Nathan Spencer

Nathan Spencer
Nathan Spencer
First appearance 20x15, Enough's Enough
Last appearance 22x06, Core Values
Portrayed by Ben Price
Information
Occupation Corporate Director
Children Angel (deceased)

Nathan Spencer is a character in the British medical drama Casualty. He is portrayed by actor Ben Price.

Contents

Overview

Nathan was installed as the new corporate director in 2005,[1] and from the outset his unswaying mindset and failure to empathise with the human condition made him unpopular with his staff. His professional background was in banking, so his only concern was with meeting hospital targets and balancing the books. As a result, he would frequently clash with A&E consultant Harry Harper, even threatening to remove Harry from his post because he consistently refused to make any sort of (financial) compromise with patient care.

Character history

Nathan began his time at Casualty by stalking Selena Donovan. He was at one point jabbed with a needle which could possibly have been used by an HIV-positive patient. Nathan ordered a search of all clinical waste to find the needle and became more uptight than usual, with receptionist Alice Chantrey bearing the brunt of his anger. However after being persuaded to take an HIV-test, Nathan was relieved to be given the all-clear. After starting a relationship with Selena, Nathan proposed marriage to her.

Displaying character traits of being a jobsworth and a stickler for the rules, Nathan took great pleasure in installing a large plasma TV screen in the middle of the department to enforce the "four-hour rule", a government directive in which all A&E patients must be seen, treated, and admitted/discharged within four hours of arrival. However, in blatant disregard of his own rules, on one occasion Nathan had his own mother admitted ahead of all those currently queued in the system.

Harry Harper continued to clash with Nathan, so in another attempt to get rid of him, Nathan fabricated a charge of sexual harassment against him and persuaded Alice to make a complaint.[2] Harry was suspended, but Alice became suspicious and withdrew her allegation when it threatened to devastate Harry's election campaign. Nathan was forced to confess all to Selena, who ended their engagement.

When Harry was unexpectedly elected as Holby's new MP (he stood for Parliament in a bid to save the Emergency Department from closure), Nathan installed wildcard Australian Theo "Stitch" Lambert as the new consultant. When he discovered Stitch in his office taking cocaine, he was convinced to keep quiet by the threat of the ridicule which would ensue if it was revealed Nathan had made such a poor staffing choice.

Later on in the series, Selena discovered she was pregnant with his baby. She informed Nathan that she had had an abortion, however later revealed to Harry that she had not actually done so. Nathan remained unaware of this until the last episode in the series, when Selena was shot dead. The team performed a Cesarean section on Selena, delivering her and Nathan a baby daughter, Angel.

Sadly Angel later died in Nathan's arms after being diagnosed with a severe E.Coli infection in the NICU and he switched off her ventilator.

Nathan left the show in episode 6 of Series 22. He was sacked for incompetence by Harry Harper, now having quit Westminster to return as the Emergency Department's consultant manager. Despite their previous working relationship Harry found the job difficult, knowing what Nathan had recently been through.

References

  1. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/casualty/pastseries/series20.shtml
  2. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/casualty/storyupdates/index.shtml?20070120

External links

v · d · eHolby


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