While Emmerdale legend Bernice Blackstock is about to reappear, as if by magic, it turns out actress Samantha Giles is just as adept with spellcasting behind the scenes.
Samantha is an adept practitioner of white witchcraft, also known as Wicca, which is a modern form of paganism. She’s previously opened up about calling on the supernatural to find her husband, Sean Pritchard, and recently revealed that she turned to magic to snag a part in a film.
‘I definitely manifested the film job last December, because leading up to it I felt very positive. Without knowing what it was, I just knew something was coming,’ she said.
‘I asked for something challenging and it was very challenging,’ she continued.
Samantha’s not selfish with her spells, though, and spreads the magic far and wide via her website, selling pre-packaged spell kits to customers across the world.
‘People have had fantastic results. The ‘change your luck’ charm has been very good to people going through IVF. I’ve heard some lovely stories,’ she enthused of the venture.
‘You have to totally, totally believe it’s going to happen. If there’s any shred of doubt, you’re putting a block towards what you want to achieve’, Samantha advised.
Speaking of her own practice, Samantha revealed her own routines that enhance her magic. ‘I like to have a daily walk, because I think it’s very important to get back in touch with nature, to feel that you are in tune with natural cycles. I think it brings you home to yourself.’
Samantha detailed the Wiccan celebratory time, Samhain, which takes place on Halloween and her fondness for the upcoming Autumnal season.
‘I really love autumn, it’s a special time of change and transformation. The veil is very thin on Samhain between this world and the next, so if you feel like you need a message from relatives that have passed away, that’s the day.
‘I will maybe have a chat to anybody who has passed on that I felt particularly close to. We lost a very close friend a couple of years ago. I do talk to her and, in return, I can feel her presence and imagine what she would say to me.’
Bernice is due to materialise just in time for daughter Gabby Thomas’ (Rosie Bentham) seemingly doomed marriage to Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson).
While Vinny is suffocating under the weight of guilt, confusion over his sexuality after attempting to kiss best friend Kammy Hadiq (Shebz Miah) and being attacked and extorted after trying to find support from a man he met on an LGBTQ+ forum, it seems that Gabby has also been hiding a secret.
Bernice’s first job upon returning is to attempt to get Gabby to call off the wedding, remind her of a secret that could potentially ruin everything.
‘I think Gabby’s a little bit like her mother, who hasn’t got a great track record when it comes to men,’ Samantha said of her on-screen daughters impending nuptials, referencing Bernice’s disastrous romances.
She arrived in Emmerdale after leaving her husband Anthony, having found him in bed with another man. She cheated on her next husband, Ashley Thomas (John Middleton), had an off-screen marriage end and, upon her return, had a disastrous marriage to secretly gay Lawrence White (John Bowe).
Appearing on-and-off since 1998, Samantha spoke on her most recent return recently.
‘It was lovely to go back and revisit the character and see everyone. It was really good fun. When you’re out there in the world, you realise it’s so hard getting regular work as an actor. There is so much competition. I feel very lucky that I was invited back.’
While away from the Dales, Samantha has kept busy, playing Auntie Val in the CBeebies show Football Fantastics, which is available on BBC iPlayer. Speaking of the role, she said: ‘That’s such a different character. She’s a bit of a hippy.’
She’ll also be in The Secret Santa Project, a Christmas film that has been adapted from the bestselling Tracy Bloom novel. ‘It’s kind of a cross between Love Actually and Elf,’ she says of the project.
While taking on new roles, Samantha has also turned her hand to writing. The third and final instalment of a trilogy, which includes Rosemary and the Witches of Pendle Hill, and Rosemary and the Book of the Dead will be available soon, while she’s also been crafting a historical fiction over the past year.
