Casualty star Michael Stevenson, who plays paramedic Iain Dean has opened up about his character’s mental health as he admits things could still “overflow” for him. Back in 2019 viewers were horrified as he struggled with PTSD and eventually tried to take his own life on the long-running BBC medical drama.
In recent times he seems to have put those dark days behind him. He has reunited with his girlfriend Faith Cadogen (Kirsty Mitchell) and is enjoying being a father to her children.
However, he has also been exposed to some distressing moments of late. Not least the attempted suicide of Rash Masum (Neet Mohan) which brought back memories for him.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk Michael admits Iain is “managing” at the moment but that things could change. “He’s managing at the moment, but as we know, there’s always a potential for his cup to overfill filter so to speak.
“It’s quite a common thing that we find ourselves helping each other, and we endeavor to neglect our own personal needs. But maybe somewhere down the line things could overflow for Iain,” he admits.
“At the moment, he is kind of managing in the best way he can and his main focus is just trying to build a connection with Luca and and this family life.
“His focus is this home life which is a really, really interesting side to him that we’ve not seen before,” Michael pondered.
Despite Iain’s desire to have a normal home and family life, Michael teased it wouldn’t be that straightforward for him.
“Although he is trying his hardest to be the family man and live up to those responsibilities it’s very difficult to change the person that he is,” he concedes.
Even if he intends on settling down and changing his ways I wouldn’t imagine it could last too long before, before something else pops up that he has to get himself into.”
There is also the issue that, having had no father figure himself growing up, Iain has no role model when it comes to parenting and Michael admitted he is very much acting on instinct when it comes to the new family dynamic and parenting Faith’s children, particularly her youngest son Luca.
“Iain is trying to face up, to start to become more of a father figure to Luca as part of this promise to Faith that he will change. He really never had a father figure growing up, not one that he can reflect on positively anyway,” Michael pondered.
“So I think, you know, it’s a good opportunity for him to explore that and build his relationship with Luca, which will hopefully only strengthen his relationship with Faith. With kids, the older they get, the less challenging physically they become, but the more challenging emotionally they become.
“So trying to build a bond with Luca is challenging in itself because he is of an age where he’s going into secondary school, and with that comes challenges with his peers at school. And you know, Iain can only really act on instinct. He’s got no sort of experience to call upon other than that,” Michael admitted.
