Ethan Hardy
Ethan Hardy is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Casualty, played by actor George Rainsford. He first appeared in the series twenty-eight episode "Bad Timing", broadcast on 11 January 2014. Rainsford's casting was announced alongside Richard Winsor who had been hired to play Ethan's brother Caleb Knight. The pair were described by the show's executive producer Oliver Kent as completely different characters who would change the dynamic on Casualty. Ethan is a Specialist registrar in emergency medicine and is an excellent medic who had worked hard to achieve his position in the profession. He is characterised as a shy, socially awkward person with a serious and attentive attitude. Throughout his inclusion in the show Ethan has shared an on-screen friendship with like minded Lily Chao. He has had romantic stories alongside the character Honey Wright. Writers developed Ethan's relationship with his brother Cal into a sibling rivalry. This has provided both characters with dramatic stories.
The character has played a centric role in a special themed episode titled, "Holby Sin City". In the episode Ethan is depicted trying to solve a murder mystery. In 2015, the show explored a story focusing on Ethan and Cal's family history. The storyline was pitched by Casualty's co-creator Paul Unwin. It features Ethan learning that he is adopted, meeting his biological mother Emilie Groome who suffers from Huntington's disease and later discovering he has inherited the disease. Writers created more romance for Ethan with Cal's girlfriend Alicia Munroe, their affair causes a sibling feud. When Winsor departed the show in 2017, Cal was murdered by Scott Ellisson. Writers used the incident to create a story of revenge and unethical behaviour to coincide with Ethan's grief. Ethan's morals were permanently compromised when he allows Scott to die under the hospital's care. Writers continued to portray Ethan as unethical through romance stories with his patients Leigh-Anne Carr and Effie Laurence. In 2019, producers gave Rainsford a posttraumatic stress disorder story to portray. Ethan is involved in an explosion which kills a colleague. Survivor's guilt and stress lead Ethan into yet more unethical behaviour.
Other stories include Ethan being involved in a mini-bus crash, being promoted to clinical lead and becoming disillusioned with the NHS system for over-working staff. He developed a romance with paramedic Fenisha Khatri, who gave birth to their son Bodhi. Ethan's response to grief was explored again when Fenisha died on their wedding day and Ethan struggled with whether to care for Bodhi or leave him with Fenisha's parents.
For his portrayal of Ethan, Rainsford won "Best Drama Star" at the 2017 Inside Soap awards. Ethan has generally been well received by critics of the genre. In 2020, Emma Bullimore from the Radio Times stated that Ethan had become one of the show's best characters from the show's entire duration; Robert Hiley from What's on TV branded Ethan a "brilliant character".
In November 2022, it was confirmed that Ethan Hardy would be leaving Casualty, with actor Rainsford leaving the role after nine years on the program. Ethan departed on 4 February 2023 in the episode "Fight or Flight".
Casting
The character and Rainsford's casting were announced on 4 September 2013. Richard Winsor was cast to play Ethan's brother Caleb Knight who would also secure employment at Holby City hospital. The audition process was extremely thorough and careful as the show were looking for the right actors to play two brothers who have a testing but loving relationship. The actor auditioned for the role in London and impressed casting directors. Rainsford and Winsor then had a screen test audition together to check their suitability for the sibling relationship Casualty wanted to portray. They were in full costume and make-up acting out scenes. Rainsford believed they shared on-screen chemistry straight away. Rainsford began filming on 2 September 2013.The BBC described Ethan as a "studious witty whizz kid" in comparison to the "pure adrenaline junkie" Cal. The characters were introduced with the intention of having a "big impact" on the emergency department featured in the show. Casualty's executive producer Oliver Kent stated "The arrival of Ethan and Caleb will instantly change the dynamic of the ED. Whilst very different characters, one thing they will have in common is an ability to charm, so expect sparks to fly." The actor found the most daunting thing about joining Casualty to be the style of filming. He recalled a "terrifying" moment he had to deliver the final lines of a fast-paced scene as part of his first episode.
Rainsford's exit from Casualty had been heavily speculated for a while before officially being confirmed in an interview with executive producer, Jon Sen, who confirmed that Rainsford had exited Casualty after nine years. However, it was confirmed that Rainsford may return to the show, with Sen confirming that it wasn't a permanent exit for Rainsford.
