John 'Abs' Denham

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John "Abs" Denham is a character in the popular BBC drama Casualty (TV series). He is a mental health nurse who is driven and passionate about his work. His office was made out of the stationery cupboard and he soon made his mark at Holby as a man with a sense of humour and huge pride towards his work.

Abs' first day at work was particularly memorable, when he discovered that an escaped mental patient had stolen his identity and was posing as him in the Casualty Department! The impostor was so convincing that, for a short time, it became a case of "Will the real Abs please stand up?"; fortunately, the matter was eventually sorted out and the genuine Abs was able to start doing his job.

His biggest regret would be his marriage to Ellen, as she lied to him to get married simply to help her get a visa. It soon became clear that Nina (Ellen's half-sister) was right all along and Ellen just wanted something that Nina had, in this case Abs. When Ellen left after feeling rejected, Nina and Abs got together but were soon interrupted by a loan shark called Ian to whom Ellen owed money; because of interest rates, what she owed went up to £15,000. Abs struggled to keep up with the payments, and not only got beaten up but had items repossessed. However, after being beaten up himself, Ian was fatally injured and Abs was free of the loan shark. Immigration also told him that they would not be investigating his marriage to Ellen any longer, leaving him and Nina together.

After demanding a divorce once Ellen returned, he found out that she had cancer and has since been supporting her along with Nina, who bought a new camper van to replace the one he had to sell to make money to pay Ian.

Abs is played by James Redmond.

"Abs" is short for nickname asbestos