THEY say one of the hardest gigs on television is working alongside animals. Well, when you’re filming a show set on a South African game park, you don’t really have much choice.

However, Dawn Steele, who plays vet Alice Collin, says that it’s no real chore. “We do so many amazing animal things. But I think the highlight for me was when I got to release a vulture, which was very amazing but very, very scary.

“When they tell you, ‘Please watch your eyes’, I was like ‘What!?’

“One of the vultures we had had taken somebody’s eyebrow off previously, which was slightly scary, but watching it fly off was unbelievable.”

Dawn also reveals an encounter with the king of the animal world.

“We also got to work with a white lion which was totally amazing.

“The white lion itself had to have fluid removed from its knee in real life, so we got to film with it. We only had 40 minutes before the lion woke up. So we had to try to film these scenes in 40 minutes with this lion under general anaesthetic, and they sleep with their eyes open which was quite scary.

“I had to put a tube down its throat, and when I did it let out a really low growl. I was inches from its face so I was like, ‘Oh, my God!”’

Dawn joined the cast of the popular drama last year and quickly settled in. She reveals: “This year it was really different, because I knew what to expect and what I was going back to.

“It’s the best job I’ve ever had; I had to pinch myself when I got it. When you’re out there you still feel like that, I’m a very, very lucky girl and it’s fantastic.”