Casualty Alicia’s horrific ordeal…
SHE’S HORRIFIED TO REALISE WHAT’S HAPPENED TO HER…
Alicia wakes up in bed with her colleague Eddie this week – and it’s soon clear that something terrible has occurred.
The doctor was all smiles when she agreed to go home with the handsome trainee following a drunken kiss in the pub. But judging by the panicked look on her face the next morning, whatever unfolded after that moment was not something that she ever consented to…
“The first thing you see is Alicia lying in bed, looking pretty distraught,” reveals Chelsea Halfpenny, who plays her. “At that point, what’s running through her head is, ‘What has just happened to me? What am I going to do? How am I going to get out of this bed?’. In her gut she knows what’s gone on, but she doesn’t quite believe that this has happened to her.”
Even though it’s her house, Alicia gets dressed and bolts, running through the streets in the dark until she gets to work. It’s clear from her behaviour something is amiss – yet she can’t bring herself to admit to anyone that she’s been raped.
“Being a doctor is quite trying anyway – but on this particular day, Alicia ends up going out to a coach crash,” explains Chelsea. “So on top of what would be a stressful shift anyway, she’s having these flashbacks to what went on the night before. She thinks that she can just forget about it, but we see her struggling to do that throughout the day – leading to a gradual decline in her emotional and physical well-being.”
After Alicia pushes herself so hard that she faints, her colleagues are worried that something is very wrong. But just when she’s about to confide in Ethan, work gets in the way.
“Alicia feels really lonely, as she reckons nobody will understand,” sighs Chelsea. “Then she sees a friendly face in Ethan – I think when you’re feeling most vulnerable, you seek out the people who know you best. There are lots of points in the episode where she’s about to tell him – people will be screaming at the screen for her to just get it out.”
At the same time, Alicia is doing everything she can to avoid Eddie, who seems to be under the impression that they had a great night together. But given that they work so closely, she can’t stay out of his way forever…
Casualty has confirmed that this storyline will run for the rest of the series – and Chelsea tells us that she’s honoured to be at the centre of a very intense plot.
“I was excited when I found out about it – this is such a huge and important storyline,” she shares. “I immediately felt that I needed to get my head screwed on, because we had to do things properly. I didn’t want to get to the end and feel that we hadn’t done it right.
“If this story makes one person feel less alone, or gives them the courage to confide in somebody, we’ve done our job,” adds Chelsea. “Encouraging people to speak out is the most important thing.”
If this story makes a person feel less alone, we’ve done our job”