Nurse jumps in to cheer up the children
ONE SMALL side effect of the lockdown is that nobody has mistaken Tina Hobley for a nurse for at least seven weeks. “It happens a lot,” says Tina, who famously set pulses racing as ward sister Chrissiewilliams in BBC medical drama Holby City. “I get people saying ,‘Chrissie, I’ve got a back pain, come and have a look...’
“It happens in the street, in shopping centres, even in a queue for a ride at an amusement park – and I left Holby seven years ago.”
Could she cut it as a nurse though? “If I was your last chance I’d have a go,” she laughs. “I think I could pull off a tracheotomy with a Bic pen...”
Tina, now a DJ on Smooth FM, goes on: “When I read that Holby and Casualty were offering equipment to the NHS, it made me proud. Our equipment was state of the art. The advisers on set said we’d only have to disinfect it and we could open up for patients.
“We were pretend doctoring, the real angels are people like my therapist friend who volunteered to go back to the NHS frontline after 13 years.they make our job look so slight and silly.”
Maybe so, but Londoner Hobley is doing her bit. She has teamed up with stars such as Sir Derek Jacobi, Ruth Jones and Hugh Bonneville for Record And Share For The NHS, a campaign created by the children’s audio system tonies.
They and other famous faces are delighting fans by reading classic children’s stories daily.
“My kids love audio books so I tried it out on them and their faces lit up.as well as raising funds, you can tap into a child’s imagination and transport them away from screens and computers.”
Tina’s Alice In Wonderland reading went out on Thursday, with The Tin Soldier to follow.
Even her youngest children are doing their bit, donating their £5-a-week pocket money into an NHS care package.
It was only four years ago that the actress desperately needed the NHS herself.
The fun evaporates from Tina’s voice as she recalls the terrible accident on Channel 4’s celebrity skiing show The Jump that left her fearing she’d never walk again.
Her arm was broken in two places, her elbow came out of its socket, the rotator cuff in her shoulder was torn and she ruptured the ligament in one knee.
“I was a bit of a mess,” she says softly. “I’d never had an operation in my life before and then I needed three major ones, all six months apart. I was in a lot of pain and it seemed endless.
“My knees were the worst. I rea appreciate being able to bend dow pick something up unaided now.” The accident impacted hugely on and career.
“I couldn’t get dressed or have a unaided, or take the kids to school things I love like yoga and cycling. daughter, Isabella, was amazing th She went back on to Smooth as humanly possible. “They were b they ferried me to and from was hobbling in on crutche the painkillers didn’t affect voice...”
Tina Ellen Hobley grew u Hill, north London (she’s an fan).as a child, she had dra to overcome her crippling sh ending up at drama school. Tina, 49 this month, grins w recalls her first paid job, in a production of the ITV Onlywhen I Laugh. “I was another nu beams, her blue eye “It was one of my b jobs. Derek Nimm me and we toured Middle East per ex-pats. It was by BA. I was ta dinner in Om sheik who’d school in Lo swept me of palace.” He was the richest man in Tina wasn’t temp Samantha Failswo