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BBC’s Casualty Gets Help!
BBC’S MULTI-AWARD WINNING DRAMA CASUALTY CONFIRMS SEXUAL ABUSE STORYLINE FOR NURSE CAMERON MICKELTHWAITE, PLAYED BY BARNEY WALSH
The BBC’s BAFTA award-winning drama Casualty has confirmed an upcoming storyline for Nurse Cameron Mickelthwaite (Barney Walsh) that will reveal and explore the impact of the sexual abuse he experienced as a teenager.
In the current set of episodes titled Storm Damage, Barney’s character Cam is haunted by his past when Bobby, an old friend from their time in a youth group together, turns up at Holby City Hospital accusing new board member Jamie Cleveland (Ryan Hawley) of abusing Bobby as a child.
On Saturday 3rd August, Cam breaks his silence to Clinical Lead Siobhan (Melanie Hill), when he opens up to her about the abuse he too was subjected to by Jamie.
The Casualty team have worked closely with We are Survivors to ensure that the storyline has been thoughtfully and sensitively handled.
Barney Walsh says: “Research shows that one in six men are survivors of sexual abuse, so this is a very important story for us to tell. This storyline will see Cam having to confront the demons of his past, something he has desperately tried to avoid for many years and face up to the realisation that he experienced abuse. We want to help anyone who might be affected by abuse, and to highlight that survivors of abuse are not alone, there is always help and support available to them. It’s been a privilege to bring this storyline to screens”
Liza Melody, Casualty Series Producer, says: “Viewers have been aware that Cam’s past has come back to haunt him with the arrival of Bobby and Jamie at Holby, but now the audience will discover just why Cam has been struggling so much. We hope this storyline will help to challenge the perceptions, the stigma, and the shame experienced by male survivors.”
We Are Survivors Founder and Chief Executive Officer Duncan Craig OBE, who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse himself, worked closely with the storyline team and read through each of the scripts checking to ensure that Cam and Bobby’s voices as victims/survivors were being accurately represented.
Duncan said, “I was so pleased to be contacted by the BBC again and this time to be asked by Casualty to support the development of this storyline. I am genuinely so proud of Barney, and the team for being brave enough to highlight the silence of male victims and the need for male survivors’ stories to be heard. We know that when drama tells stories of male survivors, more people call helplines, contact us for support, and finally find a space to breathe.”
Casualty, the world’s longest running primetime medical drama, has a long record of exploring difficult and thought-provoking subjects in a sensitive and appropriate manner. This episode will be accompanied by content guidance on BBC iPlayer and BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
We’ll also be talking to Barney Walsh in our next edition of Beyond the Silence Magazine, so sign up here to get your free copy: www.wearesurvivors.org.uk/breakthesilence/
If you or anyone you know has been affected by Cam’s story, then get in touch and see what we have on offer. You can email us at [email protected] or call us on 0161 236 2182.
