In the ‘Inside Story’ by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, the pair provided the original character profiles for the regulars of Albert Square.
The character of Doctor Legg, seen from episode one onwards, and as a regular until 1997, was devised by the creative talents of Julia Smith, who had overseen BBC medical saga Angels, and Tony Holland, who had worked prior to ‘Enders as a script editor on Z Cars and Angels. They created backstories and characterisation for the actors in mini-biographies of Walford residents in 1984.
As released in 1987, here is the life and times of Doctor Harold Legg as originally plotted prior to EastEnders hitting the air.
‘DR HAROLD LEGG.
His parents took the name Legg from the street they used to live in. The tough time came in the mid-thirties when the extreme right and Mosley on one hand, and the persecution of Jews in Europe on the other, forced him as a bright teenager to become positively aware of racism, freedom and persecution. He didn’t become a communist, he didn’t start hating all Germans – but he did stop going to the Synagogue.
He decided as he approached seventeen to become a doctor, perhaps he should have been a musician? Like his Uncle Leon.
He saw the air raid casualties, it reinforced his passion for the underdog. He met and fell in love with a young (non-Jewish) nurse – they were married when he was twenty-one.
She was in the garden when a dog-flight took place overhead, and the German pilot dropped his bomb in order to get away. The corner of Albert Square went – and so did she.’
The reason the Queen Victoria lost its function room, and modern flats were built on the set in its place, something they changed when they realised where the bomb would have to fall on the square.
Set changes are not all that difficult – when you’ve not yet started. Casting actors however is more difficult. Later in ‘Inside Story‘ Tony and Julia talk about casting Doctor Legg.
‘Actors of the right age, intelligence and class, who could play Jewish professional men, were difficult to track down. They’d either left the business, or were too closely identified with other programmes.
Leonard Fenton was another suggestion of Bill Lyons. ‘If you want the best, it’s got to be Leonard’. Leonard understood the character at once, though he questioned the accuracy of the surname Legg. He was fascinated by the doctor’s passionate concern for the community and his great love of music, something that Leonard and Legg had in common. He seemed perfect for the part. But he was already signed up to appear in a new series of Shine On, Harvey Moon (ATV/Central for ITV). Julia Smith pondered calling the producer of his other show, and work out a deal’
The rest, of course, is history. And that is how a legendary EastEnders character was brought to life in 1984.
Excerpts from ‘EastEnders: The Inside Story’, Tony Holland and Julia Smith, 1987, BBC Books/BBC Enterprises.
