Harvey Ryan
Harvey Ryan (2011-2014)
Marcus Graham
Episodes: 5358–5909
Spouse: Melissa Gregg (divorced), Roo Stewart (2012-2014, divorced)
Children: Ben (deceased) & Lottie Ryan
Occupation: Boat owner
Harvey was introduced as a charter boat owner who approached Romeo when the latter was setting up a charter business to discuss splitting potential customers between them. When Romeo’s boat was vandalised prior to a trip and Harvey took his clients out instead, Romeo suspected Harvey was behind the vandalism and told the police. Harvey turned out to be innocent but retaliated by informing the council that Alf had never acquired a mooring license for the Blaxland.
With Alf stripped of his mooring, Harvey was next in line for the position but Alf and Romeo removed the mooring, which Alf had installed in the first place, before he could take possession. When Romeo refused to take Roo and a group of developers led by Dennis Harling out in a storm, Harvey stepped in. As a result, his boat was wrecked, although the party all made it to shore in a remote spot after Harvey had sent out a mayday. While the others were quickly found by the SES, Romeo had to search for Harvey alone and managed to get him to hospital. Afterwards, Harvey approached Alf and Romeo with a business arrangement, suggesting they go into partnership since Harvey had the mooring and Alf and Romeo had the boat. They agreed.
Romeo was annoyed when Harvey instantly started treating him like an employee, leaving him to clear up the boat and do most of the work and cancelling Romeos bookings for his own. He also started romancing Roo which made it difficult for Alf to challenge him. Although Roo seemed bored on their first date, he turned up at the Diner with flowers and insisted he keep seeing her. Roo agreed to a second date but thanks to Sasha not correcting a misunderstanding, Sid turned up in the middle of it thinking Roo had agreed to go out with him. Harvey then took the boat out without warning when Romeo was planning to use it for a date with Indi. He agreed to clean up the boat at the end of the day but instead left it in a mess and, when Alf challenged him, claimed Romeo was supposed to do it. Looking to get his own boat again, he pitched to Dennis for the contract for the new resort and then used Romeo as free labour to take him and Roo on a date. He turned up at Angelo’s restaurant during John Palmers birthday party and Roo invited him to stay. He ended up in a private argument with Sid, which ended with him warning Sid to stay away from Roo.
He rejected Romeo’s suggestion they try whale trips and found himself accosted by Colleen for help on an article she was doing on fishing, where she asked him some tactless questions about losing his boat. Roo forced him to unload some gear with Romeo but he almost immediately cut his hand and was unable to keep working. Feeling Roo was backing off from him, he suggested they break up and she responded by kissing him. He poured petrol over the Blaxland’s deck, waiting until the last moment before stopping Romeo from starting the engine and igniting it, and made Romeo to look to blame. Liam had seen him on the boat but left town before he could confirm it to Alf. With Harvey having got the insurance money through from his boat, he and Alf struck a deal for Harvey to buy the Blaxland, prompting Romeo to quit. When Alf delayed signing the contract until he’d had it looked over, Harvey stormed round and threatened Romeo about interfering in his business but Alf pulled out when Roo realised he had simply been using her to get close to Alf.
Harvey tried to get a contract off Dennis but he didn’t want someone of Harvey’s reputation involved with the resort. Harvey asked both Alf and John for references and, when Colleen mentioned the number of gifts John had accepted off Dennis, threatened to accuse him of bribery if he didn’t back him. When Roo found out, Harvey said he’d drop the accusation against John if she’d get back with him. His allegations resulted in John being forced to resign from the council, after which Harvey stood for his seat, using his opposition to Dennis development on environmental ground as his platform. He sent Roo an anonymous message asking her on a date but she walked off on learning it was him. He then tried to get Roo to be his campaign manager, prompting Alf to stand against him.
