Casualty cast quizzed!

On Thursday 4th August 2016, the feature-length anniversary episode of Casualty, 'Too Old For This Shift' was screened at a press event in Cardiff's Millennium Centre. After the screening, Executive Producer Oliver Kent, Series Producer Erika Hossington and cast members Derek Thompson, Amanda Mealing and Cathy Shipton answered questions about the special, THAT cliffhanger and the show's rich history.

Tell us about the planning that went into the 30th anniversary episode. How did you feel about it?

Oliver Kent: Terrifying! We’d been thinking about it since we started working on it about three years ago - so we knew there was this massive landmark coming up. We started planning it in earnest about a year ago.

We know where we were picking up from the end of the 30th series, we knew what the end of the series was going to be and wanted a certain symmetry with the fact that the start of this series Charlie’s life was saved and we wanted Connie’s life to be saved (stay tuned to see if it is!). So there was a symmetry. Yes, of course it’s absolutely terrifying, but in a way it should be, because it’s a huge responsibility.

Erika Hossington: It's incredibly hard, and actually [it's] down to about 100 people. What you see is such a complex, ‘unfortunate series of events’ - and that takes a lot of people to actually be able to pull it off.

One of the things that we do on the show that we’re very proud of is that we do things for real. We use as little CGI as possible. We’ve always been true to that and the stunts always have a lot of integrity – and that was exactly the same [with this stunt].

And for the cast?

Derek Thompson: It’s very, very exciting and we know by now to trust these people that they’ll do what they say they’ll do. And they told us what they were going to do - and we got very excited about it!

Amanda Mealing: Obviously you can’t have the 30th anniversary of Casualty and it not be about Charlie, but I think it was an ensemble piece and I think that the guys were absolutely fantastic - they knocked it out of the park.

Derek Thompson: We know that when we step into it that we’re working with a team and it’s the most exciting feeling in the world. There are individual moments when you feel a great responsibility to do what you have to do with an audience for the expectations that have been set up by the writer and by all the people who plan these moments. But it doesn’t feel so much like an individual responsibility, like you have to stand up and do it all on your own.

You’ve just been passed the ball by all these people who have conducted the match beautifully until then. I was terrified that I was going to be the one who dropped it – that was the only thing. The script was just amazing. Everyone knew it was going to be something quite spectacular and everyone was individually worried that they weren’t going to come up to scratch, but everyone knocked it out the park.

What was it like for Derek, Cathy and Ian Bleasdale to get back together again?

Cathy Shipton: Look at us - The Three Amigos! We filmed down the road from The Doctor Who Experience and we were like the Time Lords walking through the episode! For us it was just like a day at work as usual, because we know each other and we’ve kept in touch.

Was it hard to get together some of the old cast for their messages to Charlie?

Oliver Kent: The wish list was basically the people [you see] in the show, because everyone said “Yes!” So it wasn’t like we had to make a huge list and see who was available. We were incredibly lucky that everyone we wanted [to do it] wanted to do it.

And every time I watch it - and I’ve watched this now about ten times - it makes me cry from the first one. So when Ben Turner comes on as Jay and says ‘You’re the Ayatollah,” it sets me off and I snivel through the rest of the episode embarrassingly. But, honestly, everyone wanted to do it and it was lovely.

How do you feel the show has changed of the past 30 years?

Derek Thompson: It changes in a healthy way. It finds new ways of addressing audiences. [Original Producer] Geraint Morris - when they first set it up, said something that is still true of the show today in that it has to be something that is a continuing drama, so people know where they are and the world that they’re at every week, but it also has to tell individual stories by individual writers. They have to be single plays: Agatha Christie one week, Hamlet the next and the week after that… nothing happens! And I think that has still been kept alive. Even over the arc of over 42, 48 episodes, whatever they’re doing, they still keep that going.

So it changes week by week; it inhabits so many worlds and you’ll see if you look at that first series that it has changed, the technology has changed profoundly. In the early episodes it looked like something that was found on The Ark because the lighting and all of that was profoundly different - but it still actually has the same world, so it changes in a healthy way. Not in any kind of dramatic way that’s exploiting or becomes so self-aware that it becomes exploitative.

