Eddie-Joe Robinson — Casualty exclusive
Casualty may have been off our screens for longer than we’d like, but the new episode, Tinderbox (BBC One, 9.15pm, Saturday, December 30 2023) proved it was worth the wait.
We caught up with star Eddie-Joe Robinson to get his insider take on the tragic events that have left loveable nurse Ryan Firth fighting for his life…
Casualty spoilers beyond this point
To say the final ten minutes of Tinderbox were shocking is an understatement. Viewers saw junior nurse Ryan Firth viciously assaulted by Ray McKenna (James Foster) when his mum, Irene (Janie Booth) tragically died after spending nine hours in an ambulance queue outside the hospital.
Here, Eddie-Joe Robinson, 29, who plays Ryan, tells What To Watch about filming these scenes, the aftermath and what the future may hold for the critically ill medic…
Eddie-Joe Robinson — Casualty exclusive
Hi Eddie, there were devastating scenes in Casualty episode Tinderbox. What was your reaction when you learned this storyline was coming up?
“As weird as it is saying that you were excited about seeing your character getting beaten black and blue, it was an exciting prospect. I’ve done a few stunts and a bit of violence on screen before but nothing to that extent, so it was exciting, not only from the physical aspect of it, but also the psychological aspect as well. I was excited for the task acting-wise of what the fallout from this event is going to be and how badly it’s going to affect Ryan…”
Does it feel like an important storyline, because this is something that happens in real life?
“That's one of the brilliant things about Casualty. Of course, it's a drama and with that, they have to up the stakes slightly but it's never too far away from realism. What we do so brilliantly on the show is reflecting current problems that NHS workers face and I think violence towards NHS workers, especially with everything that's happened over the last three or four years with COVID, the general atmosphere around EDs is much more tense and highly strung because the stakes at hand are so high; life and death. I think what this does is then give rise to these kinds of events.”
Does that play into how you approach a story like this?
“Yes, because what we see on screen happening to Ryan is not a rarity, it happens in real life, it is a true reflection of certain places and events. So, as excited as I was and looking forward to doing it, I also felt a responsibility to do it justice because I know that some people have experienced this kind of thing in their real life.”
It looks so realistic. How was it to film?
“It was tricky because you have to choreograph it for a long time. You have to be quite delicate with these things so that no one actually does end up getting hurt. You take it step by step and you trust in the people that you're working with. Luckily, Jimmy, who plays Ray, was brilliant and just incredibly receptive to everything the director and the fight coordinator were giving us. The fight coordinator on set kind-of supersedes the director at that point because they're the ones who know this stuff. You take their lead and take it slowly.”
Did you have a stunt double for any of the more violent scenes?
“We had two stunt doubles, one for each of us. I don't think I've had a stunt double before - it’s really cool! I was ready to get stuck in myself, but then when I learned exactly what we were going to be doing I thought, ‘I will leave that one to the professionals.’ I was so grateful to have my stunt double there, he was great. He’s a bit taller than me, a bit more muscly and a bit more handsome as well, so I was thinking, ‘maybe I should get this guy to do the whole scene!'”
Did it take long to film?
“I’m pretty sure we spent the whole day on that scene because it takes a long time to get the moves right. You’ve also got things falling over so, if in one take something falls one way, you need to make sure it falls the same way the next time.”
Is it fair to say that after Ray starts to choke Ryan it escalates and becomes a potentially murderous situation?
“Yes, it feels like there's a point where it switches from ‘Ryan is getting beaten up’ to ‘Ryan might die.’ There's quite a distinct difference isn't there? Towards the end you're left thinking is he going to make it through? At the end of the scene Ryan is fully unconscious and the cliffhanger here is, is he going to make it though or not?”
Find out what happens next when Casualty returns to BBC1 with Aftershock on Saturday, January 6, 2024 at 9.15pm. Tinderbox is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
