BIG BOOTS TO FILL source?
Maggie O’Neill was surprised by how much responsibility cam with her new part in Peak Practice. Walking onto the set of an established drama series is never easy, but Maggie O’Neill had some very big boots to fill in Peak Practice.
She knew that viewers were still mourning the death of Dr Joanna Graham, played by Haydn Gwynne, but she didn’t realise the extent of their grief.
"I’d been filming for four weeks and was taking a taxi home," says Maggie. "The driver asked me what I did. When I told him that I was an actress and had just started on Peak Practice, he let rip.
He said: "You’re not bloody taking over Hadyn Gwynne’s part, are you? Oh no, you’re going to destroy it. I really loved her." And he did this all the way home. By the time I got out, he apologised. But that’s when I realised what I was taking over. I thought I could be the one who finishes the whole series off!"
Maggie plays Dr Alex Redman, a former army doctor who was based in Bosnia. Apart from the trauma she witnessed in the war-torn state, she is also recently separated from her husband. Life at The Beeches is a far cry from the injuries she had to treat in the Balkans.
In the second episode, Dr Alex found herself delivering a baby with serious complications. "The baby had the umbilical cord stuck around it’s neck and Alex saved it. She operated on a car-crash victim, did biopsies and even treated a young man with breast cancer. I didn’t even realise that breast cancer existed in men."
Unfortunately, cancer is something that Maggie has had to confront in real life – the disease killed her father, Tom, four years ago. "He had oesophageal cancer and became very thin. One day, he came out o hospital and mum took him for a walk around the block. One of the neighbours was out walking her Labrador. The dog saw Dad and jumped up at him knocking him over. This poor woman was frantically apologising and Dad just said: "Don’t worry. He probably thinks I’m a big bone!" He had such a great sense of humour."