Casualty at 40: William Beck on Pushing his Character Dylan Keogh to Breaking Point
For four decades, Casualty has brought viewers into the heart of Holby’s Emergency Department, telling stories of extraordinary pressure, human vulnerability and the people tasked with holding everything together when crisis strikes.
As the landmark 40th anniversary approaches, the long-running drama raises the stakes once again with an ambitious major incident that places one of its most enduring characters firmly at the centre of the action: Dylan Keogh.
Played by William Beck, Dylan has long been the person colleagues turn to when circumstances become overwhelming. But this time, the pressure pushes him towards his own limits, revealing a vulnerability beneath the experience and composure audiences have come to know. Alongside the scale of the emergency, the episodes also put a spotlight on Dylan’s relationship with Consultant Stevie Nash (Played by Elinor Lawless) and explore what happens when the person everyone relies upon suddenly finds himself under extraordinary strain.
Here William Beck chats about taking his character Dylan into new territory, the enduring appeal of his friendship with Stevie, reaching Casualty’s remarkable 40th anniversary, and why, after all these years, life inside Holby ED continues to resonate so strongly with viewers.
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.
Watch the full trailer
Casualty’s 40th anniversary episode airs Saturday 5th September at 8:20pm on BBC One.
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