“It feels like Emmerdale six or seven years ago, for me.”
Emmerdale star Rosie Bentham has spoken about her character Gabby Thomas returning to her roots.
Gabby recently moved out of Home Farm as part of baby Evan’s leukaemia storyline, recognising the importance of limiting his social contact to protect him from germs.
This has meant that Gabby is living with her former stepmum Laurel at Mulberry Cottage, which has recently seen its own departures as Jai and Archie moved out.
Addressing the on-screen changes, Rosie commented: “I’m not sure about Gabby going back to Home Farm – I’m genuinely not sure where that’s going.
“I think Home Farm will always be quite serious for Gabby. It will be her business side, and she’ll always want to be involved in that and everything that goes on at The Hide.
“Kim is still very much Gabby’s mentor and leads her on the right path. I love working at Home Farm. I love the set, it’s really big.
“But I’m getting to work with Charlotte [Bellamy, who plays Laurel] again a lot more, and it’s really nice. It’s different, it feels very different, but it’s really nice.
“I do love the ruthless side of Gabby and bringing out the ‘Kim’ bad side. I love playing bad. I think it’s really fun. But it’s nice that she’s got that contrast.
“It feels like Emmerdale six or seven years ago, for me – back at Mulberry Cottage with Laurel. I love that but I would still like to have the ruthless bossiness. But she’s still a manager and owner at The Hide, so she still has that as well.”
Next week’s episodes also see developments in Gabby’s love life, as she grows closer to Vinny Dingle.
As the young couple share a kiss next week, Vinny tells Gabby that he’s ready to take the next step in their relationship.
Rosie continued: “I think it’s good. It’s a bit of a different pairing for Gabby. She’s normally going for a bad boy. They’re like polar opposites, but I think it could work.
“I think Vinny might soften Gabby a little bit, bring her back down to her roots of Ashley and Laurel and those homely vibes.
“At one point, Gabby says to Vinny: ‘Look, I’m enjoying this, let’s just keep it fun and lighthearted’. That’s kind of bizarre territory for Vinny. Obviously, he married Liv and had all that commitment.
“I don’t know whether Gabby’s avoiding commitment because she’s possibly a bit worried if it would go well or not. She says to Vinny, ‘Let’s keep it fun and see what happens’.
“I think people watching it will laugh at a lot of it. They might see that it’s a car crash waiting to happen – two polar opposites and she’s going, ‘Yeah let’s keep it fun!’ So we’ll see, but it has been really, really nice to play.”
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
