Emmerdale star Sam Hall has denied reports that his character Samson Dingle is to be killed off after 18 years.
The 20-year-old actor began his role as Samson Dingle when he was just five, and is the fourth to take on the role.
Born on-screen in 2006, Samson’s mum Alice (Ursula Holden-Gill) battled cancer throughout her pregnancy and delayed chemotherapy treatment until she gave birth.
Six months later, Sam Dingle (James Hooton) helped Alice to die by administrating a fatal dose of morphine but Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) took the blame so that baby Samson wouldn’t lose both of his parents.
In recent years, he’s become a father himself after conceiving baby Esther with Amelia Spencer (Daisy Campbell).
Last month, a source seemed to confirm the end of the character: ‘Sam had a meeting with bosses earlier this month where they broke the news.
‘He has been left devastated. He’s grown up with his on-screen Dingle clan and they are all very protective of him.
‘Some of the cast even went to talk to bosses about their decision.’
‘As news of his axing swept through the building there were quite a lot of angry Dingles.’
The insider added to The Sun: ‘The fact that they are planning on killing him off means there’ll be no way back for him either. He’s absolutely gutted.’
However, in a recent interview with Inside Soap magazine, Sam Hall has shut down the rumours and confirmed that he has ‘good stories’ incoming.
‘Well, I don’t want to give too much away, but Samson has some big stuff coming up. However, don’t worry, as he’s definitely not being killed off! There are some good stories coming up for him, and I was very excited when I read the scripts…’
He also joked that he prefers playing the more troubled side of the role, and admitted that he’d never held a baby before Esther was introduced.
‘I like playing mean Samson, but I think his good side always shines through.’
He continued: ‘Like with the baby storyline, he was worrying about Amelia being okay for Esther because Samson obviously lost his mum – and he didn’t want his kid to grow up without a mum
‘So, he can get angry, but his intentions are always right in the end. At the end of the day, he was just a confused young teenager who didn’t really expect to be having a kid so soon.
And in real life, it was the first time I’d ever held a baby!’
