HOLLYOAKS has recorded a special mental health podcast that will air for anyone struggling amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The episode of the Don’t Filter Feelings podcast, Mental Health: Listen Up in Lockdown, will see presenter and journalist Lauren Layfield joined by actor Ashley Taylor Dawson, who plays Darren Osborne, and mental health campaigner Josh Connolly.
The three all recorded remotely from their own homes.
“It’s either you are going through a portal or going into a hole, and that’s how you’ve got to attack it really,” said Ashley, whose character Darren has been battling depression.
“You’ve got to make it something, make it an experience instead of wallowing in the misery of what it could be.”
Darren has been suffering in silence for months with no-one noticing, but fans were left relieved in March after Kyle became the first person to realise he was struggling.
When Darren missed his own open mic night, Kyle realised the signs and went to see him and told him about his friend’s issues.
However it soon became clear that Kyle wasn’t talking about a friend – but his own battle with depression.
He told Darren: “At rehab I had a roommate who suffered from depression.
“He said it was like a grey fog descending on him. Gradually at first. He couldn’t enjoy himself, felt worthless, dark thoughts.”
“He’d isolate himself from his friends and family because they were like these grey figures in the mist and he knew he should have been able to connect with them but he couldn’t tell anyone about it because he didn’t understand it himself.”
Kyle added: “He kept it all inside until all he could see was the fog. All he had was the dark thoughts and a life that used to be so full of colour was suddenly nothing more than a black and white movie on in the background.”
