Dylan Keogh

Dylan Keogh (born 27 February 1976) 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, his battle with OCD in 2015 and smuggling a child into the country in 2017. Since starting work there, Dylan has built connections with a few members of staff including Zoe Hanna, Ben "Lofty" Chiltern and David Hide but has proven himself to be hard to get along with due to his bluntness and sharp attitude.

Early life
Dylan was born in February 1976. He has Irish heritage and grew up in the UK care system. He was bullied and manipulated during that time, resulting in his unsympathetic outlook. Dylan suffered problems with alcoholism in the past. During his youth, he completed a summer of work on a building site.

After completing medical training, Dylan secured a job as a consultant general practitioner where he worked in a practice in the countryside away from Holby. He lived on a farm with his dog Dervla.

2011-12
In March 2011, Dylan was brought into the ED when Miriam Turner convinced Nick Jordan to get another consultant into the department. She managed to convince him to meet her for coffee to discuss the position, which he reluctantly agreed to do. However, on his way on the bus to the hospital the bus driver suffered from a seizure at the wheel and the bus crashed into a lamp post. No one was injured, but a woman who was on the bus named Hannah Fleet went back into the bus to get a belonging she'd left behind. Just as she went to get it, another car crashed into the side of the bus and a fuel leak occurred. Hannah was trapped inside the bus with a metal rod impaled through her cheek. Dylan went in and rescued her by pulling her off it, moments before the bus exploded. Dylan eventually made it into the department to meet Jordan and Miriam, impressing Jordan with his medical skills but at the same time annoyed him due to his stern attitude.

In the following weeks, 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 rescued 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 Hannah's cubicle and became shocked and worried when she 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, and 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.

2014-
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. In the time between Dylan leaving the department and returning, numerous staff members had left including Tom, Sam, Linda and Lloyd. However, they'd all since been replaced by new staff. 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 the following week and put back up the missing poster of Dervla. Upon returning home, Dervla had found her way back and he was overjoyed to see her.

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 canister 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.

In May, Dylan's father Brian was admitted to the ED with a hand injury he sustained whilst smashing his car window to reach his daughter, Rihanna who was locked inside. Once at the ED, Hazel tried to persuade Dylan that Brian had changed although he was unconvinced of this. Shortly after, it transpired that Brian had developed a lung condition as a result of smoking, and Dylan advised him to stop. He eventually confronted Brian outside the ED when he caught him smoking, but Brian simply told him that he didn't need to be told what to do.

Towards the end of June, Hazel arrived in the ED with Rihanna, concerned that she was unwell. Dylan and Ethan treated her and Dylan initially put it down to Brian's smoking. Brian soon arrived in the ED, and tried to explain things to Dylan before going outside for a cigarette. This left Dylan furious and after an argument outside, Brian collapsed and upon being admitted, Dylan discovered his condition had worsened. Eventually Brian told Dylan he wanted to make things right between them, and Dylan had clearly grown more fond of the idea. In July after Brian nearly killed both Hazel and Rihanna in a house fire by smoking a cigarette, Brian decided that Hazel and Rihanna were better off without him. He then said goodbye to Dylan, and Dylan later agreed to support Hazel in caring for Rihanna.

In August as Charlie's anniversary celebrations took place, Dylan was shocked to hear from Elle of Connie's car crash. He went out to the scene to help and told Connie that they'd need to get her into hospital, although she was adamant to stay until they found Grace so they were forced to sedate her. Dylan remained at the scene and examined Grace and suspected that she had a pneumothorax and flail chest. Back at the hospital, the helicopter which Grace was in crashed outside the ED and Dylan was quick to the scene to help. He climbed in and helped Grace and assisted in getting her out. Dylan later took a look at Connie after she collapsed when seeing Grace and found that she had free fluid in her abdomen possibly from a torn liver. After Connie and Grace had been sent up to theatre, Dylan praised Elle for her efforts in reception.

