Emmerdale's Samantha Giles has opened up about her exit from the soap...
Emmerdale star Samantha Giles has admitted she would've preferred for her character, Bernice Blackstock, to be killed off the soap when she left.
Samantha left the Yorkshire based show last year prompting the soap's writers to decide Bernice's fate.
In November 2019, Bernice left the Dales to head for Australia, in order to care for her ex-husband, Charlie.
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But Samantha has confessed that she feels as though Bernice's exit storyline was underwhelming and reckons that she would've had more of a chance to shine during her final episodes on the show if the plot had seen her character killed off.
End of an era...
The actress told Inside Soap: "If she had been killed, perhaps I'd have got a better exit story as it was a little disappointing," she said.
"I had quite a lot of people on Twitter saying that they felt a bit cheated by the way Bernice left, but it's done now. You can't please everyone."
Moving on...
Earlier this year, Samantha spilled the details on her decision to leave Emmerdale, admitting she felt "stifled" in the role.
"It felt like the right time to leave. It’s scary because, as actors, regular work is the dream but I want to play other roles.
"You get that creative itch and I was starting to feel a bit stifled and I needed to move on.
"I got a bit frustrated because often when you’re playing a comedy character you’re not going to get big juicy storylines.
"I want to get my teeth into something," the actress told OK! magazine.
"They didn’t want me to leave but I got the urge.
"This departure is my second from the show – the first was after three years, then this stint was from 2012 to 2019. But I’m ready to move on.
"Emmerdale very kindly left the door open for me. I wouldn’t have minded if they’d killed me off but they were lovely."
Emmerdale will temporarily air a reduced schedule of three episodes a week.
Watch on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7pm on ITV.