He tricked Romeo into giving him the plans of the development by using a go-between, Peter, who posed as a contractor, and unveiled them as proof of how much Summer Bay would be changed. He agreed to a debate with Alf over the development where he delivered an aggressive speech about how the development would ruin the town and managed to provoke Dennis into dismissing the townspeople as hicks. His new environmentalist girlfriend, Kathy, also won over some support and he won the election. He immediately began looking for a reason to shut down the development, ordering a site inspection and environmental impact report, and found it when it was discovered Dennis had removed Stu Henderson’s body from the site.
Harvey proposed an eco park on the same site and, when Alf pointed out he’d left her out of a job, invited Roo to help him. After he dragged her off on a trek around the site without a park ranger which left them both covered in mud and they had an awkward confrontation with Dennis, she quit. When she changed her mind, Harvey made her pitch for the job, not telling her there were no other candidates. When she found out the truth, she pushed Harvey into a swimming pool in the middle of a press conference announcing the plan before accepting the job.
Harvey had parted company with Kathy and was now dating Fleur Simpson, the mayor’s niece. He still arranged dinner with Roo but she cancelled to support the Walkers when it came out about Sasha accidentally killing Stu. He was initially befuddled when Alf asked for help in raising funds for a school in Thailand but with Fleur’s help managed to find storage space, a donation from the mayor and the services of carpenter Dale Canning. Roo promptly took Dale to the same restaurant where Harvey was taking Fleur. When Harvey and Roo spent the whole evening eyeing each other up and bickering, their dates walked out. Harvey when round Roo’s and kissed her and after initially throwing him out she agreed to get back together. He quickly clashed with John, who was staying at the house, and encouraged Roo and Marilyn to get him to leave, celebrating with them when John reunited with Gina and moved out.
When Roo suggested they go on a romantic picnic to a deserted island, Harvey brought some oysters along but ended up with food poisoning from eating them. Then his ex-wife Melissa and their daughter Lottie, who no-one knew about, arrived in town and Melissa demanded the use of their marital home. After he initially came up with an excuse to stay with Roo, he eventually told her the truth. He tried to build bridges with everyone and took Roo and Lottie out on an awkward picnic together. When he gave Lottie a phone as a present, Melissa accused him of trying to bribe her but Lottie paid him for the phone and said they could use it to keep in touch. It was then revealed he had had a son, Ben, who had drowned while on a fishing trip, which broke up the family. He kept this information from Roo until Sid inadvertently let it slip to her and was upset when Melissa told him that Roo knew. He initially broke up with her but, after Lottie forced him to confront his grief over Ben, he finally confided in her.
John became suspicious of Harvey’s eco park plan being approved when his development hadn’t been, given the similarities between them, and, shortly after Harvey was seen arguing with Mayor Coombes, the project was downsized. When Roo and Gina insisted the families have dinner together, Harvey privately told John that if he didn’t stop making trouble then he would make sure he lost the council bus contract. Shortly after, Harvey saw John throwing Jayden Post off the bus and John was informed his contract wouldn’t be renewed but this only made him more determined to prove Harvey was up to no good. He discovered the election Harvey had won had been rigged and notified the press. Harvey admitted it was true but insisted the mayor had rigged the election and he hadn’t known until afterwards. He had a hard time making things up to Roo and was punched in the Diner by a resident who had read the report. Melissa told him Lottie didn’t want anything to do with him after seeing the article but Lottie told him it was Melissa who didn’t want them seeing each other. He was ejected from the council and charged with fraud.
Lottie confided in him about her feelings for Dexter and he suggested Dexter might not realise how she felt. He was unhappy that he was being accused of knowing about the mayors plans in advance and also had a serve from Melissa about failing to pay the bills on the house. He had dinner with Roo, Lottie and Dexter, where Lottie asked to live with him part-time, and asked Dexter to look after Lottie if he was jailed. He sacked his legal team when they wanted him to plead guilty and hired Morag who told him it was his only chance of avoiding jail. After Dexter told him Lottie was scared of him going to prison, he changed his plea and was given a $150,000 fine and community service. He began to regret the decision and initially walked off when Roo and Lottie tried to cheer him up with a surprise picnic but later agreed to let them support him. Short of funds, he told Melissa he had to sell the house.
