Casualty suicide plot affected my health... & birth of our twins left me with PTSD
Actor Michael on struggles at work and home
Wife Lauren and their twin girls CASUALTY star Michael Stevenson has revealed how playing a paramedic in the grips of depression affected his health – and home life.
The 36-year-old actor also told how he believes he suffered from PTSD after the traumatic birth of his twins.
His character Iain Dean is at the centre of a special episode of the BBC drama this Saturday – only the second time in the show’s history that all the action is set outside the hospital.
It follows Iain’s journey of recovery after trying to take his own life earlier this year.
Michael, who has six-year-old son Jack and four-year-old twin girls
Emmy and Isla with actress Lauren Crace, said: “I’ve not been the picture of health in the last 12 months.
“You’re very lucky if you can do that kind of thing and it not affect you.
“I didn’t go the gym for a year. What you’re playing on screen affects you in your home life. I ate a lot of junk food, pies, Scotch eggs. There were times when I felt quite isolated. I drive two hours to work, then I work 10 hours playing a depressed person, then I drive for two hours to get home, on my own in the car.” He revealed his own mental health battle. He said: “I probably had mild PTSD after my twins were born. That was a pretty traumatic time. They thought they had malrotation, which can be really dangerous in the stomach. “I remember phoning my dad, they hadn’t heard anything from us for a few days and were worried, and hearing his voice, it all came out and I wept.” Michael said the episode depicting Iain coming back from the brink is important to show viewers that there is hope. He said: “Nobody is immune. Everyone is affected by something, whatever walk of life you’re in. “They can suffer but help is there.”
■ The special episode of Casualty is on Saturday April 27, 8.20pm on BBC1.
With Lauren and son Jack