Gavin & Stacey star Alison Steadman may wince the next time someone wishes her ‘break a leg’ for good luck.
Ms Steadman, 78, suffered a suspected hairline fracture of her right leg and smashed her right hand in a fall at an event in the Dubai desert.
She has been in a wheelchair and ‘a lot of pain’ since the drama on Thursday but insists her show must go on.
So she will be wheeled on stage today at the Emirates Airline festival of literature in Dubai to promote her memoir, Out of Character.
She tripped and fell on a concrete walkway at an event called Desert Stanzas, in which authors and guests are driven 45 minutes out of Dubai into the desert to listen to poetry.
Ms Steadman was walking to the buffet from an area where guests sit on cushions on the floor when she fell hard, smashing her right side.
She said: ‘The path was uneven and I went flying. At the hospital I had tablets for the pain. It’s been terrible.
Alison Steadman, 78, suffered a suspected hairline fracture of her right leg and smashed her right hand in a fall at an event in the Dubai desert
Ms Steadman was walking to the buffet from an area where guests sit on cushions on the floor when she fell hard, smashing her right side
Alison has been in a wheelchair and ‘a lot of pain’ since the drama on Thursday but insists her show must go on
Ms Steadman was walking to the buffet from an area where guests sit on cushions on the floor when she fell hard, smashing her right side. Pictured: The finale of Gavin and Stacey
‘I don’t think I’ve broken my leg but I twisted it badly so there could be a hairline fracture.’
Her leg, hand and wrist are bandaged and her right foot is in a boot to help it heal. She is due to fly home tomorrow, when she will be taken to London’s Whittington hospital for more scans.
Despite the pain, she and her wheelchair were lifted on to a boat yesterday for a sunset cruise with her partner, Welsh actor Michael Elwyn, 82.
She lifted her spirits in a singalong with literary agent Luigi Bonomi, crooning along to Elvis Presley’s The Wonder of You and Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman.