Lottie began appealing to him that she was unhappy living with Melissa. Harvey defended his ex-wife but Roo began to feel there was something wrong and they both had a showdown with Melissa in the Diner. Harvey discovered Lottie had run away from home, although she only went as far as Alf and Roo. Melissa admitted she wasn’t coping with Lottie and needed Harvey to take the load off and Lottie moved in with him and Roo while Melissa sought help in the city. Roo was shocked when Harvey told Lottie she could stay as long as she wanted, especially when Harvey arranged to hire the Blaxland off Alf again and Lottie started talking about turning it into a family business, but Harvey reassured her about her fears of being a stepmother.
Harvey went to tell Melissa of their plans, only for her to announce that not only did she not want Lottie living with Roo and Harvey; she wanted Lottie to move back to the city with her. He told Lottie it was up to her whether she went or not and she chose to live with him and Roo. Harvey decided to tell Melissa alone but she was angered by the news and insisted she’d fight the decision. When she threatened to tell Lottie that Harvey was drunk when Ben drowned, a fact both Harvey and Melissa had lied to the police about, Harvey pulled out of the custody fight but Roo found out the reason. He also admitted the truth to Alf. He then told Lottie what the situation was. After walking in on Harvey and Melissa arguing, Lottie declared she didn’t want anything to do with either of them. Harvey suggested Melissa and Lottie both stay in Summer Bay but Melissa rejected the idea. She also dropped her custody bid but Lottie promptly decided to go with Melissa anyway and Harvey had to say goodbye to her. Despite trying to throw himself into work on the Blaxland, he was left in a depressed state.
When Roo tried to cheer him up by suggesting they try fostering, he reacted angrily. After Alf spoke to him about the subject, he suggested they have a child of their own instead. When Roo was unhappy with the idea, Marilyn suggested she was worried about going through a mature pregnancy but in fact she was worried about another experience like Martha. When they debated the idea, they ended up agreeing to get married. However, they instantly began clashing when he wanted a simple affair while she wanted a big white wedding. He stopped to help a stranger change his tyre only to find he was Tim Graham, an old boyfriend of Roo who had come to town to win her back. Harvey tried to warn him off and also tried to stop Roo going to work for him, although his attempt to ban her pushed her into taking the job. He was left stewing at home while she went to the city with Tim and Romeo advised him to go after her but Alf and Marilyn stopped him. When Roo returned, she revealed Tim had made a pass at her and Harvey angrily confronted Tim but Roo couldn’t deny she had feelings for him. Harvey was shocked when she still refused to leave her job. When he saw her kissing Tim, he felt she’d chosen him, unaware she was actually kissing him goodbye, and left town without seeing her. He threw his phone away when she tried to call him and went to see Lottie, only to find she was away on camp. Instead, he spent the day with Melissa and then slept with her. Both of them knew it meant nothing but, when Lottie convinced him to phone Roo, he was shocked to learn the truth and went home to her. A few days later, he admitted what had happened and decided to move out.
Roo told him they could only try again if they acted as if they’d only just started dating but Harvey refused to go along with the idea and instead took her out on the Blaxland. After they’d spent the night together and talked over their mutual jealousy, they acknowledged they were drawn to each other and Harvey proposed again. He asked Alf for a loan to give Roo the wedding she wanted but instead Alf gave them a cheque as an early wedding present. Although Alf insisted it was a gift, he felt obliged to help him organise the surf carnival when they found out John had made a mess of it. When he cancelled a meeting with the wedding caterers to help out, he admitted to Roo that he’d asked Alf for help and during an argument they both snapped that they should forget about the wedding. However, after he’d been forced to spend a night on the sofa, Roo put things in perspective and the wedding was back on. He acted as DJ at the party after the carnival but made a mess of things so Liam had to step in.
