Marshall Lancaster: 'Keith wants Sam sacked!'

Marshall Lancaster: 'Keith wants Sam sacked!'
Marshall Lancaster: 'Keith wants Sam sacked!' (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Ashes to Ashes star Marshall Lancaster returns to Casualty this week, as a patient bearing a grudge... When we last saw your Casualty character, Keith, Sam had him in a headlock. What’s he been doing since then? "Keith feels things are looking up for him since his outburst at the hospital last time – he’s got a new girlfriend called Tanya. But when he ends up in hospital in this episode it all ends up going from bad to worse!" How does he end up in the ED? "He’s been having some trouble with his neck, which causes him to crash his car while Tanya is in the passenger seat. They’re both admitted to the hospital and Zoe realises the pain in his neck could have been caused by Sam when she put in him a headlock." How does Keith react when he discovers Sam has caused a small fracture in his neck? "When Keith realises he crashed the car because his fight with Sam has broken his neck he wants to make her pay. Sam tries to apologise to Keith, but because she can’t hold her tongue she ends up accusing him of attacking her colleague. This fires Keith up again and he decides he’s going to try and get her sacked!" He seems like a very angry man. How would you describe him? "Keith’s not had a great life – his mother had an affair with a young guy at his school when he was growing up, which has made him bitter. He’s become this angry twisted bloke and is obviously not happy." He also breaks up with Tanya in this episode. Does that add to his frustration? "Yes. He could change himself if he wanted to, but he doesn’t look at himself – he tends to have a pop at other people. In his mind the car crash and breaking up with his girlfriend are all down to Sam. He can’t see it any other way. He’s venting his mixed-up feelings at Sam and decides to make it his mission to get her fired!"

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.