Emmerdale bosses didn't want to see them leave...
Emmerdale said goodbye to Samantha Giles last year, and she recently admitted she wouldn't have minded if her character Bernice Blackstock had ended up in a body bag.
Speaking to OK! Magazine, Samantha said, "Emmerdale very kindly left the door open for me. I wouldn't have minded if they'd killed me off, but they were lovely."
She added, "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."
Bernice left Emmerdale in November, after her daughter Dee Dee received a devastating call from Australia that changed everything.
News that her ex-husband Charlie had been in a serious accident prompted Bernice to call off her engagement to doctor fiancé Liam Cavanagh so she could be there for Dee Dee instead.
Her departure saw her and Dee Dee leaving for Australia, leaving Liam devastated.
Samantha had been part of the Emmerdale family since 1998, and she soon became a fan favourite.
When asked if she had thrown a leaving party, she confirmed that she'd had a dinner with her on-screen family and close friends.
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She admitted, "I’m quite an emotional person so I didn’t want to get upset in front of them or make it a big thing."
Naturally Samantha misses a lot about the soap and, after spending a long time working alongside the Emmerdale cast and crew, she admitted that she missed the makeup artists on set, and also listed a few names.
Among those she missed most, Samantha said, "I miss Nicola Wheeler who plays my on-screen sister, also called Nicola. Laura Norton, who plays Kerry Wyatt, and Liz Estensen who plays my mum."
Now that Samantha has left Emmerdale, she told OK! that she'd like to focus on completely new genres.
She said, "I’d love to do a gritty drama or horror, something completely different to ditzy Bernice. I love Call The Midwife and Peaky Blinders."
Maybe we'll see her in a spooky new series soon?
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7pm on ITV, with an extra episode at 8pm on Thursdays.
