Hampstead psychiatrist acted with Kate Winslet for BAFTA winning drama

Although Dr Jon Goldin was cut from the final film, the 90-minute session fed into Winslet's award-winning performance as a mother whose daughter's mental health crisis is provoked by social media.

At Sunday's award ceremony, Winslet called for goverment action to remove harmful social media content - a subject Goldin is passionate about after seeing "more and more" cases of teenagers struggling with eating disorders, depression and anxiety "having been exposed to a toxic digital environment".

Director Dominic Savage earned a BAFTA for best single drama and Kate Winslet won best actress for I Am Ruth which starred her daughter Mia Threapleton (Image: PA)

"There's an awful lot of harmful content out there. It's like the wild west with things happening online that would never be allowed in real life," he says. "It's a safeguarding issue."

Goldin, who took acting classes as a teen, and appeared in plays while a pupil at UCS Hampstead, was approached by I Am Ruth's director Dominic Savage for the scene where Threapleton's character Freya is assessed by a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

"I had done some consulting for him on child mental health issues some years ago and he asked me would I like to be in a film. He likes casting doctors to play doctors," explains Goldin, who worked as an NHS consultant for years and now has a private practice in Highgate.

He first met Winslet and Threapleton in character.

"There wasn't a script, I was told the broad background that I was playing the role of a child psychiatrist assessing this child who had mental health issues. When I went to collect them from the waiting room and shook the mum's hand I had a moment when I thought 'oh my goodness that's Kate Winslet!'

"After that we were all in role and it was as realistic as possible. I did an assessment in the way I normally would, just being filmed. They are both brilliant actresses. It really felt like I was in a room with a mother and daughter who had come to me."

Afterwards, Winslet gave him a hug and posed for photos.

"She's a lovely warm woman who is motivated by personal experience to make the film and shine a spotlight on this issue and we had a big conversation about what we can do.

"It's a very powerful, visceral, film about what it feels like to have lost touch with your daughter, not know what they are looking at and not be able to control it. Although I was disappointed to end up on the cutting room floor, it was an amazing, intense experience which the director said was very helpful for the development of the characters."

Dr Jon Goldin with director Dominic Savage, Kate Winslet and Mia Threapleton (Image: Courtesy of Dr Jon Goldin)

As the Royal College of Psychistrists' lead for Parliamentary engagement, Goldin has lobbied politcians on their White Paper on Online Harms.

"It has been progressing very slowly for five years but we hope it will get on the statute books," says Goldin, who is a father of two teenage daughters.

"We are asking that companies like Facebook and TikTok take more responsibility for things like age verification and what they host online. We want the option of making CEOs personally liable for putting out stuff that's harmful, and give a percentage of profits to research the impact of online harms.

"Over the years I have seen more and more teenage girls, but also boys, comparing themselves unfavourably with glamorous pictures online. As a teenager you can be sensitive and vulnerable, developing your identity and self esteem. Some are more resilient but for others it causes problems with depression, anxiety, self-harm and, in the worst scenario, suicide."

Dr Goldin cites children being exposed to violent pornography, images of self-harm, and chat rooms encouraging them to be "better anorexics" or "how to kill yourself".

"It's really worrying what's out there. The children's commissioner said in 20 years' time we will look back and wonder what on earth we were thinking. We can't put the genie back in the bottle, but we can educate and legislate to make it a better environment, and as Kate Winslet said let children feel they are not alone and can reach out."

He hopes the unused film could help train doctors and psychiatrists.

"There's a shortage of child psychiatrists, and it would be inspirational to see how we conduct an assessment - with the added bonus it's got an Oscar winning actress in it."