Dr. Harold Legg is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Leonard Fenton. Dr. Legg is Walford's original GP. He is widely trusted within the community, and is always on hand to dish out advice. Dr Legg appears as a regular character between 1985 and 1989, but continued to appear in a recurring role until 1997. He was officially retired in 1999 by executive producer Matthew Robinson, but made brief returns in 2000, 2004 and 2007. He returned for a longer storyline from 18 October 2018 and departed on 15 February 2019 when he died of pancreatic cancer.
Creation and development
Dr Harold Legg was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Dr Legg was an attempt to represent the successive wave of Jewish immigrants that had settled in the East End of London between 1881 and 1914 in order to avoid the persecution that they were being subjected to in the rest of Europe. The second generation of East End born Jews (as Dr Legg was meant to represent) prospered in the area until the 1930s when Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists was formed, and used violence to instil fear in the Jewish population. As the Jewish community grew wealthier, many moved out of the East End to more affluent areas of London,
Dr Legg was conveyed as a man that was trusted within the community. A traditional GP with roots in the East End, who had a genuine concern for his loyal patients and the area. The majority of his storylines concerned other characters' problems (where he was seen as the first port of call should anyone need advice or fall ill), or they related to his own professional conduct. His personal life was largely kept hidden from viewers, although he would occasionally reminisce about his and Albert Square's history, mainly with other characters supposedly born in the area, such as Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin), Lou Beale (Anna Wing) and later Benny Bloom (Arnold Yarrow). The character was also featured within a series of spin-off EastEnders novels by Hugh Miller, set prior to 1985. Within the novelisation entitled Home Fires Burning, readers were made privy to the character's history as a trainee doctor during World War II, and his blossoming relationship with his would be wife, Judith.
The character served as Walford's GP for 14 years. Although his first name of Harold was first spoken by the visiting DI Marsh (Harry Miller) in the final scene of the show's second episode in 1985, he has always been referred to by the majority of the other characters and in the closing credits as "Dr Legg". Though a regular character with his own storylines throughout the 1980s, for much of the 1990s he was a recurring character, making increasingly sporadic appearances, and only when other characters needed medical assistance. In 1998, the executive producer of EastEnders, Matthew Robinson, announced that he was officially retiring Dr Legg. The character was one of many axed by the producer, who was dubbed the "axeman" by the British press. Speaking of his decision, Robinson commented "Dr Legg is getting on a bit, so we're retiring him. He'll be going to a nice cottage in the country." His place was filled by a younger alternative medicine fan, Dr Fred Fonseca, played by Jimi Mistry. Leonard Fenton has since spoken about his frustration that Dr Legg did not get to practice enough, claiming that he "was frustrated for years by Dr Legg's sporadic appearances". In an interview in 2000, Fenton commented "I told them I wasn't happy about going on once every two months. That's why it ended...".
Since his retirement, Dr Legg makes several brief cameos in the soap, his returns relating to storylines concerning other long-running characters. In 2000, executive producer John Yorke brought him back for the death of Ethel Skinner, in 2004 Louise Berridge brought him back for the funeral of Mark Fowler (Todd Carty), and he was brought back for one episode in 2007 by Diederick Santer, to provide counsel for the character Dot Branning (June Brown).
It was announced on 25 July 2018 that Yorke had reintroduced Dr Legg for an "emotional" storyline with Dot later that year, eleven years after his last appearance. Spoiler pictures of on-location filming featuring Dr Legg and Dot were also released. The pictures feature Dot and Dr Legg joyfully meeting again after a long time. Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy teased that the scenes would be emotional and warned viewers to "get the tissues ready!" Fenton expressed his excitement at reprising his role, while Brown said that it was "an utter delight" to work with Fenton again.) They moved to Finchley in North London, but young Harold commuted daily to his East End grammar school, to avoid any disruption to his education. He went to St Bartholomew's Hospital to start his medical training in 1940, treated air raid casualties, and met and married a non-Jewish nurse, named Judith Martin. They bought a small house in Albert Square. They lived there happily, but during the war a German bomb exploded near number 5 Albert Square and killed Judith. He never remarried, despite the hard work of matchmaking aunts and Dr Legg since devotes his life to keeping the residents of Albert Square healthy.
1985–1997
Dr Legg later moved to Islington, living there for several years, but continued to maintain his surgery in Albert Square, renting the flat upstairs to Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin) and the barman Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt) among an array of other tenants.
As Walford's GP, Harold is forever getting called upon to treat the troubled residents, even when he is not on duty, including helping Sue Osman (Sandy Ratcliff) come to terms with the death of her son, and humouring hypochondriac Dot Cotton (June Brown).
In 1988, Harold's sister, Hester Samuels (Barbara Shelley), comes to Walford to visit and tells him that her son, David (Christopher Reich), is interested in joining him in Britain. As David is a doctor in Israel, Harold thinks it is a great idea and in April that year, David joins him in Walford and is made a partner in the practice. Harold even moves back to Walford and he and David live in the flat above the surgery. Despite being extremely fond of each other, the new partners argue about almost everything. David wants to modernize the surgery and bring in computers but Harold is set in his ways and is opposed to any obvious changes. Harold also disagrees with David's friendship with their secretary, Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully), particularly when the two get drunk at a Christmas party, leave together and share the same bed. David awakes the next day not remembering a thing, but is reassured when Michelle informs him that he had been too drunk to do anything untoward anyway. Harold is not convinced however and berates David for the degradation he brought upon himself and the surgery.
See also
- List of fictional doctors