Harvey Monroe made his first appearance on 22 July 2021. He is portrayed by Ross Boatman. He is the father of Aaron and Dana Monroe and the boyfriend of Jean Slater.
Backstory[]
Harvey is the father of Dana Monroe and is overly protective over her. He isn't as close with his son Aaron Monroe though. His wife and mother of his children left him for unknown reasons, potentially due to her postnatal depression. When Dana and Aaron were young, before he moved to Walford, he was arrested for drink driving but was let off. He recalls his father being a stamp collector, and when talking to Lily Slater, he stated he rarely got fish and chips, and if he did it would be the scraps left over and that he could only dream of a battered sausage.
Storylines[]
2021-2022: Arrival and relationship with Jean[]
In July 2021, Harvey arrives in Walford, moves into 5D, and gets the job as a taxi driver at Kat's Cabs. Upon his arrival, he started dating Kathy Beale but the relationship ended when Kathy revealed she has no romantic feelings towards him.
In October 2021, Harvey loses his job after his racist comments to Ash Kaur. However, after apologising to both Kat Slater and Ash, he gets his job back.
After his son, Aaron, arrives, he's happy to see him, however upon finding a bloody shirt in the bins outside, he begins to become suspicious. The police later come knocking asking for Aaron's whereabouts the previous night as a taxi driver was assaulted, and Harvey reluctantly backs him up.
On New Year's Eve, Harvey discovers the truth about Aaron and his friend, Neil Hughes, and their plan about blowing up The Argee Bhajee, the site for a future mosque, and successfully talks him out of it by revealing his little sister Dana, was in the Albert, which backed onto the Argee Bhajee.
Harvey in 2022
In the New Year, Harvey begins a relationship with Jean Slater, which later becomes more serious. Jean later proposes and Harvey accepts. Harvey is manipulated by Neil, and is forced to deliver a burner phone to Aaron in prison. Harvey does so, but Neil is later arrested due to his connections with the attempted arson attack. Jean later spends large sums of money and acts out of character, and when Stacey tries to make him see sense, he shuts her down. Jean later flees to Southend on her and Harvey's wedding day and attempts suicide, believing Daniel Cook is who she is marrying, but Stacey saves her and she is sectioned. When Jean is released from hospital, her and Harvey have a rocky friendship but later reminisce their relationship at the end of 2022. Harvey later moves in with the Slater family to help them with rent after Dana left for university in September 2022. Harvey, Mitch Baker and Tom Cotton are often seen as the "lads" of the square and are often seen together.
During December 2022 and January 2023, Harvey allows the Slaters to live with him after their house is being sorted after the carbon monoxide leakage. Jean and Harvey both wish to start a relationship and agree to take things very slow.
In the Vic Ben Mitchell hurls multiple insults at Zack Hudson, a furious Zack reveals infront of the whole Vic that he didn't fight Ben because he is HIV positive. Ben attempts to shake Zack's hand but Zack refuses, the likes of Ravi, Harvey and Karen Taylor all judge Zack because of his HIV but all three later to Zack later on after after Ravi was educated about HIV by his son Davinder Gulati and Harvey and Karen were told off by Felix Baker.
Harvey is present when Stacey Slater's Secret Cam business is revealed. When Martin and Stacey kiss, Harvey and Jean both attempt to get them together. Stacey accuses Jean and Harvey of telling people of her and Martin's relationship (as stalker Theo Hawthorne messaged her about getting back with her ex), yet Harvey misunderstands and says that he had told many residents including Mitch and Phil Mitchell, in regard to Stacey's naked burgers discount for her stall, Stacey's Baps.
Harvey helps Stacey in preperation for Naz Cohen's visit. He later helps to clean up the kitchen after Eve trashes it.
Harvey and Jean get free "Marbella Peacock" cocktails from Elaine Peacock as he is her favourite cabbie. Jean gets continuously agitated and decides to return home, where Lily is giving birth. He finds this out later after many drinks and meets Charli Slater at the hospital.
