Amy Walsh's friends told her to pretend she had been "hit by a bus and beaten up by a professional boxer" when acting out her 'Emmerdale' labour scenes.
Amy Walsh
The 33-year-old actress' character Tracy Metcalfe is to give birth in upcoming episodes and Amy sought advice from her sisters, Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh and former Dales actress Sally Walsh (Lyn Hutchinson), and some pals about the experience as part of her research into the plot.
She said: "I just really love a challenge in this show, of something I've not experienced myself necessarily.
"There's loads of stuff I've not experienced myself, but there's always stuff that I can kind of relate to in some way.
"But this took a bit more prep and research, which came very easily from basically every friend I've got and both of my sisters.
"I sent some messages out the night before asking for tips.
"Some came back saying, 'Just imagine being hit by a bus and then being beaten up by a professional boxer, and then being rolled down a concrete hill and you're about there.'
"But I loved it."
Amy also admitted filming the labour scenes came "out of the blue" as they were moved forward from January to December last year to ensure they were in the can in case of any coronavirus or snow-related disruption in 2021.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz and other media, she added: "It was thrown on me out of the blue really. I thought I had the whole of Christmas to prep for it, because that was when that block was meant to start filming.
"Then just before we broke up for Christmas they said they were going to throw in those hospital scenes to that week just to get them in the can in case of any delay or COVID or snow situations in January.
"At the time I was like, 'Oh no, I've only got a week to prep this.'
"But it was such a good thing to be thrown into and not overthink, or have it weighing over me all over Christmas.
"And I loved it."
Tagged in Kimberley Walsh