Storylines
Dr. Legg first appears in EastEnders when it begins on 19 February 1985. He is the local doctor for Walford, where he had lived most of his life, opening his practice there in 1947.
His Jewish family had moved out of the East End when Oswald Mosley began his fascist marches in the 1930s. They moved to Finchley in North London, but young Harold travelled from there daily to his East End grammar school, to avoid the disruption to his education that a school transfer would have caused. 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 Harold's bride. 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. He later moved to Islington, living there for several years, but continued to maintain his surgery in Albert Square, renting the premises upstairs to the elderly widow Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin) and the barman Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt), although there are an array of other tenants.
As Walford's GP, Harold is forever getting called upon to sort out the troubled residents, even when he is not on duty, including helping Sue Osman (Sandy Ratcliff) come to terms with the cot death of her son, and humouring the insufferable hypochondriac Dot Cotton (June Brown).
In 1988 Harold's sister, Hester, comes to Walford to visit him, and tells him that her son, David Samuels (Christopher Reich), is interested in joining him in Britain. As David is also a doctor in Israel, Harold thinks it is a great idea and in April that year David arrives in Walford and is made a partner in the practice. Harold even moves back to Walford and he and David live together in the upstairs flats above the surgery. Despite being extremely fond of each other, the new partners argue about almost everything. David wants to modernise 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 in the same bed. David awakes the next day not remembering a thing, but is reassured when Michelle informs him that they he had been too drunk to do anything untoward anyway. Harold is not convinced however, and berates David for the degradation he'd brought upon himself and the surgery.
Later David and Harold fall out over Harold's treatment of patients. Harold discovers that the graphic designer, Colin Russell (Michael Cashman), is suffering with early symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. He decides that telling Colin would be to his detriment, as the worry could bring on another attack prematurely. Dr. Legg knows that Colin may not have another attack for 20 years or so, so he decides to tell Colin that he is just overworked and anemic. This highly unethical move appalls David when he discovers his uncle's lie, but despite this Harold continues to refuse to tell Colin about his illness. However, in January 1989 he finally reveals the truth to a stunned Colin. Colin is furious that Harold had kept this information from him and shuns all his attempts to explain his reasons for doing so. He threatens to report Dr. Legg to the authorities and is mortified at how unethical he has been. Although Dr. Legg is sorry, he stands by his decision to lie, feeling that Colin benefitted from not knowing - when in fact, the opposite is true.
David later becomes incensed by his uncle's lack of persistence concerning Donna Ludlow's (Matilda Ziegler) heroin addiction, and blames him for her death later in the year. Things reach a climax in May 1989 when Dr. Legg fails to correctly diagnose Vicki Fowler's (Samantha Leigh Martin) meningitis. This leads to Vicki nearly dying, loses him the trust of his practitioners, and makes him question his own abilities as a doctor and even sends him into early retirement. This leaves the medical practice in the hands of his nephew, however David's contemporary methods prove unpopular with the older residents of Walford, and after much protesting from them Harold decides to cancel his retirement. David tries to fight his decision, but his visiting girlfriend from Israel makes him see how futile the arguing has become. David and Harold manage to sort out their differences before David returns to Israel in September that year.
Dr. Legg's role appears semi-regularly from this time, appearing only when another character needs medical assistance or advice. However, he remains Walford's GP. He officially retires and leaves after February 1997 and is eventually replaced with a trendier, younger doctor named Fred Fonseca (Jimi Mistry). He makes several brief appearances since this time however. He attends the funeral of Ethel Skinner in September 2000 and that of Mark Fowler (Todd Carty) in April 2004. His last appearance is in June 2007, when he visits Dot when she has an hour of need.
Though Harold does not appear in Walford from this time, he sends wreaths to his friends funerals including Pauline Fowler's (Wendy Richard) in 2006 and Frank Butcher's (Mike Reid) in 2008. In December 2008 when he telephones Dot with news of Janine Evans (Charlie Brooks), and her upcoming wedding to a Jewish man.
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