The star spoke out about the terrifying fall that took more than a year to recover from.
Former Emmerdale star Siân Reeves, known for playing the unhinged Sally Spode on the long-running ITV soap, admitted she feared her career was “finished” after a horrific accident left her feeling “weak” and “exposed.” In her autobiography, 40 “Miserable” Years, the 59-year-old reflected on the ordeal, explaining that it happened shortly after she left BBC’s EastEnders to begin rehearsals for the play Vernon God Little at the Young Vic.
She revealed the incident occurred during the show’s technical rehearsal. When a break was called, she stepped off the stage, unaware that a trapdoor had accidentally been left open. “One second I was standing on firm ground, and the next there was nothing beneath me. I fell. It wasn’t a dramatic tumble with screams or waving arms — it was sudden, violent, absolute,” she wrote.
Reeves said the pain was “intense,” and after being rushed to hospital, she learned she had suffered a punctured lung, 22 fractured ribs, and an injury to her foot.
She confessed that she was “terrified” she might “never set foot in a theatre again,” believing, as she lay in her hospital bed, that “this could be the end of my career.”
But the harshest blow came later. She discovered that the young woman from the production office who had gone with her to the hospital hadn’t come for comfort or reassurance — she was there to assess whether Reeves would be fit enough to return for the next performance. Once it became clear her recovery wouldn’t be quick, she was dropped from the production.
“I had been flying high… and in an instant, it was gone,” she wrote, admitting she feared being forgotten and losing everything she had worked so hard to achieve.
Her healing process was slow and gruelling, and it was a full year before she was able to return to television, appearing in the BBC One drama Hope Springs alongside Strictly Come Dancing favourite Alex Kingston.
Although thrilled to be working again, she admitted that nothing can truly prepare you for navigating a film or TV set while living with “constant pain.”
Rather than letting it consume her, Siân channelled the experience into something positive, becoming involved with the charity Away With Pain to support others facing similar struggles.
Her career flourished after Hope Springs wrapped, and she moved directly into her role on Emmerdale.
For someone who once feared she’d never work again, not only was she back in demand, but she also earned a Villain of the Year nomination at the Inside Soap Awards thanks to her chilling performance.
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