Fair City star Mary-Lou McCarthy has told RTÉ Entertainment that the exit storyline for her character Tessa came as a shock.
In Thursday's episode, fans saw Tessa die after being accidentally stabbed by her brother Ciarán (Johnny Ward) as the hostage stand-off took another twist.
"I had a sense something dark was going to happen," McCarthy told RTÉ Entertainment. "Like Tessa could be imprisoned for helping Ciarán, but I certainly didn't think she would die trying to save Ciarán and Katy."
"I was told by the producer four weeks in advance," she continued. "I was asked not to tell anyone and that was tough, because I was working with my colleagues each day and couldn't say I was leaving.
"We get the scripts two weeks in advance, so then suddenly I started getting texts and phonecalls from the other actors who were definitely shocked!"
McCarthy described her last day on set as "a strange one".
"On the one hand, I was emotional as I was saying goodbye to wonderful friends I made on the show, and on the other hand I had to remain focused as we had a huge amount of difficult scenes to get through in a short space of time.
"I actually had a dress rehearsal for a show called BigKidLittleKid in the Dublin Theatre Festival that evening, so I went straight from filming the death scene in Carrigstown covered in blood, to jumping into a costume in The Ark to do a show for three to six-year-olds. It was hectic, but I'm always grateful when I can go straight from one job to the next and I'm passionate about making work for young people."
"I got to work with some incredible people during my time on Fair City," she said. "On average we shoot an episode a day so the pace can be furious for both cast and crew, but everyone works hard and supports each other.
"I have to say it's been a tough few months for everyone on the show after losing Tom Jordan [who played Charlie] and Karl Shiels [who played Robbie], but to witness how people pulled together and looked after one another was remarkable."
Away from Carrigstown, McCarthy has a number of projects in the pipeline.
"As well as being an actor I also write, so I'll be writing alongside acting for the next few months," she explained.
"I've been writing a play for children the past year with the support of the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris and Draoícht, and I'm in the early stages of developing a bilingual Irish-English feature film about my experience of Irish College - and what really goes on when you send your teenagers away for three weeks!
"In November, I'll be taking part in X-Pollinator, a new initiative to help rapidly address the gender imbalance in the Irish film industry and I'm really excited about that."
Fair City airs on RTÉ One on Sundays and Tuesdays to Thursdays.
