Samantha Giles is penning a sequel to her debut novel – and she feels "really lucky" to be working on the book while she waits for acting work to "pick up again".
The former ‘Emmerdale’ star’s book ‘Rosemary and the Witches of Pendle Hill’ will be released on Thursday (06.08.20), and the 49-year-old actress is already working on a follow-up as roles have dried up lately due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She said: "I started writing it in the autumn of 2017, and it took me about nine months.
"I was writing it while I was doing ‘Emmerdale’.
"I felt it was the right time to leave ‘Emmerdale’. I still want to act, but unfortunately there’s not a lot of work right now acting-wise.
"So I’m really, really lucky that this is finally being published.
"I’m writing a sequel at the moment.
"So at least I can do something creative while waiting for acting work to pick up again."
Samantha is already hoping her book – which tells the story of Rosemary and her sister Lois, who live with their mum, dad and four witches, who their father cannot see – will be turned into a film one day after writing herself a part.
She said: "It would be lovely if it got made into a film. I have always visualised that when I was writing it, because the characters are very larger than life.
"I see them very clearly in my mind’s eye. I was writing them like I was writing a film.
"It would be great, because I’ve written myself a part."
The ex-Dales star – who played Bernice Blackstock on the ITV soap on and off from 1998 to 2019 – based the characters of Rosemary and Lois on her two children, Eve and Olivia, and the youngsters gave her some feedback about her story.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’, she added: "My eldest daughter was nine when I was writing it, so I used to give her chapter by chapter and say, ‘Tell me what you think. Be very honest, you don’t have to worry about hurting mummy’s feelings.’
"And she did enjoy it, and she was very honest. We read it to my younger daughter last year and she enjoyed it.
"I think they like the fact it’s them in the book."