Sad news for all those female fans who tune in to BBC1 on Saturday nights to gaze adoringly at Simon MacCorkindale. After five years playing consultant Harry Harper in Casualty the smoothy actor is hanging up his stethoscope.
Cambridge-born Simon, 55, is said to be “exhausted” and wants a break. Two years ago he was banned from driving after a hit-and-run incident which he put down to his heavy workload
His decision may come as a bit of a blow to his wife of 23 years, erstwhile actress Susan George, who has relied on her husband’s generous pay to provide the oats for the 56 Arabian horses she beeps at the couple’s stud farni in Somerset.
Only last week, at the Mayfair launch of an exhibition of photographs she has taken of her horses, Susan admitted: “It’s an extravagant hobby which takes everything I earn – and my husband likewise.”
But can Simon’s swooning views dare to hope that their medical hero might one day return to Casualty? Sadly not. “When it’s time for him to go (they will probably turn Harry into a serial killer, make him go bonkers and throw himself off a cliff – that’s the way things go.” observes Simon