Casualty star Chelsea Halfpenny reveals that junior doctor Eddie McAllister confronts Alicia about her noticeably snappy behaviour towards him at work…
Junior doctor Bea Kinsella treads a delicate line with her colleague, housemate and friend Alicia Munroe (Chelsea Halfpenny). On one hand she wants to help Alicia, who last week confided their colleague Eddie McAllister sexually attacked her. On the other, she doesn’t want to push Alicia to deal with her assault trauma if she’s not ready.
This week Alicia bravely attends the Sexual Assault Referral Clinic (SARC) with Bea, but on the condition they pretend it’s to help their patients. Later, after an emotionally heightened encounter with Eddie, Alicia realises she can’t get through this ordeal alone. Can Bea (Michelle Fox) persuade her to return to SARC?
We talked to Casualty star Chelsea Halfpenny about Bea’s invaluable support and this week’s pivotal encounter between Alicia and Eddie…
Is Alicia still trying to avoid working alongside Eddie in the ED?
Chelsea Halfpenny: "Yes, before the attack Alicia was mentoring Eddie and Ethan Hardy was mentoring Bea but afterwards Alicia asked Ethan if they could swap as obviously she wants to work with Eddie as little as possible."
Is this why Eddie confronts her?
CH: "In any contact Alicia has with Eddie she’s distant and quite sharp with him, which really irks him. In his mind he thinks they were a bit drunk, doesn’t really remember what happened and that she’s being weird and embarrassed because they’re workmates."
How has it been working with Joe Gaminara, who plays Eddie?
CH: "Joe’s such a nice guy in real life! I really hope he doesn’t get too much [backlash]. Working together on this we talked a lot about the storyline because we wanted to create the right relationship between Eddie and Alicia."
Eddie’s attitude since the night they went home together has been very different to Alicia’s. What affect is this having on her?
CH: "Alicia’s going through every emotion from ‘I can ignore this’ to ‘I need to tell someone'. She has loads of self-doubt, which isn’t helped by the fact Eddie’s acting as if nothing’s happened. This scares her and makes her think ‘Did this actually happen, or have I made it up?"
Does it help now Alicia has Bea’s support?
CH: "Taking the step to tell a friend was huge for Alicia. She was so scared of telling anyone initially. Going to a professional is another huge step, as it opens such a massive can of worms…"
Find out if Bea can help Alicia comes to terms with what happened this Saturday at 8.40pm on BBC1
