Emmerdale’s Samantha Giles life – Witchcraft love and co-star funeral truce

Soap star Samantha Giles has been a part of the ITV drama since the late nineties, playing barmaid Bernice Blackstock

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Emmerdale’s Samantha Giles reflects on Bernice wig disaster

Samantha Giles found fame playing Bernice Blackstock in ITV’s Emmerdale.

The actress returned to the soap last year after a hiatus as she celebrated her 50th birthday, and has had a long and illustrious acting career in the UK’s biggest soaps since the 90s.

But the star’s off-screen life is just as interesting as her character’s.

Samantha identifies as a Wiccan – a follower of a modern pagan religion – and even met current partner Sean Pritchard after casting a spell.

Speaking to OK! last year, she said: “I met him three months after the spell.

“It’s about things being aligned. Sometimes people say to me, ‘I put this thought out there and it didn’t work!’ But sometimes things aren’t in the right place so you have to let them go until it’s time.”

In an appearance on Lorraine Kelly’s ITV talk show, Samantha revealed she uses candles and crystals to facilitate her magical spells.

“I wrote down exactly what I was after. Then I met Sean and he was exactly what I had written. It’s as if he appeared by magic,” she said.

“A lot of people think all that stuff is nonsense – my husband thinks it’s all nonsense – so I’m kind of used to people thinking it’s a bit strange,” she told OK!

“But I think it’s just whatever works for you.

“It’s not like I’m running around with a pair of pants on my head or anything. I’m quite boring really. Most people are interested in finding out about it, especially if they have a very positive outlook on life.

“Sean will sometimes laugh if I say something he thinks is a bit daft, but he totally accepts me. He won’t let me do reiki (hands-on healing) on him because he doesn’t believe in it, which I think is sad as I think if he opened his mind a bit he’d really benefit from it. But he certainly isn’t obstructive in any way.”

The star is also a skilled writer, having written two children’s novels inspired by her love of magic – Rosemary and the Witches of Pendle Hill and, more recently, Rosemary and the Book of the Dead.

But although she credits her spell with bringing her partner to her, Samantha hasn’t always had an easy time in the romance department.

The celebrated actress was embroiled in an alleged co-star love triangle that involved co-star Claire King.

Claire claimed Samantha had had an affair with her then-husband Peter Amory, who played Chris Tate on Emmerdale, whilst she was working away in London.

Claire and Peter called it quits in 2004 following the scandal.

“I had a feeling that something was going on,” Claire said in 2005.

“I was working in London and we were spending less and less time together.

I was traveling back to Yorkshire every weekend. I remember Pete saying that I only came back to see my dogs and horses… and I thought: ‘Well, yeah, and to catch you at it!'”

Claire claimed her suspicions were confirmed when Samantha’s then-partner and first husband, Nick Moore, wrote her a letter making the same claim that their spouses were cheating with each other.

However, Claire maintains that her separation from Peter “wasn’t anything to do with” Samantha.

Claire claimed Samantha apologised for her part in the alleged relationship, even leading the actresses to become friends.

The Kim Tate actress said: “I met Sam at a funeral of a close friend of ours, and she said ‘Look I’m really sorry’. After all these years it’s water under the bridge.

“But we are friends.”