Sammy Winward: 2009

Emmerdale actress Sammy Winward, 23, wows us in this season’s hottest frocks, and tells us her secrets for a great festive night out…

Sammy Winward looks every inch the indie chick when she rocks up to our shoot, dressed in an oversized shirt, black tights and worker boots. But it doesn’t take long to transform her into a glam party girl, as she models a host of glitzy high street frocks.

While she’s something of a pro in front of the camera, away from the flashbulbs the posing stops and she’s just one of the girls. During lunch, she chats freely, regaling us with tales of her drinking exploits. She only gets distracted when the man rumoured to be her new beau, James Sutton, 26, who plays her on-screen boyfriend Ryan, shows up. Although she doesn’t speak about him in interviews, it’s clear the pair are getting along well. In-between shots, he gives her a quick kiss, then looks at the pictures we’ve shot, telling us ‘Wow! She looks amazing.’ We couldn’t agree more, James. Here Sammy tells us about her partying ways…

My idea of a good party is good music and lots of alcohol. I love cocktails and spirits, but I’m a real lightweight and I get the worst hangovers. Me and my sister both do, I think we might be allergic to alcohol! I’ll literally be sick from 7am till 5pm. It should be enough to put me off drinking, but it’s like childbirth, you forget the pain. Vodka is fine and doesn’t give me too much of a hangover, but wine or beer aren’t so great. My guilty pleasure is alcopops – loads of sugar, really classy, but they don’t give me a hangover, so it’s all good.

The main thing for me with parties is the music, you need a good DJ. I love to have a dance. My top party tracks are probably songs no one else would like. I like all the old indie stuff, Ian Brown and Morrissey. And I like Muse and Kings Of Leon.

I haven’t found any good hangover cures. Alka-Seltzer normally helps. But I’ve tried everything – eating bread, drinking a pint of water before bed, there’s nothing that works for me. Just don’t drink.

The best party I’ve ever been to was years ago when I went to a ’do thrown by Man United’s Phil Neville. He had an amazing bash with a Moulin Rouge theme – he must have spent a fortune. It was a big charity thing, and he had chocolate fountains, champagne, singers and a huge dance floor.

For a night out, I used to like getting really dressed up, but now my style is quite casual. I just wear a pair of skinny jeans, boots, a little top and a waistcoat or a T-shirt with a print on it. I’m a bit of an indie chick in that sense. You wouldn’t find me in a dress and heels normally. Saying that, I loved the dresses on the shoot. I really liked the short gold dress with the big bow (see left). I actually said at the beginning of the shoot I didn’t want to wear the bow, but it looked wicked, I was really pleased with it.

I don’t like taking a long time to get ready for a night out. I can be ready in 20 minutes. I just wash my hair and let it air dry, then slap my make-up on and I’m out of the house.

This Christmas Day, I’ll be staying in with my mum, dad, grandma and granddad and everyone. We’ll cook Christmas dinner and eat a lot and drink a lot and have fun. I like having a traditional Christmas. My four-year-old, Mia, is looking forward to it, she wants everything she sees on TV. She screams the house down, ‘Mummy, come and see this!’ And I’ll say, ‘What is it, Mia?’ wondering what all the noise is about. And she says, ‘I want that for Christmas!’ She wants the Barbie and The Three Musketeers dolls, and the cat and the small version of the cat and the talking cat, so I’ve got a big list.

Now Mia’s at school she’s at a birthday party almost every week, so I’ve been buying her lots of dresses. I don’t buy designer clothes for her, I like Gap and Zara, and All Saints do cool boots for kids, which look really cute. But she likes dressing herself, so she has some bizarre outfits now and again.

My mum always goes overboard at Christmas, but in a really nice way. She still won’t tell me or my sister that Santa isn’t real and we’re not allowed to say that. And she still does the stocking for us and for Mia. She always gets me nice presents. There’s nothing in particular I really want this year. Apart from a car. Or some diamonds…