Dylan Keogh

Dylan Keogh (born 1976/1977) is a consultant who currently works in the Emergency Department of Holby City Hospital. He initially joined the department in 2011, but left at the end of 2012. He returned to work there in 2014.

Upon joining the department in 2011, he immediately had a big impact on the rest of the staff due to his sincere approach to dealing with things. Throughout his time there, he has hit many obstacles, notably his past with Sam Nicholls being exposed after the fire in 2011 and his battle with OCD in 2015. Since starting work there, Dylan has built connections with few members of staff including Zoe Hanna and Ben "Lofty" Chiltern, but has proven himself to be hard to get along with.

Early life
Dylan grew up in the UK care system and it is implied he had been bullied and manipulated during that time, resulting in his unsympathetic outlook. Dylan has previously suffered problems with alcoholism in the past.

Time in the Emergency Department (2011-2012; 2014-)
In March 2011, Dylan was brought into the ED when Miriam Turner convinced Nick Jordan to get another consultant into the department. Upon his arrival, he impressed Nick with his medical skills but at the same time annoyed him due to his stern attitude. On his first day in Holby he rescued a woman, Hannah Fleet, from a bus crash. The severely traumatised Hannah latched onto Dylan as her 'saviour' but he refused to engage with her at all. A couple of weeks after his arrival, he was almost sued after he persisted with a course of treatment for a patient. Ultimately, the patient was saved as a result of it.

Later in April, Polly attempted to heal a rift between Dylan and Hannah Fleet, the unstable patient that Dylan had treated the month before. Due to his lack of interest in her, he missed her signs of PTSD. However, just as Dylan entered the lift to get back to work, Hannah turned around and stabbed Polly with a pair of scissors. Back in cubicles, Dylan noticed Polly's mobile phone in a patient's cubicle and became shocked and worried when they revealed the bloody weapon. He informed the team and they went on the search for Polly in the basement. Eventually she was found, and despite Dylan and Nick's best efforts, she died. Following her death, Dylan took a short period of leave from work.

He returned to work in June, and ended up solving a mysterious patient case on his first day back. In August, Dylan and the team faced a race against time to find the link between several patients who had been admitted that were suffering strange and similar symptoms. Upon Sam Nicholls' arrival in the ED in October, Zoe became highly amused when she discovered that Dylan and Sam had a history.

In December, a fire broke out in the ED's basement and quickly spread throughout the department leaving Dylan and Zoe trapped in resus. The fire crews had informed Nick of the risk of the building collapsing, and he blamed himself for not forcing them to get out. Eventually Dylan and Zoe were able to get out, and during the time it transpired that Dylan was Sam's estranged husband when Noel attempted to ring Dylan's next of kin and Sam answered.

In January 2012, tension between Dylan and Sam grew as their secret had been revealed to the rest of the staff. Dylan accused Sam of meddling with a patient's home life, but this was partially out of hostility for Sam. However, he and Zoe later became concerned about Sam after she threw herself into work following the allegations made against her by Keith Parr, the man she restrained.

In April, Sam was sent to the scene of an accident at a woodland where two dog walkers, Amanda Franks and David Hooper, had fallen down a cave system, but she soon realised that she would need more help. Dylan arrived to help and they were forced to set their differences apart to attempt to save them. Ultimately they were only able to save Amanda, much to their disappointment. Later that month, Dylan, Scarlett and Nick were called to give evidence against Sam for the incident with Keith Parr. Ultimately Zoe made a discovery about his condition which got Sam off the hook.

In May, Dylan became under the impression that Sam wanted to get back together with him, and booked a table at a romantic restaurant. However, Zoe soon realised that Sam just wanted to hand Dylan the divorce papers, and encouraged her to tell him the truth. The following week, Dylan found it impossible to work alongside Sam, and it led to Sam making a bad impulse decision. By July, Sam and Dylan were still at a halt, with Dylan refusing to sign the divorce papers if Sam continued to work at Holby. They eventually got divorced.

By October, Sam had already begun a casual relationship with paediatric doctor Tom Kent, and things were made even more awkward for her when Dylan walked in on them kissing in the staff room. In November, Amanda Franks visited the ED after having fully recovered from the cave incident earlier that year. She plucked up the courage to ask Dylan out on a date, and Sam encouraged him but he had second thoughts when he caught sight of Sam and Tom together. Kindly Amanda only wanted to be a friend to Dylan but he became increasingly convinced that she had developed an unhealthy obsession with him and humiliated himself at the Christmas party by rudely warning her off.

In December, Dylan and Tom squared up to each other outside the ED, much to Sam's horror after Dylan had attempted to get Tom suspended. However, Tom returned to work and Dylan lost his temper. Eventually, Dylan decided that he couldn't work at Holby anymore as he still had feelings for Sam.

In October 2014, Zoe returned to the ED following her two month leave. At the end of the day, Zoe returned home to a houseboat and greeted Dylan outside, having moved in with him and Dervla in the houseboat. Over the next few months, Dylan was paired up with Ethan and Ash in order to ease him back into work.

