It's OK TO TALK

DOMINIC BRUNT on a heartbreaking storyline for Paddy

- ALISON SLADE

EMMERDALE
MON, TUE, THU & FRI, TIMES VARY, ITV1 SOAP

Paddy Kirk’s world imploded when he discovered shortly before Christmas that his wife Chas had had an affair with the now late businessman Al Chapman. Having sunk into a deep depression, this week the devastated vet plans to take his own life.

Actor Dominic Brunt, 52, sat down with TV Times to talk about Paddy’s plight and the importance of speaking up…

Can you sum up how Paddy’s split from Chas has affected him?

It has hit him from all sides. He doesn’t trust anybody now. He feels humiliated and belittled, and it has changed his relationship with his daughter, Eve – he has to book in to see her, and that’s something he could never have imagined.

But it’s not just the break-up that has sent him over the edge. There are things he didn’t deal with before, like the death of their daughter, Grace [who tragically passed away shortly after she was born in 2018]. I think he sees his role as the ‘traditional’ male – ‘I am the rock and I provide’ – and it has come back to haunt him that he doesn’t communicate in the way he should.

Doing research, you realise that in all the unique situations people go through with depression, the one thing that seems to alleviate feelings of isolation is talking. The adage of, ‘A problem shared is a problem halved,’ is absolutely true, and it can point you in the right direction for medication as well.

How did you feel when this storyline was pitched to you?

The word that keeps coming up is ‘responsibility’. I feel very responsible to get it correct.