Harry Harper

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

Harry Harper MP is a character in the popular BBC drama Casualty.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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.

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 plans to close the A&E department at Holby, and local MP Stephen Gregory dies, Harry decides to run as an MP. He wins (mirroring the real-life story of Richard Taylor), and leaves the hospital, very reluctantly, to go to Westminster.

[edit] 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.