My second chance... in plot that echoes my life
When Sammy T Dobson learned her character in Casualty was going to be involved in a horrific car crash, the actress knew she wouldn’t have to look far for inspiration.
In May 2010, Sammy was involved in a terrifying smash of her own which ripped off one eyelid, broke her thigh bone in two, put her in a wheelchair for three months and left her fearing it was the end of her career.
Sammy, 37, says: “Life is so utterly unpredictable. I have come full circle. It felt so bizarre that I had lost my career because of a car accident and then I was being brought in as a character who’d had one.
“When they initially told me, ‘you’ve been in a car crash’, my instant reaction was, ‘how did you know?’
“But they were talking about my character rather than me.”
Sammy plays new arrival Dr Nicole Piper in the drama, which this week won best soap at the TV BAFTAs. Dr Nicole becomes a surrogate mum for her friend Rosie when she is paralysed after the pair are injured in the crash.
Sammy, who starred in Byker Grove as a teenager, was in the Lake District taking a break from filming the BBC’s Women in Love when an oncoming car turned her life on its head.
“I just saw headlights right in front of me,” she recalls. “I tried to swerve to get out of his way, but he swerved the same way, so he hit my car at well over 50mph and it flipped over into an adjacent field. My face went through the window as I tried to slam my foot on the brake, which meant my right leg was extended and as it was on the point of impact, my thigh bone snapped in two.
“Thankfully, the other driver called emergency services. It took them an hour and a half to cut me out.”
Rushed to Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, Sammy, from Newcastle, had a metal plate inserted in her femur and surgery on her face.
“When my mum saw my eye under the bandages before the surgery, she nearly collapsed,” says Sammy. “She thought my eye had gone and she said it looked like mince.”
Released from hospital after two weeks, she then discovered she had also broken her back. She says: “This meant more recovery time. I then had crutches for another year and had to learn to walk again unaided.”
But Sammy says the greatest toll was taken by her career.
She explains: “I’d been filming in
South Africa on Women in Love when it happened. My career was starting to look really promising and even my agent had told me it was ‘my time’ as the phone started to ring regularly.
“Women in Love was a big project for me and everything was looking brilliant. When the accident happened, I was devastated. I wasn’t that bothered about the physical stuff, as I knew I would get better eventually.
“And I was never particularly vain either, so I didn’t mind that I had been scarred. The biggest thing that affected me was losing my career. I had worked so hard and it was gone.”
It took 18 months before she managed to pluck up the courage to audition.
“I was badly scarred and I was still needing treatment,” she says. “The script would say things like ‘she runs away’ and I’d think ‘nope’.
“It was two-and-ahalf years later when I got a bit part.
“I got a few – mostly playing prostitutes or abused partners because I had scars.”
Despite having to start again from scratch, Sammy was determined to try and get back on her feet. She began doing m some stand-up comedy routines, then st performed in pantomimes and appeared in a few TV comedies before sa landing the part of Nicole. to
“It came out of nowhere,” she says. “I Ca was so happy. Even the commute from to
»From crash that threatened career to dream acting job »Now Dr Nicole to face similar trauma on BBC's hit soap
my home in Northumberland to the tudios in Cardiff didn’t matter. “The irony is that when my friends aw pictures after my crash, they used o say, ‘you look like you could be in asualty’. What an incredible surprise o be able to say now I am in Casualty.”
As viewers will soon learn, there are more eerie echoes of real life in the storyline. Sammy explains: “My character was driving and she has carried the guilt all her life. “She really loves Rosie and they have been friends since their teens. “Rosie desperately wants a child and so that’s why Nicole has offered to be the surrogate mum for her.”
And Sammy also offered to be a surrogate for a close friend after she had a heart transplant.
She says: “If you have a heart transplant, having children can put a strain on you and you can be ill, so I offered to be a surrogate mum. “Eventually, everyone involved decided it wasn’t the best decision. But I wanted her to have that as an option. It’s something people don’t talk about a lot, but you have romantic relationships and love and platonic relationships and love. “I absolutely love my closest friends and I would do anything for them.”
After all the hurdles she has jumped since her accident, Sammy says being in Casualty is a dream come true.
“Everyone has been so welcoming,” she adds. “It’s a great place to work.”
Life away from work is going well for Sammy, too, who is engaged to graphic designer Graeme, 38.
She says: “I was supposed to move to London before the crash, but didn’t and I met him locally. I really do think everything happens for a reason.”
■ Casualty is on Saturday at 8.35pm on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.