In October, Dylan and David discovered Robyn's boyfriend Glen Thomas after he'd collapsed and had a seizure in a corridor of the hospital. Robyn discovered this later, but Glen told her to leave as he needed time alone. After she'd left, David found a wedding ring by Glen's bed. Dylan managed to persuade Robyn to come back and Dylan sent her a picture of the ring over text. However, when Glen vomited during the scan, they had no choice but to take him up to neurology. In the lift disaster struck as it broke down and Dylan was forced to treat him in the lift alongside Max and David. They were able to contact the ED via the emergency telephone in the lift, and they requested for the medical kit to be sent down through the lift shaft. The operation was successful, and they were able to get Glen out of the lift and onto neurology.

The following week, Dylan carried out a blood test for Robyn after she fainted in cubicles. When a patient had Robyn pinned against a wall during a fit of rage, Dylan informed him that Robyn was pregnant. Although she thought this was just a way of getting him to let go, Dylan later admitted to her that it was true. After this, Dylan agreed to keep things under control in the ED if she went up to see Glen to tell him of her news before their wedding later that day. However, she decided not to tell him of her pregnancy, and her day took a turn for the worse when Glen left just before the wedding was due to take place.

Towards the end of the month, Dylan supported Robyn and went with her to her meeting regarding the termination of the pregnancy. Following the meeting, Robyn went to the toilets and felt a sharp pain in her stomach and instantly assumed that she was having a miscarriage. She got Dylan and David to examine her secretly and although they initially heard no heartbeat, they realised that the volume on the Doppler wasn't on. Upon turning it up, they were able to hear the baby's heartbeat which changed Robyn's opinion on getting an abortion.

Later in October, Dylan offered to mentor the new F1 joining the department, Sebastian Grayling. However, during the first part of the shift Dylan was preoccupied with finding Dervla who had gone missing. Dylan was unimpressed with his new mentee after he went missing during his shift, discussed test results with a patient's daughter and jumped to a conclusion on a diagnosis. Things only got worse when Noel got some CCTV footage through from the Holby Pulse which showed Seb accidentally hitting Dervla on his bike on the way to work, and her running off. Once again, Seb broke the rules when he resuscitated a patient who had a DNR in place. In a meeting with Elle, Dylan told Elle that Seb had failed to follow instructions, and she informed Seb that she'd have to suspend his rotation. However, on his way home Seb found Dervla and brought her back into the ED. Only then did Dylan decide to give Seb a second chance, providing he followed all of the rules.

In November, Dylan started to have empathy for Seb after he noticed how much his father Archie pressured him. On multiple occasions Seb froze in treating patients and Dylan soon attributed this to the fact he was distracted by his father. Although Archie tried to get Seb to change mentors, he refused to and pledged to stay with Dylan. Two weeks later, Dylan became frustrated with both David and Seb when they failed to inform him about a patient's suspected diagnosis. Although the patient was fine in the end, he was left angry that neither of them had approached him, especially considering that it was the day of the department's undercover inspection. At the end of the shift in reception, a heated discussion ensued between the doctors and nurses, at which point Seb's father Archie happened to be passing. It was then that he revealed himself as the undercover inspector, surprising and upsetting Elle and the rest of the team.

In December, Dylan once again showed a harsh side to Seb during the shift despite the fact he was doing well. Although the patient ultimately died, Dylan informed Seb that it wasn't his fault and that he did everything right. Feeling bad for Seb, Dylan agreed to go to the staff Christmas party after work. When he failed to show up, Seb turned up at his houseboat sad and drunk. However, Seb mistook Dylan's empathy for flirting and went in to kiss him. When Dylan backed away in shock, Seb ran out, mortified. The following day it was Christmas Eve and Seb brought Dylan a gift in an attempt to apologise for the night before. However, it was clear that Dylan was prepared to put what happened behind him. During the shift, Dylan found a rash on a young boy's stomach which Seb hadn't noticed when he tried to discharge the boy. This resulted in Dylan issuing him with a final warning, and he threatened to fail him in the new year if he didn't get his act together. Upset and annoyed, Seb told Elle that Dylan tried to kiss him the night before in an attempt to drop Dylan in trouble and deflect away from his own poor judgements.