He began to tire of Roo’s bridezilla behaviour and avoided her calls. When she admitted she wasn’t coping, he advised her to take a week off to deal with the arrangements. When she returned, she told him that he needed at least two groomsmen to offset her bridal party and he admitted to Alf he had no-one to ask. He told Roo he’d manage without a best man but instead she rang an old friend, Winston Markman, and asked him to do it. Harvey was horrified, since Winston was an over-familiar school friend who he had saved from being bullied and been trying to shake off ever since. He ignored Winston’s texts but eventually accepted the situation. He refused to have a bucks’ night and Winston realised it was because of his lack of friends, so kidnapped him and took him to a bar in the city full of people they’d gone to school with, including Harvey’s best friend Gary Reed who he’d flown over from India. However, he woke up the next morning with his leg in plaster and was told he’d fallen off the bar while dancing with the strippers. Roo found out about the cast and they were interrupted by the arrival of her aunts, Morag and Celia. Celia took a dislike to Harvey, especially when she found out he was divorced and had a criminal record, and Harvey ended up retreating to Angelo’s. The news that Lottie was unable to attend the wedding through chicken pox, followed by learning his leg wasn’t broken and the cast was a practical joke, caused him to lose his temper and berate Winston just as Roo walked in. Upset with him, she called the wedding off. However, Winston talked her round and the pair were married and went on honeymoon.
On returning from honeymoon, Harvey discovered he had caught Lottie’s chicken pox and had Marilyn, Morag and Colleen all offering him advice on the best treatment, making the most of the attention. He helped release Romeo when he was locked in a shed by Jett. He was unsure about Roo wanting to help homeless teenagers Spencer and Maddy but suggested giving them a caravan to stay. He got Spencer some work at the bait shop where Spencer let slip that, contrary to what he’d told Roo, his father was alive. When Roo learned Maddy was a missing person, they confronted the pair who admitted they’d run away from home. Harvey wanted to phone the police and insisted on taking Maddy to a doctor when it became clear she was seriously ill. When she was diagnosed with meningitis, he informed the police against Roo’s wishes. Roo and Celia forced him to tell Spencer what he’d done but Spencer was understanding. Roo asked him to help Romeo and Indi in their plan to buy up the surf club gym by letting them practise with him for their meeting with the bank manager but his tough questioning left them dispirited. He and Alf helped with the opening of the gym by providing a generator after Romeo and John caused a power cut.
When Spencer returned, followed closely by Maddy, Harvey let him help him out on the wharf and the pair bonded. Despite his reticence, he joined Roo in standing up to Spencer’s father Ian and agreed to let the teens stay. Alf worried that, with Harvey always with Spencer on the boats and Roo helping Maddy, the newlyweds weren’t spending any time together. Roo got him to talk to Spencer about his and Maddy’s plans to sleep together and Harvey warned Spencer that sleeping together too soon could destroy a relationship. However, Roo told Maddy to go for it if she felt ready, resulting in Spencer rejecting her, Maddy being left upset and Roo blaming Harvey. When Maddy got worried that she was causing them to argue, Roo and Harvey decided to take Alf’s advice and have an evening alone at Angelo’s. He encouraged Roo to take a harder line with Maddy.
When Spencer’s brother Chris turned up, Harvey was unsure about him. He missed Spencer when the pair went away together and admitted to Roo that having Spencer working with him on the boat showed him the relationship he could have had with Ben. When Spencer began distancing himself from Maddy, Harvey asked what Chris was up to but Spencer told him to stay out of it. When he learned Spencer was considering going home with Chris, Harvey confronted Chris over it. He and Roo exposed Chris’ attempts to cause a rift between Spencer and Maddy. He later found himself having to console Spencer when Maddy broke up with him anyway.
