She may be incarcerated in Holloway Prison, but EastEnders' Little Mo Slater executed an escape act Houdini would have been proud of to open a new ward at Barnet Hospital on Friday.

The convicted murderer or at least Kasey Ainsworth, the actress who plays her opened the hospital's Woodlands Unit, a state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre which will provide all forms of therapy for patients.

The actress talked about her experiences in filming those dramatic domestic violence scenes with on-screen hubby Trevor Alex Ferns.

"The scenes were incredibly demanding but I don't have to live it so I can take it off and go home. It is very difficult though when you're inhabiting a character for 14 hours a day as it is pretty difficult to shake them off. The great thing about Mo is that she is very different from me."

Due to the BBC1 show's popularity, Kasey admitted she has had enormous support from the public. "You get a lot of people shouting out to you in the street and I've had loads of letters from people who have been in the same situation as Mo."

Referring to the emotional scenes when her character was sent to prison, Kasey said she did not have to resort to artificial means to generate her tears.

"We have a little saying, Slaters don't use tear stick'. "A lot of actors use tear stick, and I'm not naming names, but it's something none of us appear to have to do and that's a testament to the writing but also to the commitment of the actors. So yeah, all the crying is real. You should see me afterwards they have to do a terrible patch-up job on me in the make-up chair just to make me look half normal."

July 4, 2002 10:30