On New Year's Eve, Dylan arrived for work, and was friendly and encouraging to Seb, willing to give him one final chance to prove himself. Seb later spoke to Elle about not getting HR involved in the complaint and asked if he could swap mentors, but she told him that he'd have to start the whole rotation again. After Seb told Louise the lie, she quickly spread the story, and Max warned Dylan to be careful around Seb, sensing that something wasn't right. Dylan spoke to Elle, and she told him about the allegation. He told her that it was a complete lie, but she told him that she'd deal with it and not to make anything worse. After stabilising a patient later in the shift, Dylan told Seb to think carefully before he went ahead with the allegation. However, Louise had already forwarded an image onto Elle that showed Seb hugging Dylan in the background. She called him up on it, which led to a public confrontation between Dylan and Seb. Elle assured Seb that she'd be contacting HR, whilst Dylan went home in a rage and trashed his boat.

The following day, Dylan was awoken in his mess of a houseboat by Max and Jez, who'd arrived to try to get him to go back to work. During the shift, Jez attempted to record Seb confessing the truth, but when Seb found out he went straight to Elle. She instructed Dylan to stay non-clinical for the day, and reminded him of their meeting with Ric Griffin. However, when Seb later froze in resus, Dylan talked him through the procedure, believing that he could be a good doctor. Although Dylan missed the meeting, Seb later withdrew his complaint and admitted to lying. After work, Seb told Dylan he was leaving, at which point Dylan informed him that he'd secured him a placement at St. James Hospital and wished him the best of luck.

In February, Dylan attended Charlie's stag party in Barry. However, when Charlie went missing Dylan led the investigation into where he was. When he visited a pub during the search, he found Glen Thomas who later took him to his house. Meanwhile, Ethan and Cal got into trouble with a man who had accused them of stealing a briefcase from him. When the police arrived, they recognised Dylan's name as the one that Charlie had given as his emergency contact; Charlie had been apprehended for resisting arrest. Charlie was released and Dylan managed to drive them all back to Holby in time for the wedding.

The following day, Dylan returned to Barry to inform Glen that Robyn was pregnant with his child. Having previously resigned himself to his fate, he now wanted to prolong his life to be able to hold his child before he died. Dylan began looking for a specialist and found his old tutor and renowned surgeon Zsa Zsa Harper-Jenkinson who sympathised with Glen's plight and travelled to the UK to operate on him for free.

Later that month, Dylan attended Elle's tribunal hearing to give evidence. Although he thought of it all as unfair on Elle, Connie's legal aid cleverly worded questions so he was forced to admit that he would have acted differently. Either way, Connie dropped the case later in the day when Elle saved her life. The following week, Dylan became infuriated with the influx of binge drinkers in the department. He told Louise about an idea he'd seen where medics would go out on the streets to prevent drinkers wasting time in EDs.

In March, Dylan presented his ideas to the board about the booze bus, but they only listened when Louise showed them first-hand the effects binge drinkers were having on the department. They later agreed to fund it. The following week, Dylan became concerned about David's manic behaviour at work, and his concerns grew upon discovering that David's psychiatrist was simply a figment of his imagination. After Robyn gave birth to a daughter named Charlotte later that day, Dylan informed Glen and let him secretly visit her.

In April, Sam Strachan, as the hospital's new Medical Director, announced that budget cuts would be taking place and that all consultants would have to re-interview for their jobs. A few weeks later, Sam sent Dylan home as a result of the budget cuts, which left the other staff furious. During the month, Dylan visited Hadlington Clinic to assist in Glen's operation. When Dylan asked him questions to test his memory and speech functions, Glen suffered a bleed and seized. After Zsa Zsa removed a large portion of his tumour, he fell into a coma.

Later in April, Dylan was shocked when Lily was admitted to the ED after having been hit by a car. He later found Iain's sister Gemma crying in a storage cupboard and discovered that she had got something in both her eyes. He suspected that she was responsible for hitting Lily, but Iain instantly rejected these claims, although she later took responsibility and handed herself in. Later that day as Dylan was leaving work, he found Cal lying on the pavement near the car park with a bleeding stab wound to his chest. He rushed him into the ED but they were too late and Cal died.

