In an unique interview with the ECHO, the actress shared why she feels linked to Liverpool
18:32, 28 Feb 2026
Samantha Womack stars as Pippa Grange in Dear England(Image: Marc Brenner)
Samantha Womack has shared a special message to Liverpool forward of an enormous present arriving on the Empire subsequent week. Boasting an unimaginable profession in tv and on stage, many will know Samantha for her function as Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders. She has spoken to the ECHO about her love for the city, and the way she is happy to deliver her newest present, “Dear England” to audiences in Liverpool.
Samantha has had a robust connection to our city for years, having beforehand been married to Liverpool-born actor Mark Womack. The couple had been married for 9 years, earlier than asserting their break up in 2018. However, Mark and Samantha stay on good phrases, and the actress typically stays at his home when she is within the space with their two youngsters, Ben, 24 and Lili-Rose, 20.
The 53-year-old TV star is “excited” to carry out on the Liverpool Empire subsequent week within the Olivier Award-winning smash hit Dear England. The massively common present tells the uplifting, at occasions heartbreaking, story of Gareth Southgate’s tenure as England supervisor. Samantha Womack stars as game-changing team psychologist, Pippa Grange.
Samantha told the ECHO simply how special Liverpool is to her, elevating her two youngsters right here and repeatedly visiting to see household. She additionally starred within the late 90s’ ITV crime drama, Liverpool 1, which is the place she met Mark.
Samantha mentioned: “I’m really excited to get to Liverpool next week. You’d think the show is about football but it’s not, football is just the framework to tell a story about love, loss, fear and what it means to be English. There’s music, there’s tears, there’s laughter – if any city will get it, Liverpool will get it.
“It’s simply received that coronary heart that folks reply to, it is telling the story of actual folks. It’s shifting in all the appropriate methods and I actually wish to present it off to Liverpool as a result of I’m happy with it.”
Samantha finds consolation in coming again to Liverpool. She mentioned: “I really feel linked to the folks, to its story, to its structure, my nan used to work on the Cunard Building, it is simply received our hearts as a household. I really feel very protecting of it and I additionally really feel very happy with it, it is among the best cities of the world, I’m obsessive about it.
“There’s nowhere else quite like it on earth. Liverpool has got music running through its veins, and it means a lot to my family.”
Samantha, whose daughter Lili attended LIPA and son Ben lately moved to the city, spoke about her “strong connection” to Liverpool, describing it as her “second home”. She mentioned: “I in all probability really feel nearer to Liverpool than I do any different city.
“Even although I used to be born in Brighton and lived in London, I’ve all the time moved round rather a lot so Liverpool for 25 years has been a relentless for me. It’s the place I met my first husband, my children had been born there, my daughter went to uni there and my son is working there now.
“As a family we’ve seen Liverpool change over the last 20 years and I probably feel closer to Liverpool than I do any other city. It’s my second home, anything that has meant anything to us as a family has been from Liverpool.”
Samantha was reluctant to confess her youngsters would find yourself being Liverpool F.C followers, regardless of her upbringing supporting a staff sporting a barely totally different shade of crimson down in London.
With Dear England bringing a conversation about football to life on stage, she believes there is no such thing as a higher place to carry out it than in one of many greatest cities for soccer on this planet.
Samantha mentioned soccer brings folks collectively, reminiscing on her son’s first journey to Anfield. She mentioned: “My son who’s now 24, considered one of his first outings was to Anfield together with his dad they usually nonetheless go on a regular basis. Football brings folks collectively and is well known, which may be very a lot what this piece [Dear England] is about, it is about unifying folks.”
Dear England will arrive at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre on Tuesday, March 3, operating till Saturday, March 7.
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