TV Times – 13 July 2019

Mean is fun!

DRAMA

Casualty

SATURDAY / BBC1 / 8.25PM

DRAMA

E

xecutive troubleshooter

Ciaran Coulson made an

unforgettable entrance

on his first day in Holby ED

back in June.

From publicly slow-clapping clinical lead

Connie Beauchamp to telling charge nurse

Jacob Masters to put his mum in a home,

it was clear that Ciaran – played by Rick

Warden – wasn’t interested in making friends.

Since then, Ciaran has continued to

divide loyalties on the wards as he wages

war with show favourite Connie (Amanda

Mealing) who is in the throes of post-

traumatic stress disorder and secretly

addicted to anti-anxiety medication.

But is Ciaran really all bad? After all, he’s

attempting to help registrar Archie Hudson

clear her name, has sincerely apologised to

Duffy for misjudging her and, when left to

his own devices, has the ED running like

clockwork. Plus he has an abundance of

wicked one-liners!

TV Times booked an appointment for

an exclusive interview with Rick, 47, whose

previous credits include Happy Valley and

Indian Summers, to find out how he feels

about playing the show’s ‘Mr Mean’...

Are you enjoying playing troublemaker...

sorry, we mean troubleshooter, Ciaran?

The Casualty team is fantastic and I’m

having fun with Ciaran. He’s Napoleonic,

arrogant and ruthless. You need somebody

you don’t like in a drama. Playing someone

as unpleasant as Ciaran is good fun in the

moment, but when people are saying, ‘I hate

this bloke,’ or, ‘Look what he’s done to Duffy,’

it’s hard not to take it personally sometimes.

I just try to maintain a sense of humour.

Did you realise he was going to provoke

such a strong reaction from viewers?

[Laughing] No! I wasn’t prepared. The

Casualty fans are game for fun on Twitter

and I didn’t know what approach to take, so

figured I’d dive in and enjoy pretending to

be Ciaran. He’s been nicknamed ‘Mr Mean’

online. I haven’t had people stop me in the

supermarket, as I don’t look very much like

Ciaran – I’m not bearded – and I don’t

behave like him! Although a couple of

schoolkids did come up to me and say

Ciaran was the best doctor in Casualty,

which is quite worrying, really!

CASUALTY’S TOP FIVE VILLAINS

TOM HARVEY

Kieron Forsyth

While stalking doctor Holly Miles

(Sandra Huggett), anaesthetist

Tom also made pregnant Duffy

a widow in 2001

when he killed

her husband

Andrew

(Philip

Bretherton).

PETE GUILDFORD

Adam James

Nurse Claire Guildford’s (Leanne

Wilson) brother raped receptionist

Bex (Sarah Manners) in 2005, but

Claire lied for

him in court.

Bex later

pushed

him to

his death.

WARREN CLEMENTS

Stephen Lord

Nurse Kirsty Clements’ (Lucy

Gaskell) husband Warren was a

skilled manipulator with a violent

temper. In 2011,

their daughter

Nita (Holly

Earl) shoved

him down

the stairs.

Ciaran has encouraged nurse Duffy

(Cathy Shipton) to step down and now

plans to expose Connie’s medical

mistakes. Is he difficult to defend?

It’s quite hard because he’s not nice; his

manner is abrasive and he’s ruthless. But

let’s not forget the job he’s been given is to

root out issues in the ED. People’s lives are

at stake. I’m going to fight his corner!

What are his good points?

He’s not particularly pleasant or affable,

but when he makes a mistake – as he did

with Duffy – he admits it and apologises.

He also sees that Archie’s been wronged

and wants to find out the truth.

Which brings us to Connie...

Ciaran knows a mistake has been made

during a procedure between Connie and

Archie [in a previous episode]. Ciaran

didn’t see ownership of that error from

Archie – she wasn’t saying, ‘I’m really sorry,

I made a mistake.’ What Ciaran sees is

Connie Beauchamp telling him Archie

made the mistake. He smells a rat!

Excitingly, Archie and Ciaran have

teamed up against Connie. How would

you describe their relationship?

Some people would cynically suggest he’s

found an ally, but it’s more than that. What

develops between Ciaran and Archie is

more than a relationship of convenience

or politics. There’s something underneath,

and they definitely become friends.

Could Ciaran have sympathy for Connie?

A lot of Connie’s stresses pre-date his

arrival. He’s exacerbated them, but he

certainly didn’t create them. If he had all

the information, he’d be sympathetic – up to

a point. But if it goes down in resus, do you

want Duffy or Connie, who might mix up

medication or get things wrong, or Ciaran?

This week he turns the heat up on Connie

when the ED’s overrun after a prison riot.

What can you tell us about that?

You’d think Connie’s earlier eviction of

him from her office would give her some

room – but actually it doubles the pressure.

The trouble is, when someone as arrogant

as Ciaran meets someone like Connie,

they just can’t easily be in the same space.

Then disaster looms further when Connie

asks Duffy to help in resus... I know it

can come across that Ciaran dislikes

Duffy, but his problem was with her being

in a position of responsibility and suffering

early-onset dementia. There are some

sensitive, nuanced scenes coming up

between Ciaran and Duffy where he relies

on her to be a witness. There’s blood in the

water and he wants to get to the source of

it. But I don’t think Ciaran knows what he’s

getting into with Mrs Beauchamp...

Elaine Reilly

Star Rick Warden tells us his Casualty

villain doesn’t see himself as a baddie...

Clash: Duffy and

Ciaran have had

their differences

CASUALTY IS PREVIEWED ON PAGES 32-

PHOTOS: BBC, BBC/ALISTAIR HEAP, BBC/ADRIAN ROGERS, ITV

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