The week after Cal's death, Dylan was able to get through to a patient and convince him to receive treatment. This boosted Dylan's confidence after being annoyed with himself for not being able to save Cal. At the pub after the shift, Dylan put Sam's phone in his pint of beer out of anger for his lack of compassion for the events surrounding Cal's death. Later in the month, Sam informed Dylan and Elle that the consultant interviews would be taking place in the next few weeks.

In June, Dylan visited Glen who had regained consciousness but had suffered the loss of all vocal capacity and diminished physical movement on his entire right-hand side. When Zsa Zsa had to return to the US, he apologised for not keeping in touch and bid her farewell. Later that month, the date of Dylan's interview arrived. He was reluctant to cooperate with Sam's budget cuts and therefore attempted to cut the interview short. When Sam questioned why Dylan was doing this, he admitted to questioning himself since Cal's death. Ultimately, Sam stpped down as Medical Director, eliminating the need to get rid of one of the consultants. The following week, Dylan continued to struggle in the aftermath of Cal's death. Whilst treating a feisty retired nurse, he suffered a panic attack. However, David ensured that he was there to support Dylan and together they got to the bottom of the woman's symptoms. When he visited Glen after he injured his knee during physiotherapy, Glen decided to give up. However, determined to see him reunited with Robyn and his daughter, Dylan convinced him to carry on, even resorting to having Zsa Zsa coach Glen during physio.

Later in July, Dylan began looking into online dating websites for David, who'd been working his way through a check list to improve his confidence at work. Max managed to set up a speed dating session at the pub over the road the following week. Dylan attended but was unimpressed with his match, Pam, a cleaner from the hospital. His attention was soon diverted when Max's date Tara fainted and had to be rushed over to the ED.

In August, Dylan travelled to Northern France to volunteer at a refugee camp with David, Alicia and Louise. Once there, Dylan bonded with 12-year-old Sanosi, who was at the camp with his older sister Mariam. With relatives in the UK, they were desperate to make it across the border, but Dylan's sympathy for the duo was reduced when Sanosi contemplated stealing Dylan's wallet. As a result of this, they decided to make a run for it and go with the human traffickers to the container port. When the cables holding the crate snapped, Mariam fell to her death, whilst Dylan rescued Sanosi.

Following Mariam's death, Sanosi pleaded with Dylan to smuggle him back to the UK, but Dylan refused. This caused a rift in their bond and Dylan soon started to reconsider. He decided to leave the camp early, taking David with him. Just before boarding the ferry, David noticed that Dylan had hidden Sanosi in the back of the vehicle. They narrowly avoided getting caught by border control officers, due to the fact another man from the camp had hidden underneath their car. They managed to get back to the UK with Sanosi, and went to a drive-thru, something that Sanosi had always dreamed about doing in the UK.

Later that month, Dylan followed a woman who saw running away with a man's possessions onto an abandoned boat and demanded her to return the items. However, the floor beneath him gave way and Dylan fell through the boat's deck. Dylan called David to come rescue him as he had dislocated his knee. Unfortunately, when trying to pull Dylan out with rope, David accidentally lost his footing and fell into the boat too. They soon found a ladder and escaped. David took Dylan back to his houseboat but Dylan began to panic when Sanosi was nowhere to be seen and injured his knee further. Consequently, they went to the ED to quietly treat Dylan's knee so they could resume their search for Sanosi. However, when they returned to Dylan's home, they were elated to find Sanosi. Upon mentioning Sanosi's uncle Kamal, David provided Dylan with his phone number.

After a week of trying to contact Kamal, Kamal returned Dylan's call and the two agreed to meet at the former's apartment to give him Sanosi. Later, Dylan was horrified when Kamal was admitted to the ED with sharp abdominal pains. Upon learning that he had consumed condoms filled with heroin, Dylan promptly contacted the police and decided to give Sanosi to the authorities. However, after Sanosi pleaded with him to stay and despite David's cautioning, Dylan chose to continue looking after Sanosi. In September, Dylan was shocked to discover that Sam Nicholls had returned to Holby as a paramedic. After she had clamped a patient's femoral artery with a non-sterile instrument and potentially compromised their leg, Dylan told Connie that he carried out the procedure.

