Former Wild at Heart star Dawn Steele is getting into her scrubs and checking into Holby City as feisty new surgeon Ange Goddard.
Best known for playing vet Alice Trevanion in the Sunday night ITV drama Wild at Heart, Scottish actress Dawn Steele is swapping animals for humans in her latest role as plucky new general surgeon Ange Goddard in the BBC1 medical drama Holby City.
Ange has come to set up a new Young Adult Unit at the hospital but her first patient case sees her clashing with Holby boss Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry)! And with Ange's daughter Chloe (Amy Lennox) and her on-off boyfriend Evan – played by ex-EastEnders’ star Jack Ryder – due to arrive in the coming months, it looks like the drama is only set to continue.
Here new Holby City star Dawn, 43, tells us all about Ange...
How would you describe Ange?
"Ange is the most emotional surgeon you’ll ever meet. She’s all about helping these kids that come to the Young Adult Unit; she’s not a hard surgeon, who just sees it as a job. Ange probably gets a little too involved in these cases and, the more you get to know Ange, you’ll discover why she is the way she is."
Ange arrives at the hospital with former Holby City favourite Tom Campbell-Gore. What’s it like working with New Tricks star Denis Lawson, who plays him?
"I know Denis and we get along really well. The first ever scene I filmed on Holby was me, on this hospital trolley, straddling Denis, while pumping his chest. I was thinking: ‘Thank God we already know each other!’"
Why does Ange clash with Hanssen on her first day?
"Ange and Hanssen have a slight battle because he’s concerned about what the hospital wants while she’s more worried about what the patient needs. She’d rather ‘act now’ than follow a process. That’s a struggle for Ange the whole way through, I think, and she continually comes up against that more and more."
We know Ange’s daughter Chloe (Amy Lennox) will be joining Holby with her on-off boyfriend Evan (Jack Ryder). What’s the dynamic like between the trio?
"Chloe comes in to help with a tricky patient. Ange was a single mum, who went back and studied at medical school while having a child, so Ange and Chloe have got a very caring relationship. Ange loves her daughter and is continually trying to protect her. When it comes to Evan, I don’t think Ange thinks he’s the best thing for Chloe. There’s a lot to come."
We see you perform complicated surgery as Ange. Are you squeamish?
"No, not at all, thank God. If you are, Holby would be the hardest job ever because the prosthetics are just so good; it all looks so real. There’s someone underneath the hospital bed, pumping the blood, so it’s all spurting out. Those surgery scenes are the best bit about this job but they take a long time to film. At the end of the day, my back’s killing me, my feet are sore and I’m like: ‘I feel like I’m actually a surgeon!’"
We loved you as Alice Trevanion in Wild at Heart. Do you miss that show?
"Oh, I REALLY miss that show. We worked with all these amazing animals every day and an amazing crew in South Africa for four years. I’m still in contact with Stephen Tompkinson, who played Danny Trevanion, and lots of the crew. It’s just one of those special jobs that will always be in my heart."
Catch Dawn’s first appearance as Ange in Holby City on Tuesday 8th January at 8:00pm on BBC One
