Emmerdale star Samantha Giles is made of strong stuff. Last summer, the soap star legend was devastated when her beloved mum suffered a severe stroke.

What made it even tougher was that it happened just hours before she was due to go on stage. The actress had just arrived in Shrewsbury

 

 

and was gearing up for a matinee of comedy play The Syndicate alongside Corrie star Brooke Vincent — the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Samantha told the Daily Star Sunday: “I was half way through the tour when I got a call to say my mum had suffered a stroke. It was a brain haemorrhage and most people die when they have that.

 

 

“I found out on a Wednesday morning and we had two shows that day,” she added. Amazingly, Samantha, who has been famed for playing feisty Bernice Blackstock on Emmerdale since the 90s, found the strength to go on stage.

While many people would crumble after getting such tough news, she soldiered on because she didn’t want to let down her fans. She said: “If you are doing a TV show and something disastrous happens in your family, you can reschedule things but you can’t do that with a stage show.

“People had bought tickets and everything. There were understudies, of course, but you don’t want to let people down.

“I decided to do the show. It was very difficult to navigate going on stage.

“While I was out there, I didn’t know what was going on and how my mum was. I didn’t know if she was going to pull through. It was very challenging.”

Looking back now, Samantha is amazed she was so brave. She added: “It was such a tough time. I don’t know how I did it… I don’t know how I managed it.

“Later that day, I knew the worst bit was over and they didn’t need to operate. My dad was great and said, ‘Everything is under control’.”

Samantha went on to finish the tour despite everything that was happening — health issues and all. She said: “I felt like I couldn’t walk away from the show; I had to see it through.

“I went to be with mum in Kent every weekend on my days off. But of course, that was very hard on my family.

“I was away in the week doing the show and then going to Kent to see my mum at the weekend,” she added. Now, more than a year on, her mum is recovering.

Samantha now treasures every moment they have together. She said: “Mum has done really well because 80% of people who have that kind of stroke die.

“It’s amazing she is still here; it could have been very different. She is doing OK; cognitively she is quite challenged. She finds it difficult with dates and days.

“It’s been a slow recovery process and she’s got a long way to go. It’s frustrating for her at times. She knows she’s not the person that she was. But it’s amazing she is still here.”

Despite everything she went through, Samantha is keen to get back on stage in the future. She said: “I’d love to do more theatre. Hopefully something will come up that is good. It’s great being on stage.

“It’s so different to being on TV. It’s amazing to think it’s even the same job.”