Ashley Taylor Dawson
“At this point, Darren has hit a brick wall…”
Darren’s mental health takes a turn for the worse this week, as he heads out alone in the middle of the night. What is he planning?
Having struggled with depression for the past few months, Darren tries to call his pal Kyle for help. But when Kyle fails to answer, Darren packs his bags and heads out into the night alone – will anyone realise that he’s gone before it’s too late?
“I think at this point Darren’s just hit a brick wall,” explains
Ashley Taylor Dawson, who plays him. “He’s in this world of emptiness, and Darren mulls it over for quite a while – and eventually just believes that everyone would be better off without him. He packs a bag, and off he goes. But where he goes, we don’t know…”
For weeks, Darren has been feeling more and more down. He finally realises something is wrong, though, when baby DJ reaches a milestone, and Darren feels no emotion.
“Mandy’s really excited when DJ takes his first steps, but Darren misses it,” reveals Ashley. “Obviously with DJ having spina bifida, it’s a massive moment for the both of them. Darren looks at the video, and I think it’s at that point he realises how bad he is feeling, and how useless he believes he is. He doesn’t feel happy, he doesn’t feel emotional, he just doesn’t feel anything – and I think that’s the point that sends him over the edge. Darren can’t see a way back from that. He feels useless, and he reckons that everyone would be better off without him there.”
Prior to this devastating moment, Mandy asks Darren to do a spring clean of their flat. But he can’t even face the simple task of tidying up, which only adds to his troubles.
“It just all becomes too much for him, even the littlest things like finishing a job off makes him feel completely
Even the smallest things make Darren feel overrun…”
crushed inside,” Ashley tells us. “He can’t manage it, basically. It’s just the fact that there’s so much around him, and I think with what he’s going through it feels as though it’s overpowering him, and he can’t deal with it. He finds it claustrophobic, and it’s too much. Even the smallest things just end up making Darren feel totally overrun in his mind.”
However, Darren does have one person who he’s been turning to in these trying times – his friend Kyle, who is also struggling with depression. So when Darren leaves the flat in the middle of the night, he calls Kyle. Sadly, however, his pal doesn’t answer.
“Kyle is Darren’s rock really, or at least Darren thinks he is,” explains Ashley. “Kyle was the first person to actually acknowledge the fact that Darren is suffering from depression. The problem is, though, Kyle told Darren just to confide in him, and not to tell Mandy or anyone else. Darren is too proud to tell anyone – he doesn’t want to feel less of a man.”
So, is Darren planning to do something drastic? And will Kyle get back to him in time?