Casualty: New character Nicole Piper makes her debut
Casualty star Sammy T Dobson has revealed how teasing some big news on Instagram led her to inadvertently let the cat out of the bag about her casting in the show. The Newcastle native was chatting exclusively to Express.co.uk ahead of her show debut when she admitted the blunder.
Sammy has joined the show as junior doctor Nicole Piper. Her casting was announced, along with the other new recruits Manpreet Bachu, who plays Rash Masum's (Neet Mohan) cousin Tariq Hussein and Jamie Glover who plays new Clinical Lead Patrick Onley, on February 8.
Even though she had already been filming for months, the news was supposed to be hush-hush until the BBC officially released it. However, a cheeky picture on Instagram the night before gave away more than she intended.
"I put a thing on Instagram. It was literally a picture of my face and you could just see the green top of my scrubs. It was just a little nod to it.
"And I said, 'I've got really exciting news tomorrow that I've sat on for ages and I can't wait to share it'. And a friend of mine messaged me saying, 'Oh my God, are you a new doctor in Casualty?'" Sammy recalled, clearly still stunned by what happened.
"And I was like, 'What?' I said, 'How have you found out? Who's told you?' Because obviously we have to keep it quite quiet. It's really only gonna be my family and best friends that know.
"And she said, 'I can see the green of your top and you've mentioned you've been in Cardiff a lot. It's literally my favorite show. I cannot believe this!'
"And then she went on this big thing about 'Oh my God, I love Dylan (Keogh, played by William Beck) so much. I've got such a crush on him!'
"And I was in the pub with Ellie and Will, so I took a picture of me licking Will's face to send back to her," she laughed.
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Sammy also confessed that this wasn't the only extreme reaction she had when the news was announced.
"I was surprised by how many people watch it religiously," she confessed. "My hairdresser burst into tears. It's been her favourite show since the first episode.
"Her and her mom used to watch it together every weekend and her mum's no longer with us. So it really it means an awful lot to her. The show's been a massive part of so many people's lives and I hadn't thought about that," she admitted.
Sammy's first episode is part of the latest story arc called Breaking Point which is the first set of episodes not to feature Charlie Fairhead, which she confesses has given her pause for thought. "I sort of wish I wasn't going into it the Saturday after he leaves because they are fresh and enormous shoes to fill for the three new characters," she laughed.
Casualty is on BBC One on Saturday nights and all previous episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
