She had been diagnosed with placenta praevia, a condition where the placenta grows over the opening of the cervix, making natural birth difficult. So it is no great surprise Dawn struggled as her pregnancy had not gone according to plan. “Four weeks after having Coco, I thought to myself, ‘This is supposed to be amazing and I am not enjoying it at all.’” “It is like Chinese water torture!” exclaims the actress. Dawn Steele has always acted like she is made of stern stuff.įor her role as vet Alice Trevanion in ITV1 drama Wild at Heart, she filmed for months on end in the heat of South Africa’s bushland, stepped into cages with lions, put her hand into elephants’ mouths and got up close and personal with all manner of wild animals.Įven her co-star and on-screen husband Stephen Tompkinson describes her as “fearless”.īut nothing prepared the actress for having a baby.ĭawn, 37, gave birth to daughter Coco just over a year ago and she has few good words to say about the onslaught of labour and sleep-deprived nights of early motherhood.

Wild at heart film location