Casualty’s Melanie Hill reveals joy at reuniting with Bread co-star for BBC drama’s groundbreaking Christmas Special

CASUALTY star Melanie Hill has revealed her joy at reuniting with her former Bread co-star.

The pair have got together for the long-running BBC medical drama's groundbreaking Christmas Special.

Melanie, 62, has had a number of major roles across a string of prominent TV projects.

She was well known for her role as Maggie Budgen in the hit school drama Waterloo Road.

The star also played the role of Cathy Matthews on ITV's Coronation Street for seven years from 2015 until 2022.

Kay Mellor cast her as Julie Travers in the third instalment of the hit BBC One drama series, The Syndicate, alongside Lenny Henry.

But earlier this year she joined the medical series as Clinical Nurse Manager, Siobhan McKenzie.

She will once again reprise the role in the highly-anticipated Christmas special.

And she got to reunite with her former co-star Katy Carmichael, 54.

The pair originally became firm friends on the set of the sitcom Bread in 1991.

Whilst Melanie was the second actress to star as one of the main characters called Aveline, Katy played the smaller role of Connie in four episodes of the seventh series.

Ahead of the Casualty Christmas special, Melanie gushed over the duo's on-set reunion.

She explained: "I loved working with Katy Carmichael and seeing her again.

"I was on one of her first ever jobs, a sitcom called ‘Bread’ in the 80s. So, it was lovely shooting with her."

The star also has a personal connection to the 'innovative and format-breaking' episode.

A trailer for the upcoming episode has teased a devastating car crash and Melanie teased that viewers will gain an insight into the miracle of giving blood.

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But she also explained how she couldn't help but think of her family when she was on set because of the themes in the show.

When asked what she wants viewers to get out of the episode, she admitted: "The main character in the Christmas episode is the blood.

"There’s a bag of blood that is donated and we follow it through the entire episode... I hope that the miracle of blood will be more present in their minds."

She added: "My dad gave blood all his life and he got the special badge when he gave 50 pints of blood.

"My sister kept it after he passed because she gives blood too, so the episode does make me think about my dad a lot.

The Casualty Christmas special airs on BBC One at 9:20pm on Saturday 21 December and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.