In October, Dylan argued with David about Sanosi's future; Sanosi overheard the feud and escaped the houseboat. When they found him injured, they decided to take him into the ED to treat him. They became agitated when Louise questioned the story they concocted surrounding his injuries and suggested calling social services. In cubicles, Dylan began to panic at the prospect of getting caught, prompting David to slap some sense into him. After treating him, Dylan quickly returned home to look after Sanosi. Unbeknownst to him, Louise found Sanosi's jacket and discovered a food token in his pocket; Louise soon began to connect the dots.

Later that month, Louise found Sanosi living on Dylan's houseboat. They argued as they went into work, attracting Connie's attention. Soon, a woman from social services arrived at the ED after they were alerted by someone who saw Sanosi at the boathouse. After being questioned, Dylan suspected that Louise reported him and began fighting with her and Elle in cubicles, prompting Connie to reprimand them. When she noticed that Dylan had been buying computer games, she dug up his patient notes from the day in question. Later that day, Connie asked Dylan and David to meet her in her office but Dylan failed to attend. Frustrated, she met Dylan at his houseboat and invited herself in. When she found nothing suspicious, she warned him that he should expect dire consequences if his actions implicate the ED. The following day, after Sanosi spent the night at Louise's house, she demanded that he be gone by the end of the day. Left with no other options, Dylan tendered his resignation and told Sanosi to pack his bags. However, when Dylan got caught up with a patient, Sanosi made his way to the ED. Dylan found Sanosi upset after he followed a woman he thought was Mariam into the hospital lift and began having flashbacks of France. Dylan decided to leave Holby with Sanosi but, after David intervened, he took Sanosi to the police to hand himself in. Later, after David visited to return his letter of resignation, Dylan turned to alcohol.

In November, Dylan took Glen to the ED to meet Robyn again. Robyn was angry with Glen for abandoning her and Charlotte but, after Dylan gave her a video message from Glen addressed to her and Charlotte, she allowed him to be there at their daughter's christening.

In January 2018, Dylan was made acting Clinical Lead in Connie's absence. He woke up hungover and almost ran over a woman on his way to work. Although his breathalyser test came back clear, the woman blackmailed him into finding her a place which would allow her to keep her dog. After he diagnosed her with Gerstmann syndrome and helped her find a suitable place, she admitted that she wasn't going to tell the police, but she encouraged him to seek help. The following morning, Dylan called Zoe and told her that he felt that everything was falling apart. The following week, she briefly returned to Holby. After she left for the airport later that day, Dylan emptied a bottle of liquor down the drain. The next day, his alcoholism began to affect his work as he allowed a woman to discharge herself after refusing treatment. She soon collapsed outside and nearly died as a result of sepsis, which he failed to diagnose. Ethan reprimanded him for his mistake, prompting Dylan to resign as acting Clinical Lead. Later that month, Dylan caused a scene at a bar and was subsequently taken to the ED's booze bus where Louise treated him. In the morning, Dylan threw himself into work, but his hangover soon began to affect his performance. Feeling unwell, Dylan asked Ethan, who assumed the role of acting Clinical Lead, if he could leave early, but Ethan refused to let him go, citing staffing shortages. Dylan continued drinking and endangered a patient's life when he insisted on performing an unnecessary procedure whilst drunk. Louise informed Ethan, prompting him to hand over Dylan's cases to Elle. Later, after tackling a domestic abuse case, Ethan gave Dylan a few weeks off work to sort himself out. That evening, Dylan decided to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

