Hollyoaks’ Ashley Taylor Dawson thinks his depression storyline is "the most important work" he has ever done.
The 38-year-old actor – who has played Darren Osborne since 1999 – believes it has never been more important to help people understand mental health after he lost "quite a few friends" to suicide.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, he said: "I’ve lost quite a few friends to suicide over the years and I don’t think any of us understand it enough.
"This storyline makes me proud of what we do. It’s been very strong and definitely the best, most important work I’ve ever done on ‘Hollyoaks’."
Ashley admits he has been "guilty" of appearing to be "unsympathetic" towards people dealing with mental health issues in the past.
He said: "Luke initially telling Darren to ‘man up’, for instance, is the worst thing you can do, but that attitude is also the general consensus towards mental health: people can appear unsympathetic because they don’t understand what that person is going through, and think they’re just being lazy. I’ve been guilty of that."
What’s more, Ashley has learned more about his own mental health during lockdown, and he has encouraged people to be more "sensitive" towards others going forward.
He added: "We all look inward when we’ve got problems, and being in lockdown has really taught us, myself included, about anxiety. It’s a natural thing. We don’t give ourselves credit for what we go through in everyday life, but we need awareness of how people are feeling. Everybody needs to be more sensitive, especially now with what’s happening in the world."