Denise Welch was over the moon to land her role in Channel 5 thriller Forever Home, but the actress was soon facing a terrifying health emergency that left her fearing she had lost the job.
In August, Denise announced she was leaving Loose Women after almost 25 years, telling fans she wanted to focus on her “first love” – acting.
The star said a “new wave of acting opportunities” had helped prompt her decision, with one of those opportunities being the role of Moira Crottie in C5’s six-part thriller Forever Home.
The series starts on Monday, September 14, with Denise playing the mother of Amy Nuttall’s character Carol, who makes a disturbing discovery in her basement. Could her husband Robert (Douglas Henshall) really be a killer?
However, just as Denise was preparing to get to work on the highly anticipated drama, a frightening medical emergency put the whole thing in jeopardy…
‘You’ll be blind’
As reported in Cultured Northeast, Denise had fought hard to secure the role of Moira and even persuaded producers of BBC One’s Waterloo Road to release her in time for filming in Northumberland. Then, on the journey there, everything changed.
Denise visited an opticians after experiencing problems with her eye while driving to Northumberland. The optician immediately referred her to a retinal surgeon.
The warning she received was terrifying. She recalled being told: “If I don’t operate on you by six o’clock, you’ll be blind! Turns out I had a fully detached retina which had folded over.”
Understandably, Denise feared the worst for her new role.
She added: “I rang my agent in floods of tears because I thought I was going to lose the job. But the producers were amazing. They supported me and completely changed the shooting schedule. Two weeks later I was well enough and physically healed to return. But basically couldn’t see anything out of my right eye for another six weeks. I was having to be guided everywhere on set.”
Denise Welch on ‘most challenging day of filming Forever Home’
Getting back to work was one thing, but filming Forever Home while unable to see properly brought a whole new challenge for Denise. The detached retina meant she needed surgery and had to delay filming, but the production team waited for her to return.
Denise explained: “The production were amazing because they waited for me to come back. Although it looks okay onscreen, I couldn’t see out of my right eye. We were filming in a wood with a steep fall down the side. The producers – it made me laugh so much – were so terrified. My eye surgeon said: ‘You can go back to work but you’re not going to be doing anything silly, are you?’ I said: ‘No, don’t be ridiculous. Of course I’m not.’
“Fast forward to a night shoot in the pouring rain, sliding all over with mud, harnessed because we were doing something down by the river, I’m half blind, thinking: ‘If my doctor could see me now!’ It was challenging. But I was really looked after. As soon as I stepped out of a trailer there was somebody there to help me saying ‘come on, Nana’. Taking me everywhere.”
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