Casualty's Cathy Shipton on Duffy's death: "I wanted her to die"

But according to Cathy, the dementia-suffering Duffy was always supposed to bow out in this manner.

"I wanted the character to die because I wanted complete closure," Cathy exclusively told RadioTimes.com. "But I wanted her to be a nurse to the end."

Earlier on Saturday night, Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) had a panic when he woke up to find Duffy gone along with her nurse's uniform.

He then went on a frantic rush along her work route, figuring she would have tried to get to Holby after having her memory triggered.

Sadly he found her lying outside in the cold snow and she was rushed to hospital with severe hypothermia.

It later transpired Duffy had a brain bleed and would probably not wake up from the coma she was in following a seizure.

Sadly for Charlie, he had to make the devastating decision to donate her organs and the ED rally round as a guard of honour for Duffy's final journey in the hospital.

According to Cathy, the ending couldn't have been more appropriate.

"It all feels right," Cathy explained. "I know you can say this with hindsight but in all sorts of ways the character has been honoured.

"The things Duffy has been through, she's lived about nine lives really. It feels absolutely right to have brought it to a conclusion in the way that it has."

Casualty continues Saturday, 8th February at 8.55pm on BBC One