Viewers tuning in tonight to watch Heartbeat on ITV will know one of its stars very well from his time on the UK’s longest running soap Coronation Street. Christopher Harper, 44, played the character of Nathan Curtis in the Manchester soap for two years between 2016 and 2018.
Introduced on Christmas Day 2016 as an ex-boyfriend of Shona Ramsey’s, Nathan proves to be a very nasty character indeed, befriending 16-year-old Bethany Platt before gaining her trust and taking advantage of her.
During Nathan’s eventual downfall on the show he was first arrested on suspicion of abducting a teenage girl, before being let go after he turns out to be innocent, but he then convinces a drunk Bethany to sleep with him and makes her think he loves her. Nathan is later arrested for assault and this time uses Bethany to provide a false alibi.
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(Image: BBC)
Then in June 2017 Nathan forces Bethany to sleep with three other men at a party. When police raid the flat Nathan is arrested for drugging and grooming Bethany. He is released due to insufficient evidence but when Bethany opens up about the ordeal the evidence is finally brought to light and Nathan is jailed.
The storyline was high profile and very sensitive for its themes of teenage grooming and exploitation with Christopher speaking to charities like Barnardos about the issues. He was later nominated in the British Soap Awards for Best Bad Boy in 2017.
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This was the end of Christopher’s run on the soap, but as well as Corrie he’s also starred in Upstairs, Downstairs, Life on Mars and the Bafta winning Housewife 49.
Christopher’s wife is no slouch when it comes to acting, as he tied the knot in 2013 to fellow thespian Emily Bowker. Among her many credits are roles in Aussie soap Neighbours, a role alongside her now husband in Upstairs Downstairs, as well as a number of classic British shows from The Bill to Holby City and Torchwood.
In 2017, she appeared as a one-off in Call the Midwife as Dot Spenlow, while her role on The Bill – the first TV role in her career according to IMDb – was back in a 2006 episode as Mandy Cooke.
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