Martine McCutcheon has revealed she feared killing Hugh Grant on her first day of filming Love Actually. 

The former EastEnders star played Hugh’s love interest Natalie in the 2003 festive romcom and said her first day on set proved to be pretty nerve-wracking. 

Her first scene was the one in which the whole cast filmed their various reunions at Heathrow Airport, with Martine tasked with jumping into the arms of Hugh’s character, prime minister David. 

Martine recalled filming the scene as “wonderful” but explained that jumping into Hugh’s arms hadn’t proved as easy as it looked on screen. 

Speaking to the PA news agency, she said: “It was one of the only times that everybody was together, if not the only time, and you realise that all these people are actually connected in some way without realising necessarily.

“It was just so special to look around and see everyone around us, Oscar winners, the talent on that set that day was unbelievable.

“But I was really nervous because I had to run and jump on Hugh, that was my first scene, and I was thinking ‘Oh my God, I’m going to kill him!’”

Martine continued: “He was like ‘Come on, go for it’, and I was so nervous because I had never had to jump on anybody in a scene in my life and now as I do it, it’s with the heartthrob that is Hugh Grant, in front of everybody, in front of all these amazing actors, and what if I knock him out? What if I do something wrong?

“And every time I ran up to do it, I stopped.”

She added: “Hugh called me Teeny, and he was like ‘Come on Teeny, you can do it,’ and I was so scared I was going to hurt him or knock him over or something.

“Luckily everything went great and we did good, he was fine, he can handle it. He makes it all look effortless.”

Last year, Hugh also spoke of his highs and lows of making the film, revealing one scene in particular that was “absolute hell” to film.