In March, Dylan met Ciara Cassidy at an AA meeting, and she tried to persuade him to join her for a drink. He turned her down, prompting her to take fellow alcoholic Joseph to the pub instead. The following day, Ciara and Joseph arrived at the ED after the latter suffered a stroke. Dylan tried to save Joseph, but the damage dealt to his brain was catastrophic. Ciara walked into resus as Dylan let him go, leaving her devastated. Believing that Dylan was incompetent due to his alcoholism, she told his colleagues about his conditions and left before being treated. Dylan later found her at The Hope & Anchor and convinced her to seek treatment for her alcoholism. That evening, inspired to beat his addiction, he attended another meeting. Later that month, after Glen told him that he had experienced a seizure, Dylan took him for a CT scan and found that there was a midline shift. Dylan told him that he required immediate medical attention, but Glen decided to prioritise his wedding. After trying to call Glen numerous times, he left Robyn a voicemail telling her to return to the department with Glen as soon as possible. Later, Bea, who had learned from Ciara that Dylan was an alcoholic, asked to shadow him, fearing his addiction was affecting his work. After she questioned his judgement in front of a patient, he became embarrassed when she unintentionally made his alcoholism public. Concerned, Sam asked him why he kept his problems secret during their marriage, but Dylan coldly dismissed her. Afterwards, he gave Glen a DNAR form to sign when he decided to end his treatment. He passed away later that day. Bea apologised to Dylan, and he agreed to continue teaching her. In April, wanting to understand why he kept his alcoholism a secret from her, Sam suggested going out for a meal together, but he declined.

In May, Dylan treated Bea's father Dougie and suggested that he had been drinking whilst taking disulfiram. Later, after learning that Bea had resigned, Dylan caught her on her way out and encouraged her to stay. She subsequently decided to remain in Holby. In July, Dylan, Sam and Jan attended the scene of a crash involving Iain, Ruby and Alicia. Sam was unknowingly injured by shrapnel after a fuel tanker exploded, and she succumbed to her injuries later that night. Later that week, Dylan had a meeting with his AA sponsor who was concerned about hitting the bottle again in grief. At work, a patient named Amy, who was taken in after drinking methylated spirits, specifically asked Dylan to treat her, and he soon found out that Ciara was accompanying her. Believing that she was responsible for Amy's methanol poisoning, he asked her to wait in the relatives room, but he soon found her outside experiencing DTs. After telling him that she and Amy went cold turkey so the latter could retain custody of her son, Dylan promised to find her help with her addiction. David told him that there was nobody available, and Dylan ordered him to take her off the system. However, she later had a withdrawal seizure, forcing him to put her back on it. Connie confronted him when she found out that Ciara had breached the four-hour rule by a staggering eight hours, and told him that a CQC investigation was inevitable. In cubicles, he agreed to look after Ciara's dog Bacchus while she received treatment, and he later decided to become her sponsor. In August, Dylan received a letter from human resources asking him to clear out Sam's locker, and he asked Jacob to take part. Later that day, after walking Dervla and Bacchus together, Dylan and Ciara shared a passionate kiss and decided to spend the night together. In September, at Sam's funeral, Dylan interrupted Iain's speech and publicly blamed him for her death. Iain confronted him outside the ED. When Dylan called him a brute and told him that Sam deserved better than him, Iain punched him and knocked him to the ground. After Jan pulled Iain away, Connie ordered Dylan to go to her office. Later, Ciara arrived at the ED and persuaded him to walk the dogs with her instead of going to The Hope & Anchor.

Later that month, Dylan arrived at Ciara's house, and she didn't answer the door; unbeknownst to him, she was at a pub. The following day, he became more concerned when she didn't turn up at an AA meeting. Later, David treated Ciara after she was admitted to the ED and deliberately did not inform Dylan of her presence. She soon found him, and David told him that he believed that she had been drinking. She became frustrated when Dylan asked her where she was the night before, and she stormed out of the department. Once her blood results came back and showed no traces of alcohol, Dylan and David searched for her. They soon found her unresponsive in The Hope & Anchor and took her into hospital. However, she decided to discharge herself and left Dylan a farewell note. Distraught, he lashed out at David. Later, he went to her Ciara's house to make amendments, but he was saddened when he was greeted by her husband Joel.

