Holby's Chizzy: 'Giving birth on TV is a workout!'

Chizzy Akudolu - Holby's Surgeon Mo Effanga - details the shock premature labour scenes in this week's episode (BBC1, Tuesday)... Mo's baby arrives suddenly this week - is she ready for the birth? "Mo's at work because as far as she's concerned she can work until she drops the baby. With Mo if she could, she would have the baby, then go back to work the next day. It's her first child and she knows nothing about childbirth, but she thinks she can just give birth and everything's going to be fine and she'll be back to normal." What was filming the birth like? "That was a workout! It was very tiring. It was a day and a half of birthing. A lot of pushing and straining and I looked rough. Nobody was touching up my make-up and my hair was all messy, my mascara was running down my face, but I guess if you're giving birth you're not going to look glamorous. I don't care, as long as it looks good and looks real." Will you miss filming with the bump? "I loved it! It really made me broody. I just got so attached to the bump and cast and crew would come up and touch it. My mum was a midwife and I showed her a picture and she said it looks real. The waddle's gonna have to go though - she's going to be a new Mo!" There's a big twist to the baby saga which we won't spoil, but can you give viewers any clues? "Mo's personal life is a mystery and a mess. Her work life is the be-all and end-all for her. I won't say it's perfect, but it's more structured than her home life."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.