‘I’m nothing like

BERNICE’

EmmerdalestarSamanthaGilestalkstoWoman’s

Weeklyaboutwhatshe’sreallylikeoff-screen

andwhyherfamilywillalwayscomefirst

S

amanthaGilesis

oneofthemost

recognisablefaceson

ITVsoapEmmerdale,

havingplayedthehilarious

BerniceBlackstockonand

offsince1999.

Knownforbeingunlucky

in love,Bernicehasa string

of failedrelationshipsbehind

her,andwas

mostrecently

seenthrowing

a lavishWild

West-themed

party(which

of course

endedin

disaster),allin orderto win

backDrLiamCavanaghand

proposeto him.

ButwhileSamantha,48,

laughsabouthercharacter

alwaysgetting‘carriedaway

withherownideas’,she

insiststhatthiscouldn’tbe

furtherfromthetruthwhen

it comesto herownlife.

WhenWoman’sWeekly

sitsdownto chatto her,she

tellsus,‘I don’treallythink

I’mlikeBerniceat all,though

I’dhaveto askotherpeople.

Thereareobviouslylittlebits

of yourselfthatyoutake,and

I musthavea littlebitof her

• butnotmuch!’

UnlikeBernice,Samantha

herselfis happilymarriedto

productionmanagerSean

Pritchardandtheyhavetwo

childrentogether– Evie,10,

andOlivia,seven.

Intriguingly,Samanthasays

shemethercurrenthusband

aftercastinga lovespell.

‘I usedcandlesandcrystals,

andI wrote

downexactly

whatI was

after.Then

I metSean

andhewas

preciselywhat

I hadwritten,’

sheexplains.‘It’sasif he

appearedbymagic!Youdo

haveto be specific

aboutwhatyou’re

lookingfor,andone

thingI forgotto put

downwasforhim

to beolderthanme.

‘I didputtaller,as

wellasdetailsabout

hispersonality

andmorality.Then

whenI metSean

andwestarted

seeingeachother,

hewastwo-and-a-

halfyearsyounger

thanme.I thought,

“Thisfeelsa bit

weird...”Butit didn’ttake

melongto getoverit!’

WhileSamanthasaysshe’s

notverymuchlikeBernice,

herlovelifehasbeensimilar

to a soapstorylineat times.

Her first marriageto Nick

Mooreendedin 2004after

fouryears,so,withtwo

real-lifeweddingsunderher

belt,wouldSamanthawant

thesameforBernice?

‘Yes!’sheexclaims.‘I think

she’dwanta bigextravagant

weddingthing,dressingup

aswhatever.It wouldbefun.

‘I hopeLiamandBernice

staytogether,she’snever

reallyhadthathappyending,

hasshe?Sowe’llsee...’

10 womansweekly.com

‘Iwrotedown

whatI wasafter

andheappeared

asifbymagic!’

Bernice is trying

to make things

work with Liam

unlucky-in-love