that Blockbuster had told me about when I joined."
Path to The Yorkshire Vet
After graduating from the University of Glasgow – the same place veterinary surgeon Alf Wight studied – in 2014, Matt was inspired to join the cast of The Yorkshire Vet by his grandma. He recalled: "My grandma used to always watch The Yorkshire Vet and often we'd watch it together. It was my grandma who got me into The Yorkshire Vet because I graduated in 2014, which was the year The Yorkshire Vet started.
"I studied at the University of Glasgow, which is the same university that Alf Wight studied at as well. Little things here and there that happened that almost seem too accurate to be coincidence."
Fatherhood challenges
Despite his demanding role as a vet, Matt revealed that parenthood is one of his hardest jobs to date. He and his wife, Katherine Jackson-Smith, welcomed their daughter, Anastasia, in 2023. Reflecting on fatherhood, he said: "It's the hardest thing ever. It's a whole mixture of emotions and I've only just started to properly enjoy it if I'm honest.
"She loses her marbles for no apparent reason, and she's teething but I took her for a walk yesterday, strapped to the front of me, and it was so cute. It has its ups and downs."
