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Christine herself has been surprised at the success of her own character, �I don�t think anyone realised her character was going to become such a major part of the show,� and she has been receiving a fair few fan letters ranging from teenage girls to older men �It�s great that 13 year olds are interested in Lara and Patrick�s relationship� she says.
Her recent romance with Registrar Patrick Spiller, which ended in his death, had us all in tears and Christine revealed her own Mum was tearful when she watched the show in Australia! And as the series came to a close, we saw Lara slipping deeper into trouble as the police arrested her for the death of DI David Collier � who she hit with a brick as he tried to assault her.
Unfortunately for Lara fans things didn't get better for her at the start of the series when she was temporarily jailed for manslaughter. �Lara hasn�t been a happy camper for a while� says Christine �She�s had a difficult time in the last few months. She�s gone from losing her fiance to being attacked by someone�s wife she was trying to protect.
Christine enjoys playing Lara�s strong character, �Morality and strength are big attributes for Lara. But she is equally very single minded and her pride is obvious. However, she always wants to be right and can jump to conclusions without checking the details,� and the actress has also seen attributes of herself in Lara �We share a strong work ethic and her passion for life and her profession. I also love her dry sense of humour. But she is more bloody-minded than I am. I�m trying to ease off on that as I was quite career obsessed when I was young.�
With Lara in jail for approximately 10 episodes, CASUALTY also moved away from the hospital to film on location in Oxford for the prison shots �It�s a very bold move for a series like CASUALTY to do because there is a formula to the series and to take such a large storyline and to put it in a different location is a pretty unusual thing. But it�s quite exciting for everyone� and joked that she wouldn�t be wearing a prison uniform and that filming wouldn�t be like a scene from the Australian show Prisoner Cell Block H.
Series 17 also includes flashback scenes of her attack which Christine found very emotional to film ��When we did the original shoot (In Series 16) it was very tame but during the court scenes there are flashback scenes- we had to shoot these at a later date and that was very scary stuff actually. We had this massive stunt guy, and he made it look very frightening.�
Christine, who has now bought a place in Bristol because of the practicalities says she�d be quite happy to settle here, although she does occasionally get homesick �I went back to Australia recently which was lovely but I�m happy in Bristol for the time being� She�s been back to Australia a few times which she manages to fit in with her busy work schedule, �I�m finding it easier to maximise my time now, at first I used to think the flight takes 24 hours! But now I just think oh it�s a day and a night and I�m there, so I can pace myself better now!�
As well as travelling, Christine also enjoys movies and admits to being a follower of Big Brother and a fan of Sex in the City, Ab Fab, Six Feet Under and ER �when she gets the time�. She also enjoys listening to music, �Lately I�ve been listening to Ryan Adams and have his new CD Gold. But his first one Heartbreaker is still a reliable favourite as I love his folksy rock style. Stevie Wonder is also a constant in my CD collection.�
With the busy filming, she also finds other activities that help her relax, �Cooking different types of food always works for me and taking long walks is equally relaxing. But reading a good book or going for a long massages are good alternatives.�
Christine says she has another year and a half left on her CASUALTY contract, and says after that she �will take it from there and reassess my plans� but maintains she is thoroughly enjoying the show. Asked if Lara �The Ice Queen� was about to melt next series, she defended �Ooh she�s not that icy is she?!