Casualty exclusive: William Beck on Dylan Keogh's shock double twist: ‘I’m thrilled!’

“The fact that they follow so hot on the heels of each is a jarring and dramatic spoke in the wheel. I’m always looking for a wave to surf and this one's amazing. All of a sudden these two storylines are united and you get a sudden burst of Dylan!”

“‘Bolt from the blue’ would be the best way to describe it! I remember when I was filming these scenes with Kellie Shirley, who plays Sophia, there was a ricochet of different feelings from Dylan that she misunderstands. You can see a disagreement happen before they go their separate ways [when work duties stop the conversation short], but it's not really a disagreement, just that communication is lacking. Dylan and Sophia are a couple who probably don’t do a huge amount of pillow talk and it becomes this perfect storm of misunderstanding.”

“Dylan is someone who approaches any relationship with caution, and Sophia took a novel approach to charming him, so he was sort-of alarmed by her abruptness. She’s also someone who’s cautious, however, and the reality is, they don’t know where they are with each other a lot of the time.”

“Dylan’s definitely an optimist, even though he disguises it and, I think, once he has time to absorb the thought of it, he’d be positive. Although he qualifies as an older dad I’d imagine he’d go at it full pelt, but he’d find it boring until the child could learn the periodic table! Practically, though, he’d probably be very capable and without question it would dimensionally change him. It would be fascinating to see.”

“When we first come into this episode it’s a really confusing time for Dylan, because he doesn't know what’s happening with the complaint from Aaron Bayliss [Thea’s widower and Elsie’s dad, played by Jack Wilkinson]. To Dylan it’s completely ridiculous - he knows he’s done nothing wrong, so this is the last thing he expects.”

“Seeing him under arrest is almost like a standalone episode in terms of how it hits him. Everything crashes down and nobody will believe that he hasn’t done anything wrong. There usually isn’t really an opportunity for me to escape the paddock because Dylan is, by and large, hospital bound. But this next episode was all shot in real police holding cells in Cardiff and you can just imagine going completely bananas in there if you knew you’d done nothing wrong.

“Dylan’s indignance and his intransigence about the fact that what he did [in saving baby Elsie] was right, is so total that he’s reeling and feels the most incredible frustration. He’s confused at how it could come to be that Aaron has made this allegation…”

“Yes, it’s like Dylan’s been scalded and you will see him have an almost visceral response when he realises. It’s a really complex reaction, because there’s betrayal and judgment, but also responsibility because he promised Jodie’s father Max Cristie [played by Nigel Harman, who departed the programme in March 2024] he would keep an eye on her, but I don’t think he knew what he’d taken on!"

“Oh it happens all the time! It’s the remarkable effect of being associated with one job for 13 years. When I say that I'm not like Dylan, I couldn't mean it more. Yes I went to medical school, but thankfully I immediately realised my mistake and I think the medical profession should breathe a heavy sigh of relief about that!”

“I will, but with a degree of reluctance because it’s hard to get over the shock of seeing yourself on telly - and it gets worse the older you get! But I need to know what I’m doing right and wrong on-screen because I feel accountable for Dylan. I’m looking forward to watching how everything explodes over the coming weeks! The cards are thrown up in the air and I don't think anybody knows which way they're going to fall. And if you think these storylines are impressive, wait till you see the things that I’m shooting at the moment!”