As the song goes, “There she goes, there she goes again.” Samantha Giles is leaving Emmerdale a fourth time, essentially forcing her character, Bernice, to abandon the village as well.
The lively beautician-turned-B&B-owner is famous for her volatile love life, which has resulted in four marriages, three gay partners, plenty of affairs, and at least two instances of showing up in a wedding dress to stop her crushes from marrying someone else.
Through it all, Bernice has given birth to two daughters — Gabby Thomas with her second husband Ashley, and DeeDee with her third husband Charlie. Although DeeDee lives in Australia with her dad, Bernice leaving again means Gabby will be left without her mom for a third time, which has been a hard pill to swallow for the young woman.
Why Samantha Giles is leaving Emmerdale
Samantha Giles revealed back in October that she was going to exit the soap to pursue more creative avenues. She’s been vocal in the past about needing to be challenged and try different things, which would explain her on-and-off Emmerdale career.
Speaking to Metro, Giles expressed her wishes to “spread [her] wings” and “paint a different picture each day, rather than just the same painting day after day.” Lined up is a role in a production of Cinderella at Bradford’s Alhambra Theater. She had already admitted to missing the stage in her appearance on Loose Women earlier this year, confessing to having never lost “that thing of wanting to go and do other things.”
Giles quit Emmerdale back in 2019 to pursue her passion for writing children’s books, which she now dreams of adapting to TV. She’s also an avid fan of witchcraft and reiki! No wonder playing the same old character every day on the set of Emmerdale fell short of that assortment of interests.
Much like her character, Samantha Giles hasn’t been without her fair share of controversies during her time in the public eye. She was famously in an affair with Emmerdale co-star Peter Amory in 2001, who was married to another villager at the time, Claire King. At one point, the Emmerdale actress was also in a feud with British reality star Gemma Collins, after making a distasteful joke about wanting to punch her. Very Bernice of her.
What will happen to Bernice, and when does her last appearance air?
We will all miss the “campy redhead from the salon” in the village. As much as Bernice was always a catalyst for chaos in Emmerdale, that’s also what made her such a fun character. Her exit will be equally tumultuous as she’s been caught defrauding her sister Nicola, by taking out a £20,000 loan to buy half of the village B&B and failing to repay it. As it turns out, Bernice has also been avoiding supplier bills at her new business.
Out of options to repay her debts, the 54-year-old character, who was first introduced in Emmerdale in 1998, risks being reported to the police by her sister. Her ending will likely be one of two options: she will either end up behind bars or run away from the law. Bernice and Samantha’s final episode airs Tuesday, November 14, on ITV.