Samantha Giles fears there will be less acting opportunities for her once she turns 50.
Samantha Giles
The 'Emmerdale' actress reaches the landmark age on July 2 and she admits it's a "scary" number for her, and actresses in general, because there are not an abundance of roles for older women on TV.
In an interview with My Weekly magazine, she said: "I'm not thrilled about turning 50. It's scary; for actresses there is much less work."
Samantha - who is married to husband Sean, with whom she shares two children, Eve, 12, and eight-year-old Olivia - has got something surprising planned to mark the momentous date.
The television star intends to climb Mount Snowdown, the highest mountain in Wales, to acknowledge turning 50, and she is excited for the challenge.
She said: "I've done it before, but not for 20 years and I wanted to do something that is memorable."
Samantha made her return to 'Emmerdale' as Bernice Blackstock in June after leaving the ITV soap in 2019 to pursue other projects including more stage roles, but her theatre plans were curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The actress - who has played Bernice on and off from 1998 - was honoured that the show's bosses to ask her to come back to the village once again and knew she had to say yes.
She said: "It's lovely to be asked back. One reason I left was to do some theatre, but at the moment we're in this really peculiar situation with the pandemic. I did some streamed theatre, but that's not the same as doing it live in front of a live audience.
"When 'Emmerdale' approached me, I thought I couldn't turn it down."