We sat down with actress, drama school founder and one of Emmerdale’s most enduring icons Adele Silva to talk about life after Kelly Windsor, her burning ambition to join EastEnders, what she really thinks about the state of British soaps, and the personal journey she has never been afraid to share.
I Feel Like I’m Just Having a Break From Acting
Post-Covid, with her daughter just starting school, Adele Silva made a deliberate choice to step back from acting and redirect her energy behind the camera. She keeps the specifics close to her chest, but is clear that this is a pause rather than a full stop.
“I started in the industry super young and grew up in it, so I knew whatever I did next would have to be industry-related — it’s kind of all I know. For now I’m behind the camera and really enjoying it. That said, I don’t think it means I’ll never act again. I feel like I’m just having a break.”
Alongside her work behind the scenes, she has been channelling that industry knowledge into the next generation through Young Screen Collective, the on-screen acting school she runs with business partner Ash.
“We grew up in the industry together and we’ve both carried on being involved. I think there’s something really valuable about having people around young actors who’ve actually been through it themselves.”
The results have been quietly remarkable. Children who arrived too nervous to speak have become, months later, the ones you cannot stop.
“We’ve had kids come to us who literally wouldn’t speak in their first lesson, and six or seven months later they won’t stop. That’s the trust they’ve built in a safe space. To me, that feels like winning.”
With her daughter leaving primary school this summer, Adele hints that the pull back to the screen is growing.
“I do miss acting. That time has flown. Never say never.”
Soap Actors Deserve Far More Respect
Few things animate Adele quite as much as the casual dismissal of soap acting. Having experienced both worlds, the comparison she draws is stark.
“If you were a busy character, you could be filming sixteen or seventeen scenes a day, none of them in sequence. You have to know exactly where your character is emotionally at every point in the story. It’s genuinely demanding work, and I think soap actors sometimes get unfairly dismissed. People can be quite snobby about it.”
She points to the career trajectories that make her case: Sarah Lancashire. Katherine Kelly. Jenna Coleman.
“I’m not remotely surprised any of them have gone on to achieve what they have. They proved exactly what they were capable of in those environments. Soaps are a brilliant training ground if you’re willing to put the work in.”
>> Read another exclusive interview with television star, Gaynor Faye, on her career and her latest project which is a feature film which highlights the menopause.
EastEnders Is the Dream, and She’s Manifesting It
If there is one recurring theme in this conversation, it is EastEnders. Adele Silva grew up in Streatham, South London, joined a Yorkshire farming community soap as a teenager, and has spent the years since hearing the same observation on repeat.
“If I had a pound for every time somebody said, ‘Oh, you’d be perfect in EastEnders’ I’d be very, very rich. And honestly? I agree. I’m from South London. It would make perfect sense.”
There was always a certain logic to the Emmerdale chapter. The network needed a London family to shore up southern viewing figures, and Alan Lewis, famous as Daryl from Birds of a Feather, anchored the Windsor clan. But EastEnders has always felt like the natural home.
“I grew up in a household where at 7:30 it all went quiet because Mum was watching. I’m going to put it out there and manifest it. That would genuinely be my dream role.”
Soaps Aren’t in Crisis, We Just Watch Differently Now
Adele pushes back on the idea that soaps are in terminal decline. She acknowledges the numbers (Den Watts serving divorce papers got twenty million viewers and nothing gets twenty million anymore) but she contextualises them.
“I’m as guilty as anyone. I’ve got Netflix, Amazon Prime, all of them. But I also know exactly when EastEnders drops on iPlayer and I’ll often watch it before it goes on air. The audience hasn’t disappeared. It’s just watching differently.”
Her prescription for longevity is straightforward: tell relevant stories, protect the loyal older audience, and trust that escapism never goes out of fashion.
“My dad never liked soaps. He always said they were too depressing. Thanks Dad. But as long as they reflect what’s actually happening in the world, there will always be a place for them.”
“Give Me Something Dark and Dramatic”
When it comes to what would make her pick up the phone to her agent immediately, Adele Silva’s answer is immediate.
Band of Gold. Prime Suspect. Wentworth. The thread connecting all three is unmistakable.
“I’ve always been drawn to darker, grittier roles. I’ve recently been watching Wentworth the Australian take on Prisoner Cell Block H and anything in that vein would have my name all over it.”
It is, she acknowledges, something of a contrast with her off-screen personality.
“People are often surprised when they meet me because I’m quite smiley and high energy. Whereas I’ve spent much of my career playing characters who never smile and are always frowning. But give me something dark and dramatic and I’m in.”
Hell’s Kitchen Taught Her to Cook. Fear Factor Would Terrify Her Now
Away from Emmerdale, Adele has always been a willing participant including game shows, reality TV, anything that takes her somewhere unexpected. Hell’s Kitchen, she says, was a genuine education.
“I genuinely could not cook at all. But I’m good at following instructions, so I had a notepad and pencil and wrote everything down. That’s basically how I operate in life. The hours were extraordinary. We’d start at six in the morning and do seventeen or eighteen-hour shifts. It gives you a real respect for how hard kitchen workers graft.”
Marco Pierre White, she recalls, was surprisingly calm which turned out to be more unsettling than shouting would have been.
“He never raised his voice once. Completely calm the whole time, which was actually more unnerving. Even now, the basic cooking skills I have come from that show.”
Would she do Fear Factor today? Almost certainly not.
“When you get older you get more frightened of things. Theme park rides I couldn’t care less about at twenty, now I feel slightly sick on them. Age is a wonderful thing.”
On the Things Nobody Talked About
There is a quieter, more personal thread running through this conversation, the part of Adele’s story she has always chosen to share, even when the culture around her preferred silence.
Between 2010 and 2015, she experienced recurrent pregnancy loss. She had tests done in the private sector because certain procedures were not then available on the NHS. She eventually had her daughter in 2015, but she has never forgotten what those years felt like without anyone talking about it.
“We’re very good at celebrating pregnancies publicly, but not as good at acknowledging when things don’t go to plan and that can make people feel very alone. I think it’s a very British instinct to keep quiet. And I’ve never really wanted to do that.”
The response when she did speak was overwhelming, and she notes that the NHS has improved significantly since, investigations now begin after fewer losses than they did then.
“More people speaking openly about these experiences makes them easier to bear. It normalises something that is actually very common. I’ve heard from people who’ve been through similar things and gone on to have families of three. That’s the bit that makes it worth saying something.”
She is forty-five now, loves the gym, tries to eat well (Easter eggs notwithstanding) and approaches her health with the seriousness of someone who has learned not to take it for granted.
And Yes — She Loves Bingo!
We end as we always do at WhichBingo at the game itself. Adele Silva does not need any convincing.
“I love bingo. Absolutely love it. I grew up doing it at the seaside. Ten pence a card, and that wonderful caller.”
Her most memorable win was a full house she was far too embarrassed to claim herself.
“I was with my friend and her mum and I’d got a full house. I was so embarrassed I made her mum shout it out for me. I won three hundred and twenty pounds. It was unbelievable.”
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