Will Beck (Dylan) discusses what’s ahead for Dylan in the 40th Anniversary two-parter ..
Casualty has tackled major incidents before, but these episodes feel particularly ambitious. What was your reaction when you first read the scripts?
I’ve been on the show a long time and I have indeed seen a few major incidents, but these episodes had Dylan at the centre of it in a way that he hasn’t been before. What’s really powerful about this is the tension and the pressure that this sort of incident can cause. You have to be more creative about how you take audiences on a ride that’s entertaining as well as traumatic. The trauma is relatively easy to deliver, but the entertainment and the drama are down to something in between.
Dylan is the person everyone turns to during a crisis, but here we see him pushed to breaking point. What interested you most about exploring that vulnerability?
Seeing how people respond under pressure can take you by surprise. The opportunity to give people something that feels authentic and recognisable but also surprises them – that’s gold dust in TV.
With Dylan, there’s a real opportunity to explore what happens when the person everyone relies on is pushed to his limits. I know it’s been said that Dylan doesn’t like the responsibility of leading the department, but I think he does. It’s a lovely opportunity, and a real privilege, to lead the audience through this story – particularly for the 40th anniversary. It really is pinch-yourself stuff.
One of the emotional anchors of the episodes is Dylan’s relationship with Stevie. Why has their friendship resonated so strongly with viewers?
Partly because Elinor [Lawless] is great, and Stevie is just such a brilliant character. If you put a character like Stevie in a room and let her do her thing, sparks are going to fly. Dylan and Stevie are entertaining because they don’t try too hard with each other. They don’t come into contact very frequently, but when they do, there’s always something interesting going on between them.
Dylan has become one of Casualty’s most enduring characters. Are there elements of yourself that have found their way into him over the years?
Part of the way I approach playing Dylan is that if I feel myself putting too much of myself into him, that’s quite a red flag. You want to avoid it where possible. But if you base the choices you make in a scene on the authenticity of the character, then there’s absolutely no reason to say that they can’t be a certain way. So, I try and make sure that any changes in Dylan are consistent with the character.
Why do you think audiences continue to see themselves reflected in Holby ED?
It’s a unique environment. The Emergency Department is somewhere that we all have experience of, most frequently when we really don’t want it. We’re thrown in with people who are entirely at random, which is such an amazing environment to make a drama.
People recognise it and have sympathy for those who work there and for the people being treated there. It’s also something that we know we’re lucky to have, and we continue to fight for. My parents both worked for the NHS and are avid supporters of it, but it didn’t make them, or me, blind to the huge difficulties that it faces. Everybody recognises that.
