Harry Harper

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

Harry Harper is a character in the popular BBC drama Casualty. He is a Consultant and Director of Emergency Medicine. He is currently the third longest serving current 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.

Harry's daughter Natalya "Tally" was introduced to the series, working as the ED's receptionist, but 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.

Harry is played by Simon MacCorkindale.