Olly Rix has opened up about his departure from Call the Midwife last year, revealing that he "didn't like the way it ended".
In an exclusive interview with HELLO!, the 40-year-old actor, who played Matthew Aylward in the BBC period drama for three years, said he felt he wasn't "treated with much integrity or respect" and revealed how his Cocker Spaniel puppy Nellie pulled him out of "a pretty dark" time.
"It's hard for me to talk about that show. I don't love talking about it," Olly said when asked to compare his experience filming the long-running drama with his new role on the medical series, Casualty, in which he stars as former Special Forces medic Flynn Byron.
When probed about his reluctance to speak about Call the Midwife, Olly said: "I'm very fortunate. Most jobs, I think of very fondly but you do, of course, leave them in the past and move on and develop new work.
© Matt Towers, BBC"With that project in particular, I didn't like the way it ended and I didn't think they treated me with much integrity or respect, and I didn't like that.
"I think it's just best left in the past and not discussed much more," said Olly.
© Neal Street Productions/Olly CoutrneyA Call the Midwife spokesperson said in a statement: "We don’t accept this. Call the Midwife is a drama that prides itself on providing a supportive, inclusive and nurturing filming environment, and we are known for the family atmosphere on our set. Series 15 is currently filming and we look forward to sharing this exciting new series with our beloved audience."
How Olly's beloved pup Nellie 'saved him'
While Olly didn't go into detail about the reason behind his exit from the drama, he did reveal how his beloved pup Nellie helped pull him out of a dark place, having come into his life around the time that he left the programme.
"I feel like I know what it's like to be saved by a dog," he began. "That's a really common thing, people feel that a dog entered their life at a time they really needed it, and that absolutely happened to me. Without wishing to be melodramatic, I feel like I owe her everything, my whole life."
'Unpleasant' period following show departure
Reflecting on the "unpleasant" period, in which Olly faced "unwelcome and quite difficult" press intrusion into his private life and speculation about a romance with his on-screen wife, Helen George, the Casaulty star said: "I was very isolated and very alone."
© Neal Street Productions/Andrea Southam"It's a difficult aspect of the industry, but if you face something like that, you are relatively alone and people don't protect you, and they don't tend to help, apart from your own team, which is lovely, but there's only so much they can do," explained the actor, who is hoping to become an ambassador of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home after touring the animal rescue centre earlier this year.
"I sort of spent all my time with this little pup, kind of hiding away," he recalled.
Sharing an optimistic view of the tough period, Olly reflected: "It was quite a sad time in some respects, but I look back at it as one of those weird instances where you're going through something quite unpleasant, but you look back on it and think what an extraordinary moment of my life. What an amazingly beautiful moment, paradoxically.
© BBC STUDIOS"Now I think back to a little pup and trying to teach her not to bite me every five seconds. It was lovely. She really did pull me out of something pretty dark," he added.
Olly is currently starring in Casualty, which airs on BBC iPlayer and on BBC One on Saturday nights. Previous episodes are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