Harvey becomes concerned after he sees Tom repeatedly entering the betting shop, Heart Bet. Tom tried to defend himself by saying that it’s his way of having fun but Harvey remains concerned Both later agree it is for the best that Tom stops.
Harvey catches Tom betting again after Olga Kubicka tells him he left his phone at Heart Bet. Harvey berates him. Harvey later stops Tom from betting at the ‘Pie, Pint and a Punch-Up’ night at The Boxing Den, which they later find out was rigged by Dorian Gates.
Kathy and Tom later meet Vinny Panesar and Kathy agrees to buy the house, however Tom secretly can't afford the deposit. Tom later meets Vinny and asks if he can drop the price of the deposit, Vinny refuses however he offers to give Tom a loan from his father Nish Panesar and Tom accepts the loan. Vinny warns Tom not to mess Nish around when it's time for the loan to be re-payed.
On the day Tom is due to pay Nish his first instalment Tom can't afford to pay it and when Tom is with Harvey Tom takes £500 out of his and Kathy's joint account, Harvey tries to tell him not to do it but Tom ignores Harvey. Harvey later sees Tom going into Heart Bet so he phones the manager Olga and tells Olga not to take his money due to Tom being a gambing addict. When Harvey comes into the store Tom is furious with Harvey and is left even further angry when Tom realises his horse won, meaning that if Harvey didn't interfere Tom would have won his bet. Harvey later apologies but insists to Tom that while he won this time he would have lost in the future. Tom admits to Nish that he doesn't have the money, Nish suggests that Tom steal a car from the car lot where Tom works and give it to him to pay him back. Tom considers stealing the car but after a conversation with his boss Jay Tom refuses to steal the car and Nish tells Tom that his debt interest has doubled. Tom then comes up with the idea to set the café on fire after hearing Sonia and Kathy mention that the cafe's electricity keep malfunctioning, however Harvey discovers his plan and tries to convince Tom not to do it.
Tom decides not to go through with the idea and reassures Harvey that he won't set the café on fire, Tom then finds a pound coin in the café. Tom then goes to the Minute Mart and uses the pound coin to buy a scratch card off of Vinny. Tom wins £10 and is happy, Vinny tells him that's not anywhere near enough to pay Nish back, Tom acknowledges this but tells Vinny that it's a start. Nish then goes into Heart Bet and begs Olga to let him use the £10, telling her that if she doesn't let him he'll just use the money on a betting app. Olga accepts the £10 and Tom ends up winning loads of bets and gets over £500. Tom phones Nish and tells him that he has his money, however just as Tom leaves Patrick Trueman enters and encourages Tom to put in another bet. Tom puts on another bet but this time looses and as a result looses all the money he'd made, Harvey later sees Tom and offers to loan Tom some money. Patrick then sees Tom and Harvey and Patrick inadvertently reveals that Tom post all his money in the Heart Bet store, Harvey then backs out of giving Tom the money and the two have a furious row which ends with Harvey leaving Tom on his own. Tom then sets fire to the café but is later horrified to discover that Peter and Bobby are inside the burning café and goes in to save them. Tom, Bobby and Peter all make it out alive but are all rushed to hospital, Tom wakes up first and Kathy (who is unaware that Tom started the fire) informs Tom that Peter and Bobby haven't yet woken up and Tom worried. Harvey sees Tom in the hospital and grabs Tom and pins him up against a wall and tells Tom he needs to confess to the police but Tom refuses saying he wants to see if Kathy is gets released first.
After Karen Taylor's involvement in Albie Watts' kidnapping is revealed, Harvey and Jean talk with Tom about this, in shock how Mitch could've done this. Later when Tom says he is glad that he and Harvey are friends again, Harvey warns him that he is still not forgiven.
Resident history[]
| Address | Years |
|---|---|
| 5D Albert Square | 2021-2023 |
| 31 Albert Square | 2023- |
Background information[]
- In 2022 Ross Boatman won best newcomer at The British Soap Awards for his role as Harvey.