The following week, Dylan tried to avoid Ciara when she was admitted to the ED with abdominal pain, but he was forced to treat her due to a lack of available consultants. She described her symptoms to him, and he asked David to run a pregnancy test; it comes back positive. Dylan takes Ciara into resus and, upon hearing the news, she asked him not to tell Joel since it wasn't his child. When she showed signs of vaginal bleeding, Dylan solemnly told her that he believed she was suffering from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Joel entered resus and asked what was going on, prompting Dylan to tell them that he didn't know yet. Dylan successfully resuscitated Ciara after she began to rapidly deteriorate, and Joel thanked him for saving her life. In the staff room, Dylan tried to process what happened, but he was soon dragged back into cubicles to treat two trauma patients. In a side room, Ciara told Dylan that she was living with Joel because she was lonely. Dylan told her that, as much as he wanted them to be together, he believed that their relationship was toxic and broke up with her. However, upon reflection, he returned and told her in vague terms that he had a change of heart. He was left saddened when she assured him that his initial decision was the right one. Distraught, he went to a pub and started drinking again. In October, Dylan struggled to cope with his breakup with Ciara and the loss of their child, and he decided to pack his bags to leave Holby. However, he was interrupted by Brian who turned up at his door to make amends. Dylan dismissed him and decided to go to the pub, prompting Brian to offer him a lift and to bet that he could resist the urge to drink. At the pub, Brian told him about his moment of clarity, but Dylan left to go to the toilet as soon as he mentioned his realisation that he didn't want to die. Unbeknownst to Dylan, his father called Zsa Zsa after she repeatedly tried to call him, and he told her the name of the pub they were at. After buying another glass of whiskey, Dylan told Brian about his relationship with Ciara and her ectopic pregnancy, and Brian apologised to him for his treatment of him and his mother. Dylan indulged him and told him that he could make it up to him by drinking with him. Brian refused and tried to leave, but, after Dylan criticised him for not having the guts to make a sacrifice for his son, he bit the bullet and started drinking. Once Brian became drunk, Dylan secretly went to the toilets and called Hazel. Shortly after, outside the pub, Brian got into an argument with her over the phone, and he was devastated when she broke up with him for good. He soon realised that Dylan called her and asked him if he wanted blood. Dylan told him that he wanted more than that, prompting Brian to goad him into "[being] a man" and hitting him. Dylan punched him in the face, causing Brian to hit his head on a nearby table. After Dylan briefly assessed him, Brian staggered up to him and collapsed in his arms. He carried him back inside, and he began to panic when Brian fell unconscious. David, Zsa Zsa and Jeffers soon arrived, and Dylan begged Zsa Zsa to save his father. She reluctantly agreed and drilled a makeshift burr hole to evacuate a clot. When the clot was found, she persuaded Dylan to remove it. He managed to successfully extract it, and he accompanied Brian to the ED. Upon arriving, an irate Connie ordered him and Zsa Zsa to see her in her office. There, she reprimanded Zsa Zsa for her recklessness, and told Dylan that, if he didn't want help from his colleagues, he could pack his bags and leave. Outside, Dylan thanked Zsa Zsa for everything she did for him, and declined her offer to go to the US with her. After they hugged each other goodbye, David escorted her and Jeffers to the airport. Later that month, on his first day back at work, Joel asked Dylan to treat Ciara after she fell and cut herself on broken glass. Dylan planned to have her discharged as soon as possible, but she soon collapsed and believed that her symptoms were being caused by damage to her liver. Joel told him that Ciara had been acting different for the past few days and asked him if there was anything that he needed to know; Dylan admitted that he met her at an AA meeting. Her obs showed that her symptoms were being caused by an infection, rather than liver disease, and, once Joel left to get her a drink, she showed Dylan and Louise a cyst on her leg. After he drained it, she told him that Joel knew that something was wrong. Unbeknownst to them, after David unintentionally mention to him that Ciara had a salpingectomy, Joel found out about her ectopic pregnancy. Dylan asked Ciara if Joel was responsible for her injury, but she insisted that she hurt herself by accident. After he asked for Ciara's GP notes, Connie ordered him to discharge her. As Joel left to pick Ciara up by reception, Dylan confronted him after he realised that he had laced her drink with alcohol. In the lift, Dylan told her that he knew that their relationship could work and implored her not to go home with Joel. They shared a kiss, and she asked him if she could go home with him. When he said that she couldn't, she decided to go with Joel, leaving Dylan devastated. On the houseboat, Dylan contemplated drinking again, but he threw his glass of whiskey on the floor, shattering it.

