Amelia Spencer (Daisy Campbell) says goodbye to Emmerdale in tonight’s episode, putting a tumultuous few months behind her to start a new life away from the village.
Recently we’ve seen Amelia alienating a lot of people in the village by siding with horrible Tom King (James Chase) as he rejected Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper)’s accusations that he’d abused her.
Of course Amelia was herself a victim of Tom’s manipulative behaviour and she eventually realised that he’d been using her to get at Belle – and she apologised to Belle if she’d made things worse for her by supporting Tom.
After a busy few months, leaving has been a huge wrench for actress Daisy, who has been in the show since she was a child.
‘It’s really upsetting, because it’s all I’ve ever known,’ she admitted. ‘I’m not only grieving for myself, it’s a character that I’ve always played, this is my first ever job from being seven, so it felt really sad.’
Despite this, Daisy liked the way her character’s exit was written, as Amelia leaves the village to live with her biological father, Daz Spencer, with Mark Jordon reprising his role for one episode.
‘It was lovely to see him again, so that was really emotional,’ Daisy said. ‘It’s a nice ending. It is really lovely. I feel like my character’s never done anything for herself, it’s always for other people. So, I think this is the one thing that she thinks, “You know what? I need this.”’
Daisy revealed that her passion for acting has grown over the years she’s been on Emmerdale, citing highlights such as the live episode and the 50th anniversary episode where Amelia gave birth to her daughter Esther in the middle of a raging storm.
‘From being here as a kid you don’t really take it seriously, I just fell into this. But then I think when I turned 13, I was like, “No, this is something I really want to do,”’ she explained.
‘Since I found out I was leaving, my determination for acting is just so much more now, there’s so much I want to do, and I think it’s a perfect age to leave. I’ve got no responsibility, so I can do what I want. I’m really excited to just see what comes my way, see what opportunities arise.
‘I just need a challenge. I want to see what I’m like on another set. I don’t know what that’s like, because this is all I’ve ever known. So, it’ll be the year next year to really push myself, which I’m really looking forward to.’
Out of all of the co-stars that Daisy has worked with during her time at Emmerdale there’s one person in particular she looks up to and whose footsteps she would like to follow, and that’s the legendary Claire King, who plays Kim Tate.
‘She’s the most humble person ever,’ Daisy enthused. ‘She’s so down to earth, which I’m all about.’
Claire first appeared as Kim Tate in 1989, leaving the show after 10 years to take on other roles and returning again in 2018. During her time away she appeared in over 100 episodes of Coronation Street as Erica Holroyd, as well as numerous other roles in shows such as Bad Girls, Hollyoaks and Casualty.
‘She just came back and didn’t mention to anyone what she’d done in between, and she just gets on with the job,’ Daisy continued. ‘I just think she’s such an icon, part of the show. And that’s what Emmerdale is about.’
Daisy believes that actors of Claire’s calibre demonstrate that soaps, which are sometimes looked down upon, are high quality dramas with skilled people working at the top of their game.
‘I think us soap actors get really looked down on sometimes, and in this career,’ she pointed out. ‘I don’t know why, because we do so much. We do around 10 scenes a day, which is crazy, and this is the best place to get your experience up.
‘I just really appreciate Claire’s career and what she’s done from coming from soap, and I’m going to take that away with me. I always look up to her, I think she’s really strong. And I think even though I haven’t worked with her in ages, I love the way she did her career going on to dramas and stuff.’
