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Harry Harper

Played by Simon MacCorkindale

Fact title Fact data
Arrival:
Series 16 Episode 37 "Denial"
Final Appearance:
Series 22, Episode 28 "Thicker than Water"
Position:
Consultant & Director of Emergency Medicine

Charismatic, authoritative and chivalrous, Harry was a father figure to the ED team, despite his own troubled personal life. On Harry's first day at Holby he ran into his old flame Selina. Delighted to see her he invited her to dinner that evening, cancelling a driving lesson with his teenage daughter, Tally. Tally persuaded her mother to take her instead but they were involved in an accident and her mum died. Harry took his sadness out on Tally and developed a problem with anti-depressants, forging prescriptions to obtain them.

Harry had a long running war with registrar Simon - which escalated when Simon started sleeping with Tally. When he dumped her for Harry's friend Lana, Tally attempted suicide.

Harry then began a relationship with nurse Ellen Zitek, who became pregnant. Harry proposed, believing it was the right thing to do, but Ellen turned him down. It transpired that Ellen had a cancerous molar pregnancy. She was later hit by a motorbike and died, leaving Harry distraught.

He decided to go into politics when the department was threatened with closure, winning the local bi-election. Following his last shift at the hospital, Harry and Selena slept together. After several months in Westminster, Harry returned to the department, having arranged for the Secretary of State for Health to visit. Harry and Selena were held at gunpoint by a patient's wife, and Selena declared her love for Harry before taking a bullet for him and dying. Following a bomb scare in the hospital, junior doctor Guppy convinced Harry to return, in the role of Consultant Manager.

When Ruth attempted suicide, Harry decided to make her diary - which made clear how the NHS failed her - public, and was forced to resign.