Sheree Murphy regrets not fighting to stay on 'Emmerdale'.
Sheree Murphy
The 45-year-old actress portrayed Tricia Dingle on the ITV soap from 1998 to 2004 when she was killed off after the star told the show's bosses she wanted to leave, but in hindsight Sheree thinks she should've just asked to take "a bit of time out" from the programme.
She said: "I remember Steve Frost the producer, who's now Steve November, when I told him I wanted to leave, what I really should have said was that I just wanted to spend a bit of time out. My head was all over the place.
"He said, 'Oh great, we've got a really good storyline actually. We're going to kill about four people off. We're going to give it to you now!'
"I was like, 'Oh, OK!' It was a bit of a shock.
"Now when I look at it, I think maybe I should have fought and said, 'No, I will come back, I just need some time out.'
"But then I look at all the other things I've done since I've left 'Emmerdale' and things happen for a reason, don't they?
"I think I was just sad because I loved playing Tricia so much. I love it when any old character comes back to a soap, so it would have been nice to do that."
Tricia was killed when a devastating storm hit the Emmerdale village, resulting in a bolt of lightning striking the Woolpack pub, sending a window crashing down on her.
And Sheree admitted it was an "amazing and exciting" way to go out of the show, as well as being "sad".
She added: "It was very dramatic. It was very exciting.
"We had massive wind machines and rain machines on set, and we had an air ambulance. Honestly, it was amazing and exciting, but quite a sad time as well."
Sheree - who is married to pro footballer-turned-manager Harry Kewell - was asked to remain on the soap for another year, but she was "in the wrong headspace" at the time.
Speaking on the 'Soap from the Box' podcast, she added: "I decided to leave, but it was under circumstances where my dad had just died, I'd just had a baby, so I had two little ones under the age of two.
"My husband was moving football clubs and they asked me to stay for another year. I just wanted to spend some more time with my mum in London, so I was in the wrong headspace."
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