Development
Characterisation and sibling rivalry
Ethan is characterised as a doctor with excellence, extremely attentive, very academic but relatively shy. He also has a humorous side to his personality and is prone to making witty comments. In stressful situations Ethan is likely to make jokes. Rainsford has summed the character up as "serious, focused and cautious". Rainsford believes that finding a love interest for the character would be "a slow process" due to his awkward persona. He had to study a lot to pass medical school. This has made him a "very good and hard-working doctor" who is gentle towards his patients and "very thorough". Rainsford told Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy that Ethan's "methodical nature" in medicine means that he sometimes overlooks the human aspect of cases.A writer from BBC Online states that whilst the character "thrives as a doctor" but has often lived his life in the shadow of his brother and fellow specialist registrar Cal. He has provided Ethan with a "lifetime of frustration" and Ethan is always there to sort out Cal's problems. Ethan and Cal share a "complicated family history". They have different personalities with Ethan being the more reserved brother. But Rainsford said that as Ethan's stories played out viewers could see that the character struggled with making connections with colleagues unlike his brother. In addition there is much conflict between the two due to their differences. They also go through dramas because of their family history. But Rainsford believed there was also caring moments for the siblings, adding "I think at heart there's a brotherly love there." The show remained committed to developing their brotherly relationship and repairing it. They move in together to see how they cope living together. Rainsford concluded that there will always be stories that test the relationship but after one year on-screen the two were "getting along much better". In one storyline Ethan is caught up in a mini-bus crash which he survives. Cal is tasked to perform life-saving surgery to save his brother's life.
Rainsford told David Brown that "he's serious and hardworking, but he's also somewhat awkward socially. He has this methodical, cautious approach, but he does end up making slightly inappropriate jokes and using self-deprecating humour." Ethan forms a friendship with CT2 Lily Chao and they are quite alike. Rainsford assessed that the two characters relate to each other because of their social difficulties. Ethan views Lily as someone who is similar to himself and as episodes play out the pair develop a bond.
"Holby Sin City"
Ben Dowell from the Radio Times announced that Casualty were planning three special stand-alone episodes with dark themes. The episode titled "Holby Sin City" was one of these episodes and focused on Ethan as the centric character. The episode features a murder mystery which Ethan takes it upon himself to solve. Rainsford told Sarah Ellis from Inside Soap that the episode is stylised as a "crime thriller" with a "film noir" narrative. It features a different look to normal episodes, darker lighting and "eerie and mysterious-looking" locations. The actor was excited about the episode after writers gave him the scripts. He believed that filming and producing the episode was challenging for all involved. Shooting scenes had to be done fast and a large crane with a rain machine was used to add to the dark theme.On-screen when a patient Clyde Jackson, dies because medics cannot resuscitate due to a DNR order, Ethan becomes suspicious and believes there is something sinister behind it. Another guest character in the episode, Bonnie Curtis who was billed as a "femme fatale" catches Ethan's attention as a suspect. A series of flashback sequences play out which reveal that Ethan has treated Bonnie before and they have formed a friendship. It transpires that Bonnie has been the victim of domestic violence and Ethan is her confidant. He believes this could be a motive to kill her violent partner. Interviewed by Victoria Wilson of What's on TV, Rainsford said that Ethan is "quite gushing" about Bonnie and she "makes him act quite differently in that he almost loses himself in this woman, rather publicly in the hospital."
Bonnie realises that Ethan is suspicious of her and wants to get rid of him. Bonnie tells hospital CEO Henrik Hanssen that she and Ethan are in a relationship to get him removed from Clyde's case. Rainsford explained that Bonnie had been using Ethan and then drugs him to prevent him from interfering. But "Ethan is a very moral guy, and he wants to make sure justice is done. So he battles the effects of the drug and marches down the police station, wearing a fedora!" The actor told Elaine Reilly from What's on TV that the story helped shape his character into the next phase of development. He added that following Bonnie's deception he develops a mistrust of women; admitting he was eager to explore more relationship stories rather than medical ones.