Casualty star Amanda Mealing reveals Connie is devastated by her daughter’s sudden disappearance…
As families go, Connie Beauchamp, her ex Sam Strachan and their daughter Grace have had a hellish time of it. Recently they reached an understanding about the pressures of Connie’s job as clinical lead at Holby ED.
After months of domestic difficulty Connie (Amanda Mealing) is looking forward to a more harmonious home front when Casualty returns for a new series this week. All that’s suddenly swept away, however, when Sam (Tom Chambers) and Grace (Emily Carey) mysteriously disappear from Connie’s hectic life!
Amanda Mealing told What's on TV what's in store for Connie...
Why does Connie believe a new era of domestic happiness is dawning for her, Grace and Sam? "The last time we saw Connie she was attempting to make Grace her focus. Grace had been living with Sam, and Connie wanted her home with her again. But when Connie had another day from hell in the ED Grace very maturely said she was going to stay with her dad. She took the burden off Connie and the parental role had been swapped a little bit."
This week’s shocking news must really pull the rug from under Connie? "When the new series of Casualty starts this week Connie believes it’s the beginning of something that can really work for them and is looking forward to sharing time with Grace, who now understands what Connie’s job entails. So when Connie calls around to Sam and Grace and no one answers the door she can’t work out where they are – and then she discovers they’ve gone!"
How does she react? "She takes it very badly. For Sam to just take Grace… it’s really devastating for Connie. There’s a lot of worry and stress and it starts to make her quite ill…"
This week marks the beginning of a new series of Casualty. Will it be as highly charged as the 30th Anniversary year, or is the tone different? "There’s a slightly different tone, but everyone still has high energy! There are stunts and things like that. We start off with a two-part special that takes us somewhere new."
What does this mean for Connie? "Connie stays and holds the fort while quite a lot of the team are in France. It's interesting to go outside the main location of the hospital. We don’t often do it and it’s always intriguing to see how characters behave and how the audience responds to it."
Casualty screens on BBC1 at 8.45pm, Saturday 19 August
