Harry Harper (fictional character)

:"For the English cricketer sometimes called by this name, see Herbert Harper."

Infobox character
colour = #d6d6ff
name = Harry Harper


occupation = Consultant Manager
(prev Consultant/Director of Emergency Medicine)
spouse = Beth (deceased)
children = Tally, Jordan, Kizzy, Ollie and Daisy
first = "Denial", 2002
last = "Thicker Than Water", 2008
portrayer = Simon MacCorkindale

Harry Harper MP was a character in the popular BBC drama "Casualty". He left the show on March 8, 2008 but his character's role was left open for if he wanted to return.

Background

He was the Consultant and Director of Emergency Medicine, until recently being elected member of Parliament as an Independent candidate. He is currently the third longest serving character in the series. Harry is extremely competent at his job and rules the department with a rod of iron. His personal demons though have caused him a lot of problems. His wife Beth died prematurely in a car crash. This led to him self-prescribing medication – obtained by forging former colleague Lara Stone's signature – which nearly cost him his job and squandering his wife's life insurance.

Character history

Harry's eldest daughter Natalya, or "Tally", was introduced as a series regular in late 2003, working as the ED's receptionist. She ended up giving her father more heartache. The death of Beth had driven a wedge between them as Harry refused to talk about the matter as he blamed himself, and Tally became increasingly convinced that he blamed "her" for Beth's death (Beth had been giving Tally a driving lesson when the accident happened). Her relationship with womanising Simon Kaminski enraged Harry further due to the considerable age difference between the two and Simon's previous treatment of women. When Simon ended the relationship, Tally tried to take her own life. This forced Harry to accept that he had to spend some quality time with his daughter and talk about Beth.

Recently, Harry started a relationship with a considerably younger married nurse and colleague, Ellen. This culminated in the conception of his sixth child and their engagement; Ellen, however, decided not to marry him and a scan revealed that it was in fact a molar pregnancy. Despite Ellen declining his proposal they remained on good terms and Harry was devastated when she was hit by a motorcycle and killed.

When the local NHS trust planned to close the A&E department at Holby, and local MP Stephen Gregory died, Harry decided to stand in the consequent by-election. He declared that he 'couldn't possibly win' the election but hoped to make the hospital an issue. He surprised everyone by winning (mirroring the real-life story of Richard Taylor), and left the hospital, very reluctantly, to go to Westminster. The character returned on the 28th of July 2007 when he prepared for the visit of the Health Minister to the hospital.

During some of that time he has had a relationship with Selena Donavan, having an affair with her and also having sex with her shortly after she found out her boyfriend was paying women to have sex with him. On 4th August episode, "I Love You So", Harry was held up by gunpoint by a mentally unsound women whose husband, a patient in the hospital, was in, thinking they were going to hurt him. She let Harry and Selena give him a painkiller after Selena proved it was safe, but panicked after she saw armed police outside and shot at Harry. However Selena, after declaring her love for Harry took the shot for him and died, leaving Harry to deliver hers and Nathan Spencer's baby, though Harry first thought it was his before Selena informed him otherwise.

Following Ruth Winter's suicide attempt, Harry went against Marilyn Fox and made her diary public. He was forced to resign.

Notes

* Tally first appeared as a semi-regular from September 2002, but upon Tally joining the ED the role was recast (Holly Davidson replacing Ashlie Walker) and Tally had gone from a 16-year old not wanting to do her A-levels to a sexually charged, 18-year old school leaver.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/casualty/characters/profiles/index.shtml?content/_harry/page1 Character page at BBC's Casualty Homepage]