I used natural remedies on myself, my mum and my daughter and they worked ...I must be descended from a witch!

ks her husband Charlie led to cope. Cathy says: matic storyline, but it has edibly respectful to the and to the subject, it’s a d beautiful farewell.” h she is proud of the Cathy hopes it will not essing viewing for families been touched ntia. “I’m at to point out terioration is ” she explains. want anyone ealing with to assume ens to Duffy everyone.” are for the athy read last -selling book y I Used to ten by Wendy former NHS worker who was diagnosed with young onset dementia, aged 58.

She also spoke to the charity Dementia UK, but she turned down the offer of meeting people with the condition. “I thought ‘it’s Duffy’s journey – I can’t graft on another person’s life’.” Over the years Cathy left Casualty four times, but it pulled her back. “In a way, what draws the audience back, is similar to what draws me back. It’s the show’s values.”

Not surprisingly the role has left her with deep respect for the NHS. “One of the things I’ve learnt is what tremendous pressure they’re under,” she says.

“Duffy represents someone in a public service and that’s important to me. I feel a responsibility to the nursing profession – the nurses doing it for real are unsung heroes.”

Cathy lives in West London with her partner, actor Christopher Guard – they met on the set of Casualty – and their student daughter Tallulah, 18. Cathy is looking forward to new roles. She said: “I want to play a lunatic monster in Doctor Who, a homeless woman, someone in a period drama, or a character in A Discovery of Witches.”

She added: “When Casualty started we just did half a year, 12 episodes. The amount now seems to occupy your whole life.

“In a way that’s counter to being an actor, because there’s part of you that just wants to face the next challenge.”

Although Duffy’s exit is heartbreaking, Cathy loved filming it.

She explains: “Her storyline became quite a dominant issue and I was challenged.

“The last dozen episodes were like playing a different character, because she was going through so many changes.”

Cathy’s final Casualty episode is on Saturday, February 1 on BBC1.

1986: RAPE After setting off to work on a dark night Duffy was attacked and raped. Cathy later revealed she had received numerous letters from viewers who had been through the same experience. She wrote back to many of them telling them where they could seek help. 1987: HIV SCARE

Cathy with mum Catherine, and with Christopher in 2001

Duffy became the subject of a health scare after a relationship with salesman Peter Tranter, who later discovered he had contracted HIV. Anxious Duffy was tested, but to her relief the results came back negative.

FAMILY

2019: DEMENTIA After suffering various symptoms, including anxiety, mood swings and falls, Duffy is told she is in the early stages of vascular dementia.

2018: PLAYING AWAY Duffy was guilt-stricken after a one-night stand with her former childhood sweetheart Bill, behind the back of husband Charlie.

2017: FINDING LOVE After a will they/won’t they? romance, Duffy finally found love and married her nursing colleague and old friend Charlie Fairhead.

2006: LIVING ABROAD In a special to mark the show’s 20th anniversary, Duffy was seen working in Cambodia. Charlie, Guppy, Abs and Comfort went out to visit her.