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Upside-down watches and exploding boils

Casualty

Saturday 15 May on Â鶹Éç ONE

• Programme copy

As she joins the long-running medical drama, Lucy Gaskell talks to Programme Information about life as the new girl on Casualty.

No stranger to blood after starring alongside vampires and werewolves in Being Human, Lucy Gaskell scrubs up for her new regular role in Casualty this week. Well known for her parts in Cutting It, Doctor Who and Waking The Dead, Lucy stars as fiery and vivacious mental health nurse Kirsty Clements who brings a breath of fresh air – and a bucket-full of attitude – to Casualty's beleaguered emergency department.

"Joining Casualty has been brilliant," says 29-year-old Lucy. "It's been the most welcoming show I think I've ever joined. And it's such an exciting time to be starting – it's the 25th anniversary next year and there's a great energy among the whole team; it feels like I've joined a really vibrant show."

Feisty Kirsty bursts onto the screen this Saturday, arriving at the hospital by taxi amid a heated argument with the cab driver. Is this a sign of things to come for the nurse?

"Kirsty does like to go against authority," admits Lucy, "but always for the patient's benefit, not her own. And she certainly winds Tess up because they have very different nursing styles. Kirsty often wants to help people and go beyond the call of duty and Tess is always pulling her up on things. But Kirsty is a good egg really and would do anything for the patients."

Another character that doesn't take to Kirsty at first is doctor Ruth – coincidentally played by Lucy's old school friend from Wigan and great pal Georgia Taylor:

"Georgia and I have had a couple of little scenes together and let's just say our characters don't hit it off immediately," smiles Lucy. "At one point Ruth says to Kirsty, "I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are." And I just wanted to say – it's me, Lucy, your old school mate! So we've had a fairly fractious few scenes together but it's really lovely to have someone you know from way back to work alongside."

To prepare for her role in the busiest ED on TV Lucy shadowed a team of doctors and nurses at Frenchay hospital in Bristol, which she admits was an amazing experience:

"It was extraordinary and really, really valuable. I learned so much. Mostly about how the nurses interact with each other both when patients are there and when they are not there. It was really nice to see the nurses having a joke with each other when the patients weren't around and then being cool and collected when the patients need them – and I also witnessed some medical brilliance too."

Surrounded by the bloody work of Casualty's make-up and prosthetics experts, is Lucy put off by the blood and gore?

"I'm not squeamish at all," she says. "Even at the hospital I had to keep reminding myself that I was watching real people with real illnesses and injuries. I did see an episode where somebody had a boil with all this stuff squirting out and I didn't like that, but the blood and gore doesn't bother me at all."

Playing a nurse also fulfils a childhood dream for Lucy – being a nurse and having an upside-down watch! She says: "My Aunty Margaret was a nurse and I used to love visiting her at work and I loved the uniform and the upside-down watch. Before I decided to be an actress, I wanted to be a nurse so this job is perfect because I get to do both!"