Olly Rix’s ‘relentless’ BBC Casualty schedule left him ‘banging head against the wall’

‘s newest recruit, former star Olly Rix has confessed the filming schedule for the long running medical drama is full on and has taken some getting used to. Speaking exclusively to the 40-year-old star admitted: “It’s relentless. But what an amazing thing to be involved in at the same time. I simply don’t get a break. I don’t get a weekend. My weekend is spent pacing around, banging my head against the wall, trying to remember lines, or thinking about reshoots or thinking about the next episode. And it’s just so full on.

“But I think there’s something about that that feeds so nicely into the work,” he said. “You know, I go in, and I’ve been doing this [filming] for nine months now without publicly acknowledging what we’re doing. I just go in, put scrubs on, and work really, really long days and I feel exhausted by the end of it. And I think that kind of works. I think maybe that’s what it’s really like for doctors.”

Casualty shoots for most of the year in Cardiff and Olly has joined as new clinical lead Flynn Byron, who will be front and centre of the show’s latest boxset Internal Affairs.

Flynn is a former Special Forces medic and his character’s very specific background meant Olly had to train with former members of the Special Forces to get into physical shape for the role. However this was something he enjoyed.

“It’s something I think I wanted to do, because it became part of finding out who this guy was and where he came from. He’s not [just] military, [he’s] Special Forces.

“So I sought out some Special Forces guys, and I worked with a company called Darkprism (a London based company who offer Special Forces training experiences).

“I also worked with some ex-Special Forces. I spent a lot of time with them, and physical training became a really big part of that, because they’re not like normal people when you meet them,” he said.

“I sort of went through my paces with them a bit, and got to ask them very, very personal, probing questions about their experiences in the military and what it was like to then go from not just regular military, but special forces into civilian life. I can’t imagine how boring civilian life must be for anyone who has lived a life like that,” he pondered.

“It was fascinating, because, especially the medics, the Special Forces medics do exactly what Flynn’s done.

“They go from being on the back of a helicopter being shot at, trying to stem the blood flow of a friend who’s bleeding out in front of them to working in the NHS.

“What a transition, what a fascinating journey that must be. So to be able to actually ask them about that, spend time with them delving into what that was like was pretty awesome. Pretty great,” he said.