Her long-established role as Casualty’s charge nurse Lisa ‘Duffy’ Duffin has made her one of the most recognised faces on British television. But none of that on-screen experience in medical crises prepared Cathy Shipton for the real-life situation she and her partner had to face when, after years of trying, specialists told them they would never conceive a child naturally.

“I remember the moment exactly - it was November 1999...I cry even now remembering it,” recalls the 44-year-old actress, who had been trying for four years to start a family with her actor/musician boyfriend Christopher Guard.

The doctors suggested the couple try IVF. Their first attempt failed. Cathy felt heartbroken, but she was unwilling to give up all hope, because by then she had heard of possible links between the alternative health treatment reflexology and women managing to conceive.

No one knows exactly why or how it may have made a difference, but three months after a reflexologist started working on Cathy’s feet, the actress was pregnant.

“Do you believe in miracles?” she asked Christopher when the pregnancy test showed positive. And when Tallulah Grace Lily was born in March this year, her parents both answered a heartfelt “yes”.

For the full story of Casualty star Cathy Shipton and her baby daughter, read this week’s HELLO, on sale now.