Casualty star Aron Julius has confirmed that beloved character Dylan Keogh (William Beck) will relapse in upcoming episodes of the medical drama. Dylan has battled with an addiction to alcohol for many years. As a result of a traumatic childhood and a number of difficult events in his adult life, the surgeon has often found solace in a bottle of booze. His relationship with alcohol was revisited recently, as Dylan decided to become Ngozi Okoye’s (Adesuwa Oni) mentor. Because Dylan was in a position where he had been sober for quite a while, he was able to offer advice and guidance to Ngozi as she attempted to get control of her addiction.
Betrayal Sparks Relapse
The events that have taken place involving two people very close to Dylan are what push him to reach for alcohol very soon. Last week, he discovered son Matty Linklater (Aron Julius) and close friend Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless) had been sleeping together, and then proceeded to report Stevie to Flynn Byron (Olly Rix). Dylan will seriously struggle to process this betrayal and in future scenes, he will turn to drink.
The relapse will be witnessed by Matty, who has created his own view of Dylan’s addiction in his mind thanks to comments from his mum about his father being an ‘alky’. Discussing these scenes, and what exactly is going on in Matty’s mind when he sees Dylan taking that sip of alcohol, star Aron Julius said: ‘When you’ve grown up with someone being like, “oh you’re father’s this, and your father’s that”, I think Matty has built up a picture in his mind of what alcoholism is, or what his father is.
‘He said it to Dylan, before he knew that Dylan is his father, Matty said, “Mum binned off the sperm donor, he’s an alky”. I think when you’re faced with someone who is afflicted with those problems, you realise that alcoholism isn’t exclusive to people who are down and out. You can be at the top of your game, you can be the most impressive diagnostician in the hospital and still be afflicted with this.
‘I think Matty attaches Dylan’s alcoholism to his mum’s pain, and his mum not being able to achieve the things she wanted to achieve. I think at first there is a defensiveness to it, and there is a view of this is the problem, you’re the problem.’
Understanding and Empathy
He added: ‘It’s probably an avoidance from Matty to look at himself and look at the problems and the issues that he needs to face professionally and personally, but I think at first there is a definite connection to his mum. There is also an understanding that Matty goes on with Dylan to be able to bring these two things together.’ Even though Matty doesn’t completely understand Dylan’s relationship with alcohol, Aron is hopeful that things will change: ‘I think it deepens Matty’s understanding of what it means to have that addiction’, he said. ‘At first it is a defensive thing of, “my Mum was right”, but I think as the story goes on, there is more of an understanding, and empathy, and a sympathy.’
Aron Julius joined the cast of Casualty in January of this year as resident doctor Matty. The character is desperate to prove himself, which often impacts his relationships with his colleagues in the ED. The sexual chemistry between Matty and Stevie began following the death of fellow resident doctor Kim Chang (Jasmine Bayes). The young woman, who secretly battled an eating disorder while working within the ED, died as a result of taking a lethal overdose of appetite suppressants and weight loss medication. Matty and Stevie started their fling as a grief-fuelled coping mechanism.
Matty's Perspective
It’s been quite clear that Stevie only viewed this as a distraction from her problems, but the same cannot be said for Matty. ‘I think Matty sees it as a great love story’, Aron explained. ‘I think Matty definitely has got strong feelings for it, and they’ve both come together at quite a difficult time. Matty started with Kim, and Kim going in the way she did, he’s quite isolated, I think he feels quite alone and is struggling to find his feet personally and professionally, and I think having Stevie there is almost like a crutch.
‘I think Matty sees it as the Disney big eyes, heart pumping out of his chest moment, whereas I think Aron probably sees it more as like a fling.’ During our chat, Aron spoke about how he’d like Matty to interact more with the likes of Rida Amaan (Sarah Seggari) and Jodie Whyte (Anna Chell). The character is lacking a friendship group – and a romance that doesn’t have a whole load of drama! Teasing the possibility of Matty finding love with someone else, Aron said: ‘I’ll keep that one to myself, but what I will say is that, I think there are definitely plenty of people who Matty can poke at and tease, who tease him back and poke him back. I think there’s loads to explore with that.’
On the subject of Matty having more scenes with Rida, it got me thinking about the possibility of the character impacting the dynamic Rida has with close friend Rash Masum (Neet Mohan). Aron didn’t give anything in particular away, but did agree that his character ‘has a habit of wedging himself into dynamics that people love’. Matty’s behaviour has changed Stevie and Dylan’s dynamic, is he about to do the same with Rida and Rash?
Power Shift Ahead of HR Meeting
Before he can possibly contemplate a new love interest, Matty has more trouble to cause ahead of Stevie’s meeting with HR. In this evening’s episode, now available on BBC iPlayer, Matty spends time supporting Stevie in the lead up to her appointment. In a pretty surprising twist though, the tables then turn, and Matty realises he’s got the power to end Stevie’s career. ‘I think there’s a few things’, Aron said, discussing why Matty’s view of Stevie suddenly changes. ‘I think there is an element of that very young, immature, emotionally immature, like I feel hurt, and you’ve hurt my feelings therefore, I’m going to use that to kind of poke you.
‘I think on a serious level, I think he thinks, you’ve played me a little bit, you’ve picked me up when you want to pick me up, and you’ve dropped me when you’ve wanted to drop me, and I think he’s noticed that for the first time, and he doesn’t like it.’
