Amy Walsh had to go back to waitressing and handing out plasters after her initial ‘Emmerdale’ stint.
The 32-year-old star first appeared in the ITV soap as Sam Dingle’s (James Hooton) love interest Tracy Shankley in July 2014, but she soon departed the Dales and the actress had to return to promotional work.
She said: "After my first two months in ‘Emmerdale’ I went back to waitressing and I did a lot of promotional work.
"I vividly remember getting tweets when my first ‘Emmerdale’ scenes were screened.
"I’d already left and I was stood at Liverpool Street station handing out Compeed plasters.
"I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, people are tweeting me about ‘Emmerdale’ and I’m back to this.’
"But I’ve always been a grafter and you just have to get on with it."
Fortunately for Amy, she returned to ‘Emmerdale’ in 2015 and has remained in the village ever since.
However, she nearly had to pack her bags again when Tracy was involved in last night’s (01.08.19) factory fire.
The character was trapped in the Sharmas’ factory when a blaze broke out.
She was rescued by her dad Frank Clayton (Michael Praed), but he sadly died following a horrific explosion.
While Amy has shot some hard-hitting scenes over the years, she tries to "switch off" from Tracy’s emotions by putting on some "happy music".
She added to the Metro newspaper: "On the way home from work I’ll put on some happy music or watch something like ‘Love Island’ when I get in – something you can just switch off to and not think about.
"But it is tricky. For the first time I can see why some actors get depressed, because it takes over your body! Your body doesn’t know this isn’t real.
"So after that day with the fire, all of us were like, ‘I need a gin!’ just to steady our nerves."
Amy Walsh went back to waitressing after Emmerdale
