SOAP SWAP Emmerdale legend desperate to join rival soap rather than return to ITV show saying ‘it would genuinely be a dream’
AN Emmerdale legend has revealed she would love to join a rival soap rather than rejoin the ITV show – saying it ‘would genuinely be a dream’.
Adele Silva won a legion of fans playing Kelly Windsor in Emmerdale from 1993 to 2000 before returning in 2005 then departing again in 2007.
![Kelly [Adele Silva] sees red after attacking Jimmy King [Nick Miles] with a torch.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/itv-plc-reproduced-editorial-purposes-388769282.jpg?w=643)
Kelly returned to the village for a final time in 2011, before leaving with her son Elliot, and while Adele is not against reprising the role again in the future, she has her eyes set on a rival soap.
When asked by The Sun Online if she would go back to Emmerdale, Adele, said: “Absolutely, yes, I would. And if I’m honest, I’d love to do EastEnders.
“I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve said to me over the years, ‘Oh, you’d be ideal for EastEnders.’
“I’m from Streatham in South London, so for someone like me to have ended up joining a Northern farming community soap was always a bit surreal — though there was logic behind it at the time.
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“Viewing figures in the South were flagging, so the network asked Emmerdale to bring in a London family.”
She continued: “But EastEnders would genuinely be a dream. I grew up in a household where at 7:30 everything went quiet because Mum was watching.
“Never say never — I’m going to put that out there and manifest it.”
Despite her desire to become a Walford resident on the BBC soap, Adele, 45, is still grateful for her time on Emmerdale.
She said: “I definitely was typecast, but I don’t think that was a bad thing.
“I would always rather have played Kelly than a quieter character who occasionally ordered a drink or walked through the café. She was iconic.
“She was damaged and deeply selfish — it was all about her — and she was fantastically well-written.”
Adele – who has also appeared in Hollyoaks since leaving Emmerdale – added to WhichBingo: “I started at thirteen and by the time I’d left for the last time I was about thirty. She was a huge part of my life.
“I do still have ties to the show and I think about it with enormous affection.
“But so much time has passed that maybe somewhere new would be a new adventure now.”