Bernice Thomas

Bernice Blackstock (also Thomas and White) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by Samantha Giles. She made her first on screen appearance on 25 November 1998. In September 2012, it was announced Giles had reprised her role and Bernice returned on 20 November 2012 after over eight years away from the programme. In September 2019, Giles announced her departure from the series, with her final scenes airing in November 2019. In April 2021, it was announced that Giles would be returning to the soap, with her return scenes airing on 27 May 2021. However, it was announced on 17 July 2023 that Giles would be leaving the show once again later in the year with her final scenes airing on 14 November 2023. However on 4 June 2025 it was announced that Giles is set to return later this year for a brief stint.

Development

Relationship with Ashley Thomas

Bernice begins a relationship with the local vicar, Ashley Thomas ( John Middleton). Ashley falls in love with Bernice but does not have the courage to tell her. He finds himself in a "right state" when he shares a tent with Bernice during a camping trip. As Middleton told Claire Brand from ''Inside Soap'', Ashley could not handle scenarios involving females and now "he has to spend time with this woman who he clearly adores". While Ashley worries about the arrangement, Bernice remains "ignorant" to his feelings. The actor thought that Bernice had never contemplated a relationship with Ashley. He added that even "Ashley doesn't think Bernice would give him a second look even if he did tell her how he feels." The storyline had gained momentum off-screen as viewers had written to Middleton demanding a relationship between the two characters. While ''Inside Soap'' ran a poll which determined that readers wanted Bernice to leave Gavin Ferris ( Robert Beck) in favour of Ashley. When the bishop learns of their romance he offers Ashley a job in Leeds, but Bernice does not like the idea. Giles told a writer from ''Inside Soap'' that her character is reluctant to leave the village because "for once in her life, she has got some stability and she doesn't want to change that." Ashley tries to persuade Bernice to move by taking her to visit his potential work place; but Bernice is not impressed. Giles explained that Bernice dislikes it and she feels depressed. While she accepts Ashley's beliefs, his relationship with the God creates problems during decision making. The actress added that Bernice "naively thought that if they got engaged – their problems would be solved."

Affair with Carlos Diaz

Bernice later has an affair with Carlos Diaz (Gary Turner). Carlos is engaged to Bernice's half-sister Nicola Blackstock (Nicola Wheeler). However, when Bernice's mother Diane Blackstock (Elizabeth Estensen) discovers their affair, she forces them to end it. Turner told a reporter from ''Inside Soap'' that Bernice and Carlos have tried to end their affair, but they have "fallen madly, passionately in love". The twosome know that "they need" to be together but cannot be truthful due to the fear of hurting their partners. Diane is initially "instrumental" in stopping the affair, but she soon realises they are seeing one another again. Turner explained that Diane wants Bernice and Carlos to see how much hurt their actions will cause. Carlos wants to make Diane realise that his and Bernice's feelings are "more than just a petty affair". Carlos attempts to tell Nicola the truth, but cannot, so he ends his affair with Bernice. Turner said that Bernice cannot believe it and "begs him to reconsider"; as he will not a "devastated" Bernice fires Carlos from The Woolpack. The actor concluded that Carlos should not be deterred by Bernice's actions – "if they try and deny their feelings now, it'll cause more pain for everyone in the long run."

Departure and return

In September 2019, Giles announced her exit from ''Emmerdale''. She stated that after seven "fabulous years", she wanted to leave to pursue other creative projects. Giles said that while she will miss the friends she had made on the soap, she was excited to pursue "pastures new". Giles filmed her final scenes on 16 October 2019, and tweeted that she "shall miss the laughs and asmade some great friends", but "sometimes it's good to leave the party when you're having a good time". Producer Kate Brooks told ''Inside Soap'' that they had written Giles' exit into the soap, which saw her "run a gauntlet of emotions". They wanted her exit to be believable, as they felt that Bernice is an iconic character and had to "make sure that we did her character justice". Her final scenes aired on 28 November 2019 when Bernice emigrates to Australia with daughter Dee Dee (Mia Gibson-Reed).

In June 2020, Giles revealed to ''Inside Soap'' that her exit storyline underwhelmed her and admitted that she wished that her character had been killed off. She felt that if Bernice had been killed off, she would have had received "a better exit story". Despite this, she felt that it was kind of the producers to "leave the door open" for her to return. Giles also told ''OK!'' magazine that producers did not want her to leave, but she wanted to pursue other projects. In April 2021, it was announced that Giles had made the decision to return to ''Emmerdale''. She explained that her break from the soap meant that she could write and publish two books. ''Emmerdale'' producers asked her to return, and since she is "a big believer in fate", Giles "took it as a sign that it was meant to be" and accepted. Giles said that her character "arrives back with a bang" and felt that the audience would be entertained with her return storyline. Due to her return coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, Giles initially wore a wig since the hairdressers were not allowed to be within two metres. She felt that she would be unable to style her hair herself and therefore wore a wig for ease. She eventually stopped wearing it due to bad comments.

