Emmerdale icon breaks silence on quitting ITV soap after 25 years

ok.co.uk:

Emmerdale's Samantha Giles, who played Bernice Blackstock for 25 years, has spoken out about her sudden departure from the popular ITV show.

She first appeared in 1998 and has left three times since her arrival in the Dales in the late nineties. Before her exit, she confessed: "I love the comedy.

I wouldn't have been able to have played the character for so long if it hadn't been for the light relief. She's a complete fantasist, which I love about her." Her departure was confirmed last month when Samantha announced a slight career shift. "I'm sad to be leaving colleagues and I loved getting my hair and make-up done every day, I shall miss that!

I am already missing that, just look at my hair," she shared. "The routine of going to work too; it takes a while to realise you have to create a whole new routine for yourself, it's great in some ways as it's very liberating and creative, but then obviously one does miss not earning regular money too. "But I think it is not good to get too caught up in financial things, of course we all need to earn money, but if you are a creative person you have to feel you can spread your wings too and paint a different picture each day, rather than just the same painting day after day." Samantha says her Emmerdale exit is due to a new job in theatre as she'll be starring in Cinderella at the Bradford Alhambra Theatre.