Casualty star George Rainsford has revealed Ethan has a secret motive for helping Connie
If you’d told us twelve months ago Casualty was going to be all about Connie and Ethan, we wouldn’t have believed you. But after tonight’s episode where Connie blackmailed Ethan into performing illegal surgery that could have killed her, we can’t think about anything else.
Clinical lead Connie Beauchamp (Amanda Mealing) and her ever-changing relationship with doctor Ethan Hardy (George Rainsford) is a nail-biting Casualty storyline that keeps us on the edge of our seats to the point we’ve taken to sitting on the floor (for health and safety reasons).
Here What’s on TV catches up with George Rainsford, who plays Ethan, to discuss tonight’s explosive episode and it’s aftermath…
We need to talk about Ethan’s reaction tonight when he realised Connie knew his secret about Scott. Was he as shell-shocked as he seemed?
"Ethan had finally been working through in a positive way everything that had happened since the death of his brother Cal. He was in a reasonably contented place and then for him to find out that Connie knew all along and that she did read the resignation letter, which she claimed she’d thrown in the bin - well, everything unravelled again quite quickly! Ethan goes back into that state where he is happy to hand himself in [to the police] because he feels it is the only way he can get through it."
Connie cuts quite a lonely figure at the moment. How do you interpret her growing closeness with Ethan?
"There’s an affiliation there, an understanding that they’ve both lost people. They’re both quite lonely and they’re finding each other in that loneliness and using each other. Connie’s lost Grace and Sam and is harbouring this secret about her tumour so they’re two lost souls who are finding solace in each other."
Up until now, has this been a positive relationship for Ethan?
"Yes, Connie’s just about got Ethan in tow because she’s been helping him with his exams. He’s been buoyed by his career, which is on the up!"
It was shocking to watch him perform surgery on Connie. Is there more to Ethan’s motive than meets the eye?
"Connie thinks it’s because she’s blackmailed him – but you don’t know at this stage that it’s actually more complicated for Ethan! He’s really enjoying being Connie’s friend – or so he believes…"
Sounds like there’s more to come! Even though she’s his boss, has the power shifted between them now?
"It’s not an easy relationship. Ethan never quite knows where he is with Connie because she keeps everything close to her chest. Sometimes he feels she’s doing the wrong thing so he tries gentle persuasion and sometimes he attempts to manoeuvre her with tough love – this goes well sometimes but not at other times!"
Ethan seems to have become a bit of a changed man. Has he now got a taste for living outside the law?
"Yes, and it doesn’t sit well with him! We’ve definitely seen a dark side to Ethan for a while now. These events have certainly changed him and they’re still not resolved but there’s light at the end of the tunnel…"
Interview by Hannah Davies
