Casualty star’s heartbreak after losing mum and sister-in-law to Covid-19 and cancer
EXCLUSIVE: Casualty star Jason Durr lost his mum to COVID-19 and his sister-in-law four days earlier to cancer
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The day’s filming on Heartbeat is done, the police uniforms are back on their pegs and actors Derek Fowlds and Jason Durr are in the pub for a well-earned pint.
Before the night is over, Derek, nothing like his crotchety character Sgt Oscar Blaketon, is belting out his favourite songs.
Jason, who played his Heartbeat sidekick PC Mike Bradley, remembers those nights in Goathland, North Yorkshire, where Heartbeat was filmed, as he reminisces with fondness about his friend Derek, who died in January, aged 82.
He says: “I got on famously with Derek. He was an absolute joy. He brought such charisma and was such a lovely man. One of my first scenes in Heartbeat was with him and he set me off on a great path after that.
“After work, we would often get into the pub at the Mallyan Spout Hotel and Arthur Lake, the standby props man, would get his guitar out.
“We would sing songs late into the evening. Derek’s favourite was Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.”
Jason, 52, played PC Bradley from 1997 until 2003 on the hit ITV show and treasures every moment of it.
He says: “Heartbeat was a fantastic period of my life up in Yorkshire.
“Becoming an honorary Yorkshireman was a bit of an accolade. The scenery, the cast, the motorbikes, the music. Everything about the show, it was incredibly popular, people loved the characters. I have only fond memories.
“It was a massive show for ITV, hugely popular and a real flagship show.
“When I bump into people on the street, they all still say how much they love Heartbeat.”
He has swapped law and order for medicine, playing nurse David Hide in the hit BBC drama Casualty for five years.
But sadly, his private life has involved hospital recently too.
Jason’s 87-year-old mother died from Covid-19, only four days after his sister-in-law died from cancer.
He says: “Lockdown and this whole coronavirus period has been incredibly challenging for so many families.
“I can completely understand what so many people have been going through.”
Jason is full of praise for the NHS and care workers.
Speaking from his home in the Cotswolds, he says: “It’s been a very peculiar time in all our lives. But the support we had for my sister-in-law from the NHS nurses and doctors was incredible. My mum’s carers went above and beyond to help her through it.
“I think it makes you realise what’s important in life. You just need to be kind to people and understand what they might be going through.
“People are going through very difficult times with their families or losing someone, so it’s tough for everybody.”
One benefit of lockdown – and the suspension of filming on Casualty – has been the chance to spend more time with wife of 16 years Kate, a gardener and TV presenter, and their three children.
A year after leaving Heartbeat, Jason’s eldest daughter, Blossom, was born and they wanted to give her siblings.
After two failed IVF cycles using Kate’s eggs, they decided to look into finding an egg donor instead.
In 2009, Kate gave birth to twins Velvet and Felix. Unusually, the family is “very much still in touch” with the twins’ genetic mother.
She even stayed with the family when the twins, now 11, were 10 months old – and they still keep in close contact.
Jason says: “It’s been an unusual time, but also a special time to spend with my family. Normally I spent 12 to 13 hours a day in the studio in Cardiff, so filming is a huge part of my life.
“I was here for my twins’ 11th birthdays and my eldest daughter’s sixteenth birthday. Spending time with them has been a joy.”
Filming for Casualty resumes soon, and Jason says: “We will be back as big, bold and brilliant as ever. We’re very much looking forward to donning our scrubs again.”
He wanted to be an actor as a child, diving into the dressing up box with his brothers and their friends.
Jason says: “It’s just something I always wanted to do as a kid and I stuck with it. I’ve had a wonderful career playing a broad selection of parts and characters. From PC Mike Bradley in Heartbeat to a sociopathic serial killer in Above Suspicion to now playing David in Casualty.”
The role has made him understand the pressures NHS staff face, and also the struggles of his bipolar character.
He says: “I might dress up as a nurse and put on my scrubs but my ultimate respect and thanks goes out to all those real nurses and doctors who have been doing such an incredible job on the front line.
“David was inspired by someone I know who works in the NHS and has bipolar, someone I’ve known for a very long time. They’re remarkable at what they do. He not only holds down the job, but is incredibly brilliant at it.”
Tonight, viewers will get a glimpse into David’s traumatic past, with flashbacks to when he was sectioned.
He hides his bipolar disorder from wife Rosa, played by Cold Feet actress Jacey Salles, 54.
Jason says: “What I’ve learnt about people with bipolar over the years is medication helps, counselling helps, the support of friends and family help.
“But it seems to me it always comes back to an individual’s coping strategies, which really are paramount to them in how they get through the day.
“For David to even function in his job, he has his notebook and his bumbag of medication, everybody’s aware of that. For him it’s all routine.”
The scenes are quite upsetting for Jason’s wife Kate to sit through and he reveals he also struggled to watch tonight’s episode.
He said: “It was incredibly emotional. It touches on some very moving topics. It was brilliantly directed and it’s been incredibly sensitively done.” It’s important for Jason to leave his character at the door when he finishes filming.
He says: “I’ve been acting for 30 years and when I leave work, I leave the character behind, then I go home to my wonderful family.
“To be on your ‘A game’ you’ve got to be able to differentiate the two.
“You have to allow a character like David to live and breathe and be there as the actor to support everything that he goes through.
“At the same time, I take my scrubs off and I get on with my own life.”
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