Vickie, Sun Hill receptionist Marilyn Chambers, swerved to avoid a lorry pulling out in front of her and her car tumbled down an embankment.

The actress said she then had a “spiritual experience” while her Honda Civic rolled over and over.

She told TV Biz: “I thought ‘this is it — I’m going to die’.

“I wasn’t scared but I remember feeling sad that at 29 I was too young to die.

“I wondered what heaven would be like and imagined my funeral. The most tragic feeling was how I’d miss my family and husband.

“But I felt someone was in the car with me. I believed in guardian angels. Now I know they exist. When my head hit the windscreen I went unconscious. A white picket fence covered in flowers came into my mind. Maybe it was an out-of-body experience.”

Vickie had been driving from London to her home in Wirral, Merseyside, five weeks ago when the crash happened. When she came round she rang 999 on her mobile and was cut free by firemen.

She escaped with injuries to her face, shoulder and internal bruising.

Vickie, who quits the ITV1 cop drama starring Jeff Stewart, 49, as Reg Hollis in January, said: “It put my life in perspective.

“Before I was burning myself out.”