Amanda Mealing took a real-life head bashing while filming a "brutal" ‘Casualty’ attack.
The 51-year-old actress – who plays Connie Beauchamp on the BBC medical drama – has opened up about the consultant’s shocking upcoming assault, and says she "bashed her head for real" to film a close-up of her character hitting the floor.
She said: "It’s a brutal attack. It was really brutal when we were filming it. I took a bit of a knock when we were doing it.
"To get the close up of Connie’s head hitting the floor, the padding had to be taken away and I really did bash my head for real."
Following a day of intense events, Connie will be violently attacked by a mystery suspect, who leaves her for dead in an empty stairwell.
The star said she felt the shocking storyline was "important" because medics experience such incidents in real life.
She said: "This is an important story to highlight because there are physical, emotional, verbal and cyber attacks [on medics] now. This is a catalyst for post-traumatic stress disorder in Connie. The attack happens once, but Connie ends up living it much longer."
Ahead of the violent attack, Connie will clash with senior nurse Louise Tyler (Azuka Oforka) over her hard ruling.
She told What’s on TV magazine: "Connie, in her inimitable way, is very removed emotionally and very pragmatic, so it causes a lot of frustration with Louise who is experiencing a personal plight with nursing.
"Louise is emotionally involved with a patient called Ernest and wants to deal with the whole person, their home life as well as medically, but Connie only wants to deal with the medical. It brings her into conflict with patients and their families, and maybe someone in particular … Connie always rubs people up the wrong way."
Casualty’s Amanda Mealing dishes dirt on Connie Beachamp attack
