Samantha Giles has delighted fans of Emmerdale for more than 20 years as Bernice Blackstock, but things could have been very different as the actress had initially auditioned for another part as Tricia Dingle.
The role for the now-deceased Tricia went to Sheree Murphy, but there were no hard feelings on Samantha’s part.
She says: “I remember sitting next to Sheree in the audition reception, chatting away. She got the part and was absolutely brilliant and right for it. But I was very lucky that the producers came up with another part and offered me Bernice.”
Two months after Sheree made her first on-screen appearance, in September 1998, Samantha joined the friend she had made at that audition on Emmerdale.
Now, 51-year-old Samantha, who grew up watching the soap with her grandparents, is looking forward to being a part of the show’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
Samantha has had just two breaks from Emmerdale, in 2004 and 2019, when she took time out to focus on writing projects.
Emmerdale fans were delighted when she returned as Bernice in May last year, and since then she has been the focus of popular storylines, such as the love triangle with a former flame.
She has also supported her half-sister Nicola King, played by Nicola Wheeler, with her mental health struggles after she was beaten by a gang of teenagers.
Talking about the 50th anniversary, Samantha says: “We are very busy at the moment with filming it all.
“It’s really exciting. Emmerdale has lasted so long because we have fantastic scenery. People just love looking at the village and it’s breathtaking. I’ve been going to the set for so many years and I still stop and think, ‘This is beautiful’.”
Away from Emmerdale, Samantha is a white witch. She got interested in Wicca, a pagan religion, after her mum taught her how to read palms as a youngster.
Samantha started creating spells for her family and friends, and now sells them on her website. They include incantations for finding a new job, beating exam stress and mending a broken heart.
One of her happy clients is This Morning soap expert Sharon Marshall, who had six failed rounds of IVF, but became a mum to daughter Betsey in 2018 after trying out one of Samantha’s spells.
Samantha says: “Sharon asked me for a change of luck charm. It can be hard when you’re going through something like IVF and doctors are telling you to just relax and try not to think about it.
“Sometimes you just need to have that belief that it will happen and maybe it was coincidence, but it worked for her.”
In Emmerdale, Bernice had no need of spells when she got pregnant, giving birth on Christmas Day, 2001. Viewers were hooked as baby Gabby was either by Bernice’s husband Ashley, (John Middleton) or her lover Carlos (Gary Turner). A paternity test later showed vicar Ashley was the dad.
Samantha says that since lockdown, more people have become interested in witchcraft and visited her site.
She says: “Because life is so hard at the moment, financially and mentally, for everybody, people are turning to alternative therapies, and my spell kits are one of those things. They are more like self-help.
“It’s all about belief, if you believe something will happen you can manifest it by bringing your belief and putting it out there, and letting it go into the universe. I believe in being positive in everything I do and passing those thoughts to others.”
She is now hoping to work her magic to raise £100,000 for a hospice in Lancashire.
She is helping Pendleside Hospice in their attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as witches at an event taking place on Saturday.
At their Pendleside Witch Festival, the hospice hopes to gather a minimum of 2,022 spellcasters, breaking the record of 1,607 held by the residents of the town of Sort in Catalonia, Spain. The hospice contacted Samantha earlier this year as her first children’s book Rosemary and the Witches of Pendle Hill is set in the area.
She says: “I immediately wanted to get involved. I went and visited earlier this year, and saw they do the most amazing work. I’m positive that we can beat the World Record and raise some much-needed funds.”
People interested in taking part in the record attempt can sign up online, and ask loved ones to sponsor them.
They will be given a witch’s hat to wear for the count at 3pm on Saturday at Barrowford Park, Pendle. The 10 Pendle “witches” were hanged in 1612 after they were charged with killing people using sorcery.
Samantha says: “They were midwives or women who used herbal and natural remedies. They became scapegoats, accused of casting spells on individuals and blamed for everything that went wrong, from landowners’ crops failing to people dying in unusual circumstances.”
Samantha is now working on the third book in her Rosemary trilogy with husband Sean Pritchard. She says the book will be based on her two daughters Eve, 14, and Olivia, 10.
She says: “I think I still have a childish sense of adventure and excitement.”
- Emmerdale, weekdays, 7.30pm, ITV. For more on the Witch Festival, visit pendleside.org.uk/pendleside-witch-festival
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