“I’m glad they killed off Katie Sugden!”
Former Emmerdale star Sammy Winward tells us why killer Robert Sugden did her a favour…
Robert Sugden is facing a life sentence for almost killing sister Victoria’s rapist, Lee. It may seem too harsh a punishment for the overprotective brother, till you consider that Robert is no stranger to taking lives. Back in early 2015, Robert’s affair with now-husband Aaron was about to be exposed by his ex-love and sister-in-law Katie, so Robert found a way to silence her – once and for all! Now, four years on, Sammy Winward – who played Katie – laughs as we reveal that her former alter ego’s killer is about to go down.
“There’s some justice in this world!” giggles the star. “Now I can seek comfort in Robert being behind bars! There must be about 10 murderers in Emmerdale right now! It wouldn’t happen in real life, but it’s much more exciting if they are still in the village.”
Sammy hasn’t had a lot of time to hold a grudge, though, as she’s busy preparing to star in her first ever panto. She’ll be playing Cinderella at Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre, alongside Benidorm’s Crissy Rock and ex-brookside star Sarah White (aka Bev Mcloughlin) as her ugly sisters.
“I’ve been asked many times to do panto, but I’ve always felt too nervous,” admits Sammy. “But my daughter Mia is desperate for me to do it. She said, ‘OMG, Mum, it’d be sick. I can bring all my friends along’. So, I thought, ‘Yes, why not?’ Playing Cinderella is pretty cool – I’m excited about my ballgown!” Sammy’s daughter is following in her mum’s footsteps where acting is concerned, which is handy as her mum runs acting workshops. The former Dales star has been producing her ‘Masterclass in TV acting’ for several years now. “I work with children aged from five to 18, and I come away from every session going, ‘Oh wow, that child was amazing and will do something big’,” says Sammy. “It’s an honour to work with these kids – they are much better than I was at their age. Mia is really good at acting, but I’m making her concentrate on her school work right now, so that she has something else as well as acting. She really enjoys performing, though.”
Sammy started working as an actor when she was just a youngster – and her teen romance with Andy Sugden in
Emmerdale was a huge plot. But it was Katie’s affair with Andy’s bad boy brother Robert that remains a soap classic.
“The love triangle was my favourite storyline – filming the wedding and the affair was really tense,” she tells us. “When they told me, at the end of my time at Emmerdale, that Katie would be killed off, it made sense. When I said to them that I wanted to leave, Katie and Andy were properly back together after all of that drama – and I don’t think she would have left him, unless she died.”
Sammy’s gone on to star on TV with Philip Glenister in Prey and Helen Mccrory in Fearless – but she informs us that no matter what she does, Emmerdale fans want to see her back in the soap.
“I get asked all the time when I’m coming back to Emmerdale, and I’m like, ‘I’m dead!’,” laughs Sammy. “But then again, Harold Bishop fell off a cliff in
Neighbours and survived. I’m glad they killed Katie off – it meant it was more final for me. Now, I’m not always wondering if I should go back!”