She opened up her eyes and said, Ooh Nigel, I thought we were back on set.. BY

Duckworths’ kitchen, me spitting a corn flake onto Bill’s forehead during an argumentative breakfast scene.

Bill hitting me by mistake in a very dramatic and emotional scene where Terry forces Jack and Vera to give up grandson Tommy.

He was supposed to punch just past my chin, but in the heat of the drama his fist actually connected and he hit me with a haymaker. Boy, did I see stars, but the funny thing was we had to shoot the section again because though Bill really hit me, the punch did not look real enough on camera.

Time seemed to fly as Liz and I sat talking. Part of me didn’t want to leave her. I’d seen Liz in some very bad ways before but I knew this was more serious.

After being with her for an hour, I knew it was time to go – it was clear she needed to rest for the night.

I stood up, leant over her and planted a kiss on the side of her face. “Ahh that were nice,” Liz said. “Good bye Liz, you rest and get yourself better,” I replied.

“I will come and see you at home when you get settled.”

I left the hospital naively thinking that she would get better. I knew she could never recover completely but I thought she might get back to some sort of normality.

It was only when I called husband Don after she had been released from hospital a couple of days later to enquire how she was doing that I realised how serious her condition was.

After some discussion with Don it was clear that it was only a matter of time. A week later I got the news that Liz had passed away.

I am so glad to have had that precious time with Liz in the hospital and to hear that distinctive infectious laugh she had for the last time. I found