Abbey Johnson is among the scene-stealers in the fourth episode of Geordie Hospital as she tells viewers about her - occasionally gory - job as a dental nurse at the Newcastle Dental Hospital at the RVI.
Abbey also opens up about her struggles with anorexia - and how she decided to become a dental nurse after an occupational therapist suggest her "lovely teeth" might stand her in good stead, while she was an inpatient in Darlington.
The Walker -born woman - who went to Benfield School - told ChronicleLive about her Geordie Hospital experience.
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"I was just in the right place at the right time - or the wrong place at the wrong time depending on your point of view," she said. "I'm a pretty bubbly person and just explained a bit about what I do and how I got into this.
"I really enjoyed it though, it was a bit strange having somebody following you around for the day, but it makes you think about you job you have.
"They asked things about what I do in my work, why did I get into it, that sort of thing. The questions you're never asked when you have a job - it was refreshing, you just don't think about it."
Abbey said she felt her background as a performer - she was a talented youth dancer - meant she enjoyed the TV experience. But she also spoke of how exciting it was to share aspects of her job with the world.
"It's nice that people can see what we are doing day-to-day. When people think of the dentist they think of their general day-to-day dentist. But with us being the dental emergency hospital, well it's like A&E for teeth!
"A lot of people don't like seeing teeth getting pulled out, but for us that's nothing."
Abbey, 30, explained that some of the more wince-inducing dental procedures didn't make her bat an eyelid, and she said this was important when it came to patient care.
She continued: "A member of the TV production team was watching us take teeth out and you could see them squirming but for us it's just the day-to-day. And it's far better to have the focus on the patient than on you feeling a bit squeamish."
As for watching herself on telly, Abbey said she had cried an awful lot as she made her way through the Geordie Hospital episodes - and said she was inspired by her colleagues too.
"I was amazed, you see all these things that people are doing around the hospitals. All of these people you walk around the hospital past doing amazing things," she said.
"I feel really proud to work here."
In the show, Abbey talks movingly about struggling with anorexia in her early 20s. A high-achiever at school and in the dance hall, becoming an adult and struggling to find her place in life left her lost and led to illness.
She said she had no qualms about speaking out on TV.
"I have always been quite an open person. I have always been comfortable talking about it because it's not something I'm embarrassed about. If that hadn't happened then I wouldn't be where I am now with my family.
"And along the way at work, there are people who have reached out to me for help, too, so I want to keep talking about how you recover."
Abbey who has a young daughter, speaks about how anorexia led to her spending extended time in hospital, but it was at Darlington Hospital that she first investigated Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust's apprenticeship programme and started on the way to becoming a nurse.
"Since that happened I have had such a different outlook on life. If I had had someone in front of me then who had recovered, then I would have really been helped by that. But that wasn't there for me.
"If it could make a difference to just one person that's all I need - just to let them know there's a way forward and a way out. When you have anorexia you don't think there's a way out."
Geordie Hospital now airs on Channel 4 on Tuesdays from 8pm. The whole series is available on All4.
