This week viewers have seen Rosie Bentham at the centre of another major storyline as Gabby Thomas in Emmerdale. Viewers have seen the character convinced that her ex and the father of her son is alive and actually faked his own death earlier this year. But not only that, she thought Jamie Tate was looming large and wanting to take their son.
And during a dramatic week of special flash-forward episodes, we saw Gabby take one of Home Farm's shotgun's into the woods to spook the mystery person she believes has been walking the grounds of the village estate. However, in a case of mistaken identity, she ended up shooting Will Taylor.
As Rosie, who has played Gabby in the ITV soap since 2016, gets stuck into another big plot, her on-screen life ended up mimicking her real one when her father, John, tragically died. His death, from a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot - came two years after her on-screen dad, dementia suffering vicar Ashley, died.
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Rosie, now 20, has opened up to the Mirror about how appearing in the ITV soap helped her cope with her dad's death. She said: "I was doing the whole playing grief and then the next minute I’m actually grieving. Everyone was there for me and I had some time off. I had a text from the cast seeing how I was.
"Work was a saving grace in the sense there was something I still loved to do and was passionate about. Grieving can go wrong for teenagers. People can rebel but that was never me. You think life is so unfair I don’t know why I am here anymore. I knew I had work – something I loved and was passionate about and I got to work every day. Emmerdale 100% gave me stability."
Rosie, who still lives in her home city of Nottingham with her mum, went on to reveal that she is close to her co-stars Daisy Campbell and Isobel Steele, aka Amelia Spencer and Liv Flaherty, and “very close to Mimi Slinger, all kind of my-age girls”. She even has a holiday planned to Ibiza this year with Daisy and Mimi, and is looking forward to being “adventurous” while staying in San Antonio.
The actress also gave a hint at her future on the Yorkshire-based soap as it has been acknowledged that she has been favourably compared with ex-Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman, who played Jasmine Thomas for four years in Emmerdale, and Harry Potter star Emma Watson.
She said: "It's so strange because Jenna Coleman started in Emmerdale aged 15-16 like me, in the Thomas family, like me, and now look at her. She’s thriving, so I’d love to go down that route. Would love to meet her. Emmerdale boosted her up so much and she loved it and that is where I’m at right now. That could be my vision. At the minute I am good, I am happy, Gabby Thomas is thriving. Very happy with my position."
