Wild at Heart

Jan 11 2009 by Ian Robson, Sunday Sun

STEPHEN TOMPKINSON admits he has a soft spot for one of his co-stars in returning drama Wild at Heart.

The Teesside-born actor says he always enjoys filming with Hamley the giraffe, and said the animal often puts its head on his shoulder as he prepares for his role as vet Danny Trevanion.

Stephen said: “I have a dressing room with a balcony and, most mornings, Hamley is there with his head on my shoulder.

“I have done an awful lot of work with him this year, which paid off in a storyline for episode nine.

“I said we could use Hamley a lot because he’s very comfortable with me. So they wrote in the story where Danny — unconscious and alone in the bush, — gets protected by a giraffe.

“But I didn’t know Hamley would stand over me while a helicopter was coming in to land . . . he only left at the last second!

“I had quite a lot of blood make-up, which was a bit disturbing for him, but it’s made out of syrup so he enjoyed having a lick of it.

“When I was lying on the ground, he was very careful with his feet.”

The new series begins with Danny picking up the pieces of his life following the death of his wife Sarah.

V WILD AT HEART, ITV1, today, 8.30pm.