By Elizabeth Cotton

Copyright manchestereveningnews

Bernice Blackstock returned to the Emmerdale village two years after her most recent exit as she arrived for Gabby Thomas’ wedding to Vinny Dingle. Played by actress Samantha Giles, Bernice first appeared in Emmerdale back in November 1998. Since her first arrival in the village, Bernice has left a total of three times, with her last exit in 2023. Before her exit, it was revealed that Bernice had taken out a loan in her sister Nicola King’s name which resulted in the bailiffs showing up at her home out of the blue. After discovering it was her sister, Nicola threatened to go to the police. As she feared her sibling would make a criminal complaint, Bernice went into hiding before booking a taxi as her escape much to Nicola and daughter Gabby’s disgust. She had a change of heart after being shamed by Gabby and later tried to explain herself. While Bernice ended up accepting a deal that left Bob Hope with a new business partner, she revealed she was still leaving the village as a result of breaking her family’s trust once again, leaving her dad Rodney devastated. And Bernice was surprised when Bob admitted he would miss having her around, assuring her “life’s too short” to hold onto grudges. “It’s been one hell of a ride,” Bob told her before she headed off to make amends with her mum, Dianne, in Portugal. Two years after her big farewell, her return was met with mixed emotions from the residents, particularly Nicola who had a few choice words for her sister. At the time of her exit, Samantha admitted: “I love the comedy. I wouldn’t have been able to have played the character for so long if it hadn’t been for the light relief. She’s a complete fantasist, which I love about her!’ “I’m sad to be leaving colleagues and I loved getting my hair and make-up done every day, I shall miss that! I am already missing that, just look at my hair!” However, she’s already revealed that her return is not a permanent one, and exclaimed: “I had an email from my agent earlier on in the year asking if I would come back for four or five episodes. “I didn’t know straight away as I didn’t want to take a step backwards, but it is so nice to just pop back.” The actress admitted that she probably wouldn’t have agreed if she was asked to be a permanent fixture in the village again. She added: “If they’d asked me to go back permanently at the moment I would have probably said no because I’m enjoying being back out there and doing other things. “So, it was great, it just fitted quite nicely. I was done and dusted in a flash, I was only there a couple of weeks and it was a lovely opportunity to go and see everybody. “I don’t live in Leeds, where it’s filmed, so often you don’t get to see people. It was fun to revisit what Bernice has been up to and be back in her shoes – because she’s so outrageous.” Emmerdale airs on weekdays at 7:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.