Casualty star William Beck confirms Dylan’s new storyline will ‘break the internet’

William Beck has played Dylan Keogh since 2011 (Picture: BBC)

Tonight’s episode of Casualty will mark the final instalment of the show’s latest boxset, Supply and Demand.

The main focus for this mini-series has been trying to identify who has been responsible for tampering with drugs and stealing them from the hospital. A couple of weeks ago, pharmacist Sunny Callahan (Jamie Marie Leary) was confirmed as the culprit, trapped in a nightmare due to her son’s involvement with a gang. 

One of the many storylines happening alongside this has been Ngozi Okoye’s (Adesuwa Oni) journey of recovering from her recent alcohol relapse.

She has been supported by fellow AA attendee Dylan Keogh (William Beck). It took her a bit of time, but Ngozi eventually became quite grateful for Dylan’s help.

Last week, Ngozi said goodbye to her family in the ED ahead of her return to Lagos. Her son Obi admitted that he wasn’t enjoying life in England anymore and wanted to go home. 

It pained her to say yes, but Ngozi wanted Obi to be happy and agreed to pack up their things. It meant saying goodbye to Dylan and also ex-girlfriend Nicole Piper (Sammy T Dobson).

Dylan has battled an alcohol addiction in the past (Picture: BBC)

While the spotlight has mainly been on Ngozi in this story, we’ve also seen Dylan’s own arc as he grew to care about the nurse.

For William Beck who plays him, he’s found it interesting to revisit Dylan’s relationship with alcohol, but from a slightly different angle. 

‘I think Dylan’s probably found an unaccustomed relief in being the lightning rod, rather than the lightning’, he told me in our latest chat. 

‘The time that’s passed since Dylan’s last relapse means he does feel relatively comfortable about offering help to somebody. I think he admires Ngozi’s capacity to be strong and determined, and in a funny sort of way, admires her denying that there’s a problem at all.’

‘Her circumstances are just so against her, and he knows that fight is the only thing that’ll ultimately see her through. He’s determined to harness that and I think he experiences an unexpected satisfaction being able to do that.

‘But because this is the cursed city of Holby, things don’t go to plan!’.

They really don’t.

In tonight’s episode, Nicole decides she wants to try and stop Ngozi from leaving. Her shift ends and Siobhan McKenzie (Melanie Hill) chooses to race her across town and to the airport.

Siobhan’s driving skills are questionable to say the least, and a few times you watch the chaotic and joyful scenes through your fingers, wondering if either of them will become a victim to a tragic event.

It’s neither of them though – it’s Ngozi. 

Ngozi left last week ahead of her flight back to Lagos (Picture: BBC)

When Nicole arrives at the airport, she discovers Ngozi has collapsed in the bathroom after relapsing. She’s sent to the ED, where it becomes a race against time as Ngozi’s friends and colleagues battle to try and save her.

Discussing how Dylan may cope if Ngozi doesn’t pull through, Will said: ‘He’s going to want to be involved. He’s going to want to get to the bottom of what went wrong, if something went wrong. 

‘Her struggles are very intense, and they’re very hard on both her and her son. The people around her want her to be at peace. I don’t know, if the worst came to the worse, there may be a degree of comfort in that.

‘He just needs to reach out for support. Whatever place he finds himself in, I think it’s going to be a measure of just how well he’s adjusted.’

Will Beck had some intriguing comments to make about Dylan’s future (Picture: BBC)

When I interview any soap star it’s important to try and get spoilers from them about their character’s future. After putting this forward to Will, his response left me pretty surprised.

‘I don’t think there is any way I can answer that question without breaking the internet’, he teased.

‘It’s big. It’s really big. In fact, it’s about six foot two.’

Sounds intriguing!

Earlier this year, the BBC revealed that Casualty had been put out to competitive tendering, a process that will decide which producer makes the show – though the BBC will retain all the rights for the programme.

A new production company will make the show (Picture: BBC)

While this development won’t impact the future of the medical drama, it will change the foundations of the series. Casualty is set in the Emergency Department of Holby City Hospital, but this won’t be the case once the new production company takes over.

It means the ED will be set in Wales, rather than the fictional city of Holby.

Will is looking forward to seeing what happens next with Casualty, once this process has been completed.

‘It’s going to be really exciting. Those parameters we have been given, to fulfill, are really exciting and I think unprecedented’, he explained.

‘EastEnders is the same age as us. What they’ve achieved is incredible, but we were not conceived as a soap or continuing drama. 

‘We don’t satisfy the genre rules, we have too many guest cast, so this reimagining that’s taking place at the moment, that’s a great way of saying that’s 40 years in the bank, let’s look to the next 40.’

He added: ‘What we will have on the other side of it is a huge opportunity. Three years, at least, to demonstrate that not just the creatives that we have here, but that Wales is going to be a place that offers drama, set as it so happens in Wales.

‘That’s so exciting, to be making a show that happens to be set in a place with so much potential.’

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