Shot my shoes
From Realmofthemuse
| |
| Harry Sullivan | |
| Character Journal: | Harry Sullivan |
| Race: | Human |
| Home Planet: | Earth |
| Home Era: | circa 2000 |
| Affiliated with: | The Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Sarah Jane Smith |
| Writer: | Nic |
Contents |
Personal Information
Harry is about 60ish in contemporary times. He's an old fashioned gentleman - opening doors for women and pulling out their chairs etc. He's quite attached to his cravat and blue blazer with gold buttons, that he wears often.
He's not quick to share anything personal, though. Even Sarah, who he's been friends with for thirty years, never knew he had a brother, even if he was only a step-brother.
After spending time in the Navy UNIT, MI-5 and NATO, there's not much that will phase him any more.
Canons
TV
Harry is called when the Doctor regenerates from his Third to Fourth self. Although initially disbelieving about aliens etc, he helps save the world from a giant rampaging Robot and the people controlling it. The Doctor and Sarah then offer him a trip in the TARDIS, just to show him what it can do. (Robot)
He can't resist touching things on the TARDIS console and the Doctor blames him when they end up on a space station in the far future. Harry takes a while to get to grips with the idea that they're somewhere else and in a different time. He also has both his shoes shot at by an automated guard. (Ark in Space)
They next go to the abandoned Earth in the same time. Harry's the only one not to be captured by Styre. (The Sontaran Experiment)
The Time Lords send them to Skaro to avert the creation of the Daleks. Along with the Doctor he knocks out a guard to rescue Sarah. (Genesis of the Daleks)
Back on Nerva Beacon he is unable to do anything about a man dying from a mysterious plague. He nearly kills the Doctor, trying to help him. (Revenge of the Cybermen)
Back on Earth, in Scotland, he's shot in the head and is impersonated by a Zygon. After they've taken control of the Loch Ness Monster (aka a Sarasen) from the Zygons the Doctor offers him a ride back to London in the TARDIS. He prefers the intercity train and goes back that way with the Brigadier. (Terror of the Zygons).
When Sarah and the Doctor next come back to Earth (The Android Invasion) he's still working for UNIT.
Books
Harry first meets the Brigadier when he's based at Faslane. He helps out with a UNIT investigation and the Brigadier offers him a transfer to UNIT. (Face of the Enemy) While there, his girlfriend is Esther Bland, who he once considered proposing to. They grew apart while he was in UNIT. (Harry Sullivan's War)
On their way back to Nerva Beacon between Genesis of the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen the Time Ring is diverted and Harry, Sarah and the Doctor end up on different planets in a war zone. The Doctor suffers from amnesia, it's Harry that saves Sarah, and the two of them save the Doctor before saving the world, as usual. (A Device of Death)
On their way back to Earth between Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons the TARDIS is diverted. Harry steps out, Sarah goes back in for warmer clothes and the TARDIS leaves without Harry. He meets a werewolf and the amnesiac Eighth Doctor and it's up to Sarah in the future to prove Harry's not dead. (Wolfsbane)
Sometime after leaving UNIT, ten years after Terror of the Zygons, Harry is transferred to weapons development on Yarra and given a promotion. This does lead to a rekindling of his romance with Esther and various James Bond-like adventures. (Harry Sullivan's War)
In the late 90s, with the rank of Commander, he's working for MI-5 and is one of many Assistant Chiefs of Staff. Sarah and the Doctor visit from the past, where they defeat aliens trying to take over the world using technology. (System Shock) Come the end of 1999 the Doctor is back, on his own this time, when the aliens have another go. (Milliennium Shock)
Quotes
But ingrained so deep that it was not merely a belief but part of him, he knew that women were the fair sex, to be protected and placed on a pedestal.
[...]
If someone were designing Harry Sullivan's perfect woman, they would pick a charming young lady, a bit, but not too helpless, who hung on to his every word. She would be pretty, a bit fluffy, but not silly; a sweet little woman.
But sometimes designers get it wrong.
Harry was half in love with Sarah Jane Smith, and he didn't even know it.
