EastEnders icon Samantha Womack has revealed that fans frequently approach her with warnings about her Emmerdale boyfriend, Oliver Farnworth, who’s currently terrorising viewers as a serial killer on the ITV drama.
The 52-year-old actress, beloved for playing Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders, saw her character meet a devastating fate alongside sister Roxy in a heart-wrenching swimming pool tragedy during Ronnie’s wedding to Jack Branning on New Year’s Day 2017.
Meanwhile, her partner Oliver is currently at the centre of a spine-tingling storyline in Emmerdale, portraying the murderous John Sugden.
The former Ronnie actress has now revealed how she’s constantly “cautioned” about her boyfriend’s dark on-screen character, giving fans a peek behind the curtain of their relationship.
Chatting to The Sun, she revealed: “I do get warned about him. But Oli is actually so strict about confidentiality,” reports The Mirror.
“So he comes back every few days, and he won’t tell me what’s happening with anything.
“He’s like ‘I just can’t let you know,’ and I’ll say ‘come on, I’m not going to tell anybody.'”
Samantha continued: “But I really think this is one of his favourite jobs to date. I visited the set and it’s beautiful.
“They have rolling hills and cute cottages. It’s very different to EastEnders.
“And what is funny is he gets a lot of attention when he goes up north, but when we go down south everyone knows me from EastEnders so it changes where we go.”
The pair, who ignited their romance in 2019 whilst appearing together in The Girl On The Train on London’s West End stage, are now reportedly enjoying a blissful life in Spain.
Samantha recently spoke candidly about her EastEnders departure, disclosing that the decision wasn’t hers and describing feelings of “rejection” from the then-boss, Sean O’Connor.
In an interview with The Mail, she admitted her bewilderment over the circumstances, comparing her exit to losing “a family”.
The soap actress revealed: “It was really hard for us because it wasn’t in our hands.
“We didn’t make the decision to go. I don’t really understand what happened, one producer was leaving and another was coming in, I don’t know what went on.”
She added: “At the time it felt like bereavement, it felt like losing a family member. It was like losing family and losing stability.
“But the thing that was the most painful – and it really was painful – was that me and Rita loved feeling like we belonged there.”