Here's how Casualty pulled off that 30th anniversary helicopter stunt

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Casualty's 30th anniversary special featured one of the biggest stunts EVER in the history of the show, but how did they pull it off?

Saturday's episode saw a drone collide with an air ambulance that was carrying Connie's daughter Grace to the hospital. The helicopter went on to fall from the sky and crash into the hospital grounds.

The spectacular scenes were met with shock and awe by the Casualty audience, and now new behind the scenes footage has revealed how they pulled off the stunt, including suspending the helicopter with wires before it was catapulted onto the back of an ambulance.

After the initial damage done during the first take, the second take meant that the helicopter had to be held together with gaffer tape. Because gaffer tape fixes everything, naturally.

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"We first came up with the helicopter idea a couple of years ago, and it started out as a plane that was going to fall on the ED. But over time the plane became a helicopter," says executive producer Oliver Kent.

"So it took a lot of time to get it from that central image to actually what you see on the screen."

The stunt certainly looked incredible on screens, but it has since been blasted as "insensitive" by an air ambulance service, who added that it wasn't a storyline they supported.

Before the episode aired, the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity wrote on Facebook that they were approached by the show's producers to assist, but had to "politely decline".

Casualty marked its 30th anniversary with a feature-length broadcast last night (August 27) and the drama continues next Saturday (September 3) at 9.10pm on BBC One.

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