Amanda Mealing: It’s something that’s familiar but different every week. And it keeps pushing itself, pushing the boundaries. It all comes down to good storytelling. We are storytellers. That’s it. Every department, everyone, is just telling a story. But it essentially comes down to that. We’ve got a good cast and a good crew. I’ve now experienced it from the other side (Amanda will be directing an upcoming episode) and I was just humbled by the fact that there was not a single person there who just did their job. Everyone gave more. Everyone loves the show. And for a show that’s been going for over 30 years (and a couple of other people aside from Derek have literally been on the show for 30 years) to do that and still have a passion for the show is a wonderful thing that you see on screen.

Derek Thompson: (Referring to the orchestra that played live at the screening) And now we’ve got a band! The music was really wonderful. It was so good. We were tempted to do a couple of numbers with them!

But now they know what the actors' life is like – you sit around for a long, long time and then you have to get up and do it all just like that. (Referring to the orchestra) You had to sit around for ages, don’t you?

Q: Once you’d got the episode off the page, what was it like filming it? Was there a special feeling amongst the cast and crew?

Erika Hossington: There really was, and I think it helped with the team that made the actual episode because everybody knows them individually. They’ve all got massive history with the show and they really trust them. They do their work full of passion and integrity and it’s like, as Derek said, they’re passing the ball. They take that leap of faith. I mean, we can’t do everything. If we did we’d probably go slightly potty, and I think that is the really massively wonderful thing about the show is that literally everybody doesn’t do it for the money. They do it because they love the show and they take that responsibility very seriously.

Oliver Kent: While it was being shot we get edit assemblies daily and I was driving the team potty by phoning every day and saying, ‘Oh my God, have you seen Josh – it’s really amazing.” And crying every other scene.

Amanda, were you surprised by the huge reaction to the cliffhanger ending to the series?

Amanda Mealing: I was surprised, yeah. It’s a cliff-hanger and I knew there would be some kind of reaction but I was really blown away by the defence and the love that was there. I’m sure Ollie got plenty of threats!

Erika Hossington: Lots of capital letters.

Amanda Mealing: I had one that was fantastic. “I’ve been watching this since I was seven. You can’t do this to me!” But that’s wonderful, isn’t it? I think they’re going to be rewarded for their four weeks of pain and agony.

What was it like for Charlie, Duffy and Josh to square up to Charles Venn’s Jacob?

Cathy Shipton: Pretty terrifying! But there were three of us. (Look out for it - it's pretty intense!)

Derek Thompson: I thought it was pretty good, because the script said that he can’t hit back! That was fine by me; that was great. That was a wonderful scene to play because it breaks all the rules for those two characters, who are doing everything that they shouldn’t be doing and it actually feels quite dangerous because you see no reward in it and no excitement for the characters. They’re not enjoying doing this so it was intense.

It was actually rather painful to do because you have to remind yourself not to take any kind of shortcuts and do the kind of clichéd selfish moments of “Do I get out of this? Do I compromise?” It was absolutely head-to-head. It was very intense to do it but I think we’ve managed to kind of connect with each other occasionally, as actors do, and give that moment where you say “We’re getting there, we’re getting there. Keep it going. It was wonderful.

Q: So what are the chances of doing a live episode?

Oliver Kent: I would absolutely love to do a live episode, but I don’t think it’s likely – and the problem is everybody else already has - and it would be very difficult to do that and not be compared. Plus, how on Earth do you do a live stunt? So, it’s something that from time to time we talk about and then I get, quite rightly, told to shut up! It’s silly. So I don’t think it’s likely.

Erika Hossington: I think that what was really important to us was that we marked this anniversary with something that only Casualty could do. I really, really think that we’ve achieved that because no one’s got Derek, apart from us, and we are very lucky to have him. I really believe it strikes at the heart of the show - the NHS and the work that those fabulous people do, day in day out, week in week out, and the fact that they are exceptional people. I really hope that that’s come across as that’s very important to us.

Too Old For This Shift can be seen on Saturday 27th August on BBC One.