In November, Dylan called Ciara, and he was horrified to hear her screaming as Joel physically abused her. He decided to go to her house to stop Joel, but David persuaded him to call the police instead. Once Ciara and Joel were taken into the ED, Connie warned him to back off. He tried to ask Ciara if she was alright, but she told him to go away. After viewing her X-rays that showed healed broken ribs and hearing from Robyn that she had bruises, Dylan interrupted a meeting Ciara was having with an IDSVA, undoing all of the progress she had made in confronting her abuse. Later, Ciara ran to the women's toilets after she became uncomfortable with Joel repeatedly kissing her, and David signalled to Dylan as he blocked Joel's path. Dylan found her and told her that he loved her. She walked out of the cubicle, and the two embraced. Back at the ED, Dylan supported her as she told Joel that their relationship was over. Dylan told her that she would likely have to go to a women's refuge, but she asked him if she could stay with him. He agreed, and they left together in his car. However, as they made their way to the houseboat, Joel pursued them and rammed his car into Dylan's. As they drove around a corner, Joel crashed into a parked car. As they looked back at the accident, Dylan unintentionally drove directly into an approaching van. Following the crash, Dylan tried to treat all of the casualties, including Joel who had an open fracture, and he gave Ciara money for a taxi so she could collect her belongings and wait for him at the houseboat. At the ED, after David treated his head wound, he was summoned by Connie to her office, and he told her that, as Ciara's AA sponsor, it was his responsibility to take her to a place of safety. He subsequently began to experience post-concussion syndrome, and he was taken to a cubicle for treatment. Despite Rash and David's orders to stay in bed, Dylan went to resus. There, Joel demanded to know where Ciara was, and Dylan told him that they were going to get as far away from him as possible. Furious, Joel tried to attack him, but he immediately collapsed and had a seizure. Connie told David to take Dylan to the staff room, but, instead, he took Dylan back to the houseboat to meet Ciara. There, Dylan found her carrying bags of her belongings and clothing. She told him that she was going to the airport and asked him to look after Bacchus for her. After Ciara promised him that it wasn't the end, they shared one final kiss before she left in a taxi.

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.

In March 2018, Dylan met Ciara Cassidy at an AA meeting. Later that year, in July, he met her again in the ED and decided to become her sponsor. The following month, they shared a passionate kiss and spent the night together. However, in September, the two fell out, and Ciara decided to stay with her estranged husband Joel. The following week, Ciara was admitted to the ED, and she and Dylan were devastated to learn that she was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy. Feeling that their relationship was toxic, he decided to break up with Ciara, but he soon changed his mind. Unfortunately, she turned him down and decided to stay with Joel. In October, Joel took Ciara to the ED, and Dylan realised that he had been exacerbating her alcoholism. He tried to convince her to leave him, but, when he admitted that she was not able to stay with him, she went back to Joel, much to Dylan's dismay. The following month, after he learned that Joel was physically and mentally abusing her, he told her that she didn't deserve his abuse and admitted that he loved her. The two reconciled, and Ciara decided to end her relationship with Joel. Later that day, Ciara left the country for a fresh start, but she assured Dylan that it wasn't the end.

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 has had troubles with alcoholism in the past.
 * He considers Zoe Hanna the closest thing to a friend.
 * Dylan returned to Holby in 2014.
 * He suffered from OCD in 2015.
 * Dylan's new houseboat is called Flat Over Crest II.

Behind the scenes
William Beck has portrayed Dylan Keogh on Casualty since his arrival in 2011. He left in 2012 before returning in 2014. Dylan has been well received by fans and critics alike; since his introduction he has become a fan-favourite character. His initial time on the show was from March 2011 to December 2012. Over 18 months later, Dylan made a surprise return to the show in episode 8 of series 29. He remains a regular on the show.

Appearances

 * See also: Character appearances and Category:Dylan centric.

Dylan made his first appearance in the series 25 episode "Only Human" which aired in March 2011. He was absent from December 2012 to October 2014 during which time he left the ED. To date, Dylan has had centric episodes.