In March 2015, Dylan became concerned about Lily after she fainted at work as a result of Connie demanding more out of the staff. Dylan offered to pay for Lily to get a taxi home, but she instead rode her moped but ended up hitting a teenage girl after falling asleep at the wheel, but it was soon discovered not to have been her fault.

At the end of May, Dylan was appointed as acting Clinical Lead following Connie's suspension due to the accusations made against her. However, his period of authority was short lived as Connie returned the next week and reclaimed her office. In June, Dylan was left devastated after a elderly female patient died following a car accident, as he was sure he could have done more to save her. Just a week later, an elderly man was admitted to the ED after suffering from stomach cramps. His friend began performing holistic therapy, but the man soon ended up back in resus. Once there, his friend requested he not be treated in bay 4 due to a myth about the number representing death. Afterwards, Dylan took a look at the files of all his recent patients who died and discovered that they were all treated in resus bay 4.

In the following weeks, Dylan continued to struggle with patients being treated in bay 4, and even started to sabotage the bay by unplugging electronics in order to get them moved to another one. His obsession with the resus bay started to become noticed by other members of staff. Rita picked up on it after he tampered with a cardiogram in order to prevent treating a patient there. Dylan opened up to Rita about his problem with the bay, but was left feeling betrayed when she went and told Zoe.

The following week, Dylan's father Brian Carroll was admitted after being involved in a lorry crash with his girlfriend Hazel. They all received a shock when it was discovered that Hazel was 15 weeks pregnant, and that Brian suffered from narcolepsy. Brian later told Dylan that he was the son he never wanted, which caused Dylan to go home and get angry with Dervla only for her to run off. With everything overwhelming Dylan, he walked out on the staff covered in blood and put back up the missing poster of Dervla.

Dylan continued to avoid Rita and Zoe, and Connie told Zoe that she couldn't continue to let Dylan work in the department if his behaviour continued, which left Zoe fighting for his job. The next day on the day of Max and Zoe's wedding, Dylan and Rita found themselves in isolation together after a suspected malaria patient was admitted to the ED. It eventually transpired that he didn't actually have it, and Dylan was angry at the fact he had missed the ceremony where he was supposed to have been walking Zoe down the aisle. Zoe later confided in Dylan about the fact she had slept with someone. After Max found out and shouted at Zoe, she fled to Dylan's houseboat across the lake. They were just driving off when they noticed that a fire had started back at the gazebo where the wedding was. An ember landed on the boat near a gas cannister and it exploded with Zoe in the water and Dylan still on the boat.

Dylan emerged from the lake, seemingly unharmed by the explosion, and Zoe was saved from drowning by Charlie who swam to save her. Back at the ED, Dylan's OCD kicked off again when he refused to send his patient for an x-ray due to the small risk of radiation. He had frequent meetings with psychiatrist Ben Harding regarding his condition, but by September after a period of leave, he had become more relaxed whilst dealing with patients. Dylan instead took out his anger on Lofty who he labelled as an incompetent nurse.

Over the following months, Dylan and Lofty bonded more whilst treating patients, and discovered that they actually made a great team. In December, they decided to spend Christmas together.

In the new year, Dylan pushed Lofty to his full potential and encouraged him in applying for a band 6 promotion. He got the job, and soon after he found Dylan pushing him to take control more. At the end of February, he made Lofty take the lead of the nursing team for the day instead of Jacob. Agency nurse Diane Stuart arrived to help out in the ED, but Dylan became furious when she almost administered potassium to a patient instead of saline and told Lofty he would have to have a talk with her. Towards the end of the day, Dylan, Lofty and Diane were in the lift with a patient when they stopped breathing. Lofty shocked the patient twice, but on the second time Diane didn't clear in time and ended up being shocked and ultimately dying. He told Lofty to be careful what he put on his statement regarding the incident, as it could cost him his job.

The investigation took place that afternoon, and Dylan encouraged Lofty to make it clear that he told Diane to clear before he shocked. However, in the interview Lofty said he wasn't sure whether he did or not. The following month, Rita informed Lofty that they were willing to let him off as long as he took a training course but he decided to leave anyway. Zoe went and comforted Dylan as she knew what good friends they were, but Dylan masked his emotions by telling her he wasn't bothered.

Personal life
Dylan lives with his dog, Dervla. At some point in or before 2011, Dylan married Sam Nicholls. During her time in the army, she had an affair with corporal Iain Dean which Dylan was unaware of. Her working at the hospital after her army career was the primary reason for Dylan's departure in 2012.

Trivia

 * Dylan was married to former army doctor Sam Nicholls, however they split up.
 * He blames himself for Polly Emmerson's death.
 * He quickly rescued Hannah Fleet from an RTC, only for her to demand attention and ultimately kill Polly Emmerson.
 * Dylan considers Zoe Hanna the closest thing to a friend.
 * Dylan returned to Holby in 2014.

Behind the scenes
William Beck has portrayed Dylan Keogh in Casualty since his arrival in 2011. He left in 2012 before returning in 2014.

Appearances

 * See also: Character appearances.

Dylan made his first appearance in Casualty in the series 25 episode "Only Human".