Casualty has confirmed an upcoming storyline that will explore the impact of the sexual abuse Nurse Cameron Mickelthwaite experienced when he was a teenager

Casualty has confirmed an upcoming storyline that will explore the impact of the sexual abuse Nurse Cameron Mickelthwaite (Barney Walsh) experienced when he was a teenager.

Barney – who is the son of TV legend Bradley Walsh – has played Cam for just over a year in the medical drama. A quiet character, Cam was introduced as someone very anxious and lacking in self-confidence.

Over the course of the current boxset, titled Storm Damage, Cam has been haunted by his past due to the arrival of Bobby, an old friend from a youth group. Bobby turned up at Holby City Hosptial and accused Jamie Cleveland (Ryan Hawley) of abusing him when he was a child.

This Saturday (August 3), viewers will see the emotional moment Cam opens up to Clinical Lead Siobhan (Melanie Hill) about the abuse he was also subjected to by Jamie.

The team at Casualty have been working with the charities Survivors UK and We Are Survivors to ensure Cam’s storyline has been thoughtfully and sensitively handled.

Discussing this narrative, Barney Walsh said: ‘Research shows that one in six men are survivors of sexual abuse, so this is a very important story for us to tell. This storyline will see Cam having to confront the demons of his past, something he has desperately tried to avoid for many years and face up to the realisation that he experienced abuse. We want to help anyone who might be affected by abuse, and to highlight that survivors of abuse are not alone, there is always help and support available to them. It’s been a privilege to bring this storyline to screens’.

Casualty Series Producer Liza Melody added: ‘Viewers have been aware that Cam’s past has come back to haunt him with the arrival of Bobby and Jamie at Holby, but now the audience will discover just why Cam has been struggling so much. We hope this storyline will help to challenge the perceptions, the stigma, and the shame experienced by male survivors.’

Duncan Craig OBE is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of We Are Survivors. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse himself, Duncan has worked closely with the storyline team, reading through each script to ensure Cam and Bobby’s voices as victims and survivors were being accurately represented.

He said: ‘I was so pleased to be contacted by the BBC again and this time to be asked by Casualty to support the development of this storyline. I am genuinely so proud of Barney, and the team for being brave enough to highlight the silence of male victims and the need for male survivors’ stories to be heard. We know that when drama tells stories of male survivors, more people call helplines, contact us for support, and finally find a space to breathe.’

SurvivorsUK Helpline Manager Laura Nulty commented: ‘Cam’s storyline reflects the experience of many male survivors of sexual abuse that we speak to every day at SurvivorsUK; men trying to process what has happened to them in the past, whilst navigating the situation within their present life. The mixture of emotions Cam feels towards Jamie shows the complex relationships some survivors can have with their abuser.

‘It takes an average of over two decades for a male survivor to tell someone else about what happened to them, which is why it’s so important that stories like these which highlight abuse and its long-lasting insidious impacts are displayed. The more that male survivors see their own stories portrayed, the more people come forward to services like ours and the closer we come to ensuring survivors can live a better life free from shame and stigma.’

For support and information regarding sexual abuse, you can visit the Survivors UK website here, or the We Are Survivors platform here.

Casualty has confirmed an upcoming storyline that will explore the impact of the sexual abuse Nurse Cameron Mickelthwaite (Barney Walsh) experienced when he was a teenager. Barney – who is the son of TV legend Bradley Walsh – has played Cam for just over a year in the medical drama. A quiet character, Cam was introduced as…