Or perhaps he did know it, but had pushed the idea so far to the back of his mind that it no longer registered. They had a close and special friendship, but ultimately he was like the faithful family friend, and even more ultimately than that, he knew she found him a bit irritating.
But she was his ideal. And she'd spoilt him, because he judged everyone else against her without realising it. --Wolfsbane
"I got a posting at Porton Down after my assignment to UNIT was up. Defence research stuff, very hush-hush." He gave a short laugh. "That's jargon for boring," he explained. "From there it was a natural transition into intelligence work proper. I started out first as an advisor, then as a field officer for MI5. Eventually I made Assisstant Chief of Staff." --System Shock
Harry Sullivan had joined the Navy expecting a bit of adventure and comradeship. Strong friendships were forged through shared hardship, and though he wasn't altogether keen on the hardship part, it did seem like a natural progression for someone who'd made his schoolfriends on the rugger field. --Face of the Enemy
Audio
When Harry reaches the rank of Commodore he's working for NATO at Porton Down. He helps solve the mystery of the flu-pandemic/plague when the Brigadier calls him for help. (UNIT: The Wasting)
He later disappears on a hush-hush mission and is gone for months, probably years, with no one having heard anything from him. (Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets)
Harry's work
Went to Dartmouth Naval College (Harry Sullivan's War) and (Face of the Enemy)
His first posting as a newly commissioned officer was on the Ark Royal where he spent a year. (Face of the Enemy)
Sometime after that he was posted to Faslane, in Scotland. (Face of the Enemy)
While he was at Faslane he met the Brigadier and helped UNIT's investigation. Afterwards the Brigadier offered him a transfer, which he accepted. (Face of the Enemy)
Held the rank of Surgeon-Lieutenant while at UNIT and was the Medical Officer there. (Robot)
Works in Biological Defence at Tooth Tor, in Dartmouth, with the rank of Surgeon-Lieutenant-Commander. (Harry Sullivan's War)
Is transferred to Biological Weapons Research at Yarra (NATO), in the Hebrides, with a new rank of Surgeon-Commander. (Harry Sullivan's War)
Does some work for NATO at Porton Down. (System Shock)
Moves over to MI5 to do intelligence work. (System Shock)
Moves back to NATO to do medical research and occasionally helps out UNIT. (UNIT: The Wasting)
Harry's love life
He meets his friend's sister when he's stationed at Faslane. Esther Bland shows him the local sights (Face of the Enemy). He has a soft spot for her and considers proposing, but they grow apart when he joins UNIT and moves away. (Harry Sullivan's War) When he meets her again ten years later she tells him she's always loved him and never considered marrying anyone else. He thinks about marrying her, but this time finds her affections for him a bit overpowering. (Harry Sullivan's War)
He's half in love with Sarah Jane Smith when they travel together with the Doctor. (Wolfsbane) When she's later dropped off by him they have a brief and ultimately doomed relationship, but stay friends afterwards. (Sarah's official bio)
Other information
- One Christmas when Harry was twelve his best friend got a bike and was riding it over to Harry's house when he was knocked over and killed. Harry spent New Year's Day at his funeral (Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury - UNIT Christmas Parties: Ships That Pass)
- Went to Dartmouth Naval College. His best friend there was Teddy Bland. (Harry Sullivan's War)
- Once caught his nose in a sliding door at Pompey (Portsmouth) Barracks (Ark in Space)
- Misses the sea and serving on ships (Harry Sullivan's War) and (Face of the Enemy)
- If he had the money he'd leave the Navy and have a quiet practice in the country (Revenge of the Cybermen)
- Shaved off his sideburns when he left UNIT (Harry Sullivan's War)
- Has a tendency to tell stories exagerating his own role to appear more heroic. (Short Trips: Companions - The Man From DOCTO(R))
- Has a step-brother, Will, who is younger than him. Harry told him stories of his time in the Navy and with UNIT. (Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets)
- He and Sarah have dinner every year at an Italian restaurant, where Harry orders in bad Italian (Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets)
- Reads The Guardian (Harry Sullivan's War)
- Quite liked the idea of being James Bond (Robot) and (Face of the Enemy)
- His favourite blazer is the blue one with gold buttons (Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets)