Storylines

1998–2004

Bernice arrives in the village and finds work as a barmaid at the Woolpack. Initially, she does not like Tricia Stokes ( Sheree Murphy), but after they discover their partners – Gavin Ferris ( Robert Beck) and Jason Kirk ( James Carlton) – are having an affair, they become good friends. In April 1999, it is revealed that Bernice, originally from down south, came to Leeds by closing her eyes and pointing at a map. The reason - she left her husband Anthony after finding him in bed with another man. Bernice calls off her engagement to Gavin, who was unfaithful with her friend, Stella Jones (Stephanie Schonfield). She then becomes the landlady of The Woolpack thanks to a bequest from the guilt-ridden Stella. Bernice begins a relationship with the local vicar, Ashley. After getting Bishop George's ( Peter Cartwright) blessing, they marry on Christmas Day. Bernice is given away by her mother, Diane, even though her father, Rodney (Patrick Mower), is in attendance.

Bernice falls pregnant but miscarries. In her grief, she lashes out at Ashley and he takes a temporary job away from the village as he feels unable to help her. Bernice, however, feels abandoned and begins an affair with Carlos but this is complicated when Bernice discovers she is pregnant again but doesn't know who the father is. Bernice's half-sister, Nicola, arrives in the village and begins dating Carlos. She is clearly keener on him than he is on her but they later announce that they are getting married and expecting a baby but on her hen night, Nicola admits that she is not pregnant but felt it was the only way to get Carlos to settle down with her. Bernice makes Nicola tell Carlos the truth and in revenge for Nicola's lies, Carlos tells her that he and Bernice are together and he could be the father of her baby. Nicola promptly tells the village about this, devastating Ashley, and he asks her to move out. Bernice, feeling guilty for hurting Ashley, tries to make amends but Ashley is not interested and during another argument, they realise Bernice is in labour, so he takes her to hospital where she has a daughter who she names Gabby (Annelise Manojlovic). Bernice hopes Carlos is Gabby's father but a paternity test reveals she is Ashley's child, leading Ashley and Bernice to reconcile. However, Bernice's doubts about her marriage, in addition to her postnatal depression, cause more problems between the couple. After Gabby's christening, Bernice tells Ashley that she does not love him any more. Finding living in Emmerdale too difficult, Bernice takes a job on a cruiseliner, leaving Gabby with Ashley and the couple get divorced off-screen.

Bernice returns in 2004 to attend Tricia's funeral. Now living in Brighton, she tells her father that she wants Gabby to live with her but when she goes to discuss the idea with Ashley, she sees how close he and Gabby are and realises that it would be unfair to take Gabby away. Bernice returns to Brighton, leaving Ashley and Diane unaware of her intentions. Bernice gets engaged to her partner, Charlie. They get married and she gives birth to another daughter who she names Diane, after her mother.

2012–2023

Bernice returns to the village to see Diane and admits that her marriage to husband Charlie is over. Her ex-husband Ashley asks Bernice what her intentions are towards their daughter Gabby and she states that she wants to spend more time with her. Ashley and his wife Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) tell Bernice that they need to set some ground rules, particularly when Bernice asks Laurel to take a back seat, much to Ashley and Laurel's anger as Laurel has played a much bigger part in Gabby's upbringing than Bernice. Diane and Rodney later learn that Bernice has been having an affair. They confront her and Bernice reveals that she is in love with a man named Steve and she is waiting for him to leave his wife. Bernice's half-sister Nicola takes matters into her own hands and informs Steve's wife about her husband's relationship with Bernice and she throws him out, so he joins Bernice in the village. The only thing that Bernice is now unhappy about is that Charlie is awkward about allowing her access to their daughter so she goes to visit him, hoping to persuade him to be more reasonable. Bernice becomes Acting landlady of The Woolpack working alongside Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) while Diane is away in Brighton. Diane returns weeks later to inform everyone that she is moving to Australia and is selling her share of The Woolpack. Bernice has high hopes of buying Diane's share and becoming landlady again as does Chas. Diane eventually reveals that she has decided to stay and takes The Woolpack off the market dashing Bernice's dreams of owning the pub again.

In October 2013, Bernice, along with many other villagers including Diane and Nicola, are held hostage in the Woolpack by Cameron Murray (Dominic Power). He orders for Bernice to give him the pub's keys, and if she threatens him in any way, he will shoot and kill Diane with a gun he has stolen. Bernice, Diane, Nicola and the others are all eventually released by Cameron, but he keeps Chas and Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb) hostage. In 2014, Bernice is stunned to hear that Diane has slept with Eric Pollard (Chris Chittell), the husband of Diane's sister, Val (Charlie Hardwick