Emmerdale star Samantha Giles QUITS soap seven years after returning as Bernice Blackstock
21 September 2019, 15:39
The actor will be leaving the soap to go on to pastures new
Samantha Giles has quit Emmerdale.
The 48-year-old actress has announced she is departing the ITV soap after seven years of playing Bernice Blackstock.
Taking to Twitter, she wrote:
After 7 fabulous years I am shortly to be hanging up Bernice’s aprons and leaving the dales to pursue other creative projects. I will miss all the friends I’ve made on the show, but I’m very excited to be moving on to pastures new.
— Samantha Giles (@sammeegiles) September 20, 2019
It is not yet known how Samantha's character Bernice will leave the soap.
However, she has previously revealed that she would like to have some more "serious storylines" alongside her usual comedic role.
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She said: "I think it could work really well doing some serious storylines, with the 'comedy characters' having something difficult to deal with because it proves that things could happen to anybody.
"But it is nice with us – the show wouldn't work with absolutely everybody in it having a hard time or being miserable. They have to share it out – which is great for us."
The actor first joined Emmerdale as Bernice in 1998, playing a barmaid in The Woolpack, before fleeing the village in 2002 after catching her first husband in bed with another man.
She briefly returned in 2004, before a more permanent return to the Dales in 2012, where she has stayed until now. But she had previously revealed she doesn't think she will stay on Emmerdale forever.
Back in 2016, she said: "I'm really enjoying it at the moment. I don't think I'm the sort of person who can stay in the one role for donkey's years – not that there's anything wrong with that.
"It's just that I get very itchy feet, so I would like to do other work at some point in the future. But I have a young family, and I don't like to be away from them for long periods of time, so it's a nice balance. I realise I'm very lucky. Emmerdale is a lovely place to be."
Her character has been at the centre of several dramatic storylines, including her failed marriage to the closeted Lawrence White, and the tragic death of her ex-husband Ashley Thomas from dementia.
Emmerdale next airs at 7.30pm on Monday 23rd September.
