Martine McCutcheon has spoken about the moment she feared she would knock Hugh Grant unconscious on her first day filming on the set of Love Actually.
The 44-year-old former EastEnders star plays the Downing Street tea lady who falls in love with Hugh's prime minister in the 2003 Christmas film.
Her first day on set saw her filming the final scene at Heathrow Airport, requiring her to leap into Hugh's arms.
Speaking about her nerves, Martine said: "It feels really clear, it's something that I will never forget and I was so excited, I was so nervous, I was so grateful to be there.
"I was in disbelief that I was there, and it was a real pinch-me moment."
She added: "Our first day of filming was actually filming the last scene which was the Heathrow scene and that was wonderful, it was one of the only times that everybody was together, if not the only time, and you realise that all these people are actually connected in some way without realising necessarily.
"It was just so special to look around and see everyone around us, Oscar winners, the talent on that set that day was unbelievable."
It was the moment when she had to fling herself at Hugh that gave Martine her biggest worry, mainly because she thought she might flatten him.
She said: "But I was really nervous because I had to run and jump on Hugh, that was my first scene, and I was thinking 'Oh my God, I'm going to kill him!'"
Martine said that Hugh encouraged her to put her fears behind her and let herself go for that moment.
She continued: "He was like 'Come on, go for it', and I was so nervous because I had never had to jump on anybody in a scene in my life and now as I do it, it's with the heartthrob that is Hugh Grant, in front of everybody, in front of all these amazing actors, and what if I knock him out? What if I do something wrong?
"And every time I ran up to do it, I stopped.
"Hugh called me Teeny, and he was like 'Come on Teeny, you can do it,' and I was so scared I was going to hurt him or knock him over or something."
It turned out that Hugh lived to act another day and Martine breathed a huge sigh of relief.
She concluded: "Luckily everything went great and we did good, he was fine, he can handle it.
"He makes it all look effortless."
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