Exclusive: Casualty star Kirsty Mitchell speaks out on Faith's shocking story
Casualty spoilers follow.
Casualty star Kirsty Mitchell has explained her reaction to her character Faith Cadogan's dark story.
Faith has developed a dependency on drugs in recent months, after being raped by Angus, a man she'd met on a night out with Stevie.
When Stevie caught Faith stealing prescription pills from a cancer patient, Faith lied that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and was taking the drugs for the pain.
Stevie has been trying to support Faith through her 'illness' ever since, but tonight's double episode (September 2) will see the truth begin to unravel.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy about the story, Kirsty said: "When I first went upstairs and they told me that I was going to get this special episode – and what was happening after – I was extremely flattered. It's a big deal doing an addiction story.
"Obviously, I've done my research and I wanted to make sure that I got it exactly right, especially with that inner turmoil that you play, and the fact that it's really important to show that it can be anybody.
"This does happen and I have read that there's a lot of people in very high-up jobs, who have a lot of responsibility that are addicted to these drugs, because they want to stay alert, and are trying to do the right things at work."
She added: "It was important to show that it can happen to anyone and those that we would least suspect.
"I loved the contrast between bringing in someone who we think is homeless and an addict on the street, as opposed to someone who holds down a job and has a nice house. You're both in the same boat, but one is just luckier than the other and one is just hiding it better. I thought that was great and I thought it was really important."
Kirsty explained how she expected the story to cause controversy among viewers, and has been touched by the amount of people who have reached out to her as well.
"I knew it would cause controversy," she said. "I've lost quite a few of my family in the last few years to cancer and so it's personal to all of us.
"We tried to show that Faith was going to tell Stevie the truth, until she looked over her shoulder and the cancer patient was behind her, so she lied. She does actually want to tell the truth, she wants all this off her shoulders, but she is in so deep that doesn't know what to do."
Kirsty continued: "The fans have been amazing about it. There have been some people that have told their stories and have explained that the same thing happened to them where someone lied to them and it's dreadful.
"I think that's the amazing thing about Casualty though – it doesn't matter what you're doing or what you're saying, as long as it gets people to say, 'This happened to me', then you're impacting people, which means the drama is working. I do know it really upset people.
"I think people care about Faith and they want her to get better. There's so much support out there. Yes, it's a dark storyline, but you'd be shocked [by] the amount of people who've told me that it's actually been done to them, and they have been told a lie as well. I was so stunned."
Casualty airs tonight (September 2) at 8.30pm and 9.20pm on BBC One.
Read more Casualty spoilers on our dedicated homepage
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