Casualty star reveals hidden link to on-screen mum after emotional episode
Casualty‘s Sammy Dobson has revealed a behind-the-scenes link to co-star Sharon Percy.
Dobson, who has been playing junior doctor Nicole Piper since 2024, has been at the centre of an emotional storyline that reunited her with a former co-star.
In recent scenes, Nicole has been seeking answers about her childhood, heading to Newcastle to meet her birth mum Tina, played by Percy.
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On Instagram, Dobson explained that she and Percy go way back and Casualty isn’t the first time they’ve played mother and daughter.
“I was absolutely over the moon when I found out @sharonpercy.71 was playing my Mam. AGAIN!” Dobson wrote on Instagram, accompanying some BTS snaps.
BBC Studios
“Because in 2012 she played my Mam in a play, Chalet Lines at The Live Theatre in Newcastle,” the soap star wrote, posting a picture from the theatre production.
“I absolutely loved working with her then and I knew it was going to make doing these scenes so much easier! We had such a good week together – even if we were crying solidly for almost all of it! Best fake Mam I’ve ever had!”
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Dobson also praised Carol Ball, who plays Tina’s mum and Nicole’s grandma Ruth, saying she was “the most fun, naughty, upbeat and flexible woman” she ever met.
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The Nicole actor also weighed in on the emotional toll the scenes have taken on her.
“And what an episode for poor Nicole! It was brilliant filming that ep but so, so hard,” she noted.
“My heart broke for a person with my face who doesn’t actually exist…”
In Newcastle, Nicole heads to Tina’s house, where she’s mistaken for a district nurse. She plays along, ending up tending to Tina’s mum Ruth and getting to know both women better until Tina discovers her real identity.
Nicole learns Tina wasn’t a drug addict as she’d always thought and is hurt that she could’ve taken her out of foster care at any moment. Tina, however, insisted she couldn’t have cared for them both.
While in Newcastle, Nicole receives the devastating news that her foster sister Cassie’s life support was switched off and begins her journey back for a tearful goodbye.