He supported John over Gina’s death, telling him of his own experience with Ben. He worried that Spencer was helping Rosie because he needed to be needed and tried to get Spencer to spend time with Maddy again. He and Alf helped Indi out in the gym when Heath and Casey were unavailable but Harvey’s lack of qualifications meant he kept giving people the wrong advice and ended up dropping a weight on his foot. He was asked to check in on John after Marilyn began keeping her distance from him but his attempts to subtly enquire how he was left John thinking Roo was menopausal. When he offered to help at the gym again, John bluntly told him he was useless. He responded by challenging John to a gym session. When Harvey fell off the treadmill, John claimed victory and then put his back out. Harvey took over the running of the surf club in his absence and overenthusiastically told people to stay out of the water as lifeguard, which was enough to get John to stop milking the injury.
He gave Spencer advice about falling in love and, when Indi told him Spencer and Sasha had feelings for each other, supported the couple despite Roo’s fears about how Maddy would react. He joined Roo in staging an intervention when Marilyn stayed on at John’s house despite his recovery and ended up being shouted at by Marilyn when she saw through their attempts to find things for her to do.
He found out about Marilyn’s feelings for John when he overheard her and Roo talking. He tried to cover for her odd behaviour by telling everyone she had an ear infection, which caused more problems than it solved. He encouraged Spencer to make Sasha his priority when Maddy was upset by them sleeping together. When Alf sought to raise money to help out Sally, whose daughter Pippa was ill, Harvey agreed to join him, Roo and Marilyn in buying the house. He and Roo moved out to a caravan so Sally and Pippa could have their room. Harvey wasn’t happy about the situation and was even less happy when Alf decided to sell the Blaxland to fund the house buy, horrified that he’d get rid of their livelihood so readily. He was mortified when Sally overheard his comments and made up for it by suggesting Winston as a buyer. When Winston turned up to collect the boat in person, Harvey tried to get rid of him as quickly as possible. Instead, Winston admitted to Harvey that he was bankrupt and had spent the last of his money on the Blaxland.
Harvey ended up bankrolling Winston’s attempts to win over Marilyn, paying for large bunches of flowers, but was refunded when Winston regained his fortune by selling a patent. He invited Harvey to sail round the world with him and Roo convinced him to go. A few weeks later, however, word was received that their boat was missing and when Winston was found he said Harvey had been washed overboard. Roo believed he was dead and a memorial service was held, but at the end of the year she, Alf and Maddy returned home to find Harvey waiting for them.
Harvey had difficulty adjusting to being back in Summer Bay and freaked out when Roo tried to talk to him. He explained to Alf that he had been picked up by a fishing boat after spending weeks stranded on a desert island and arranged home passage with the consulate, but still showed reluctance to talk to people. He went away, saying he was going to stay with Lottie indefinitely, but never turned up in the city. He tried to return in secret but was accosted by Alf, who forced him to talk to Roo. He told her something of how he got back to Australia but then clammed up again and Roo’s attempt to help him relax with a date fell flat. When Roo forced him to talk to her, he blamed her for convincing him to go out on the boat after what had happened to Ben. He alternated between panicking and feeling numb and had trouble adjusting to sleeping inside again. He moved out of the house, then decided to leave town and go travelling and asked Roo to go with him. When she proved reluctant, he disappeared again.
Chris managed to get him to the surf club by leaving a message on his phone saying there was an emergency with Spencer but failed to convince him to contact his family; however, he did go and see John and ask to stay with him. He got in touch with Spencer, who joined John in trying to get him to talk to Roo. Roo turned up at the house and, when Harvey couldn’t commit to her, asked him for a divorce. He decided to leave Summer Bay as soon as possible and they organised a family dinner to tell Spencer and Maddy, neither of whom took the news well. When he avoided speaking to them again, Roo told him to just go. Spencer rejected his attempt to talk to him on the day of his departure but in the end Alf, Roo, Spencer, Maddy, John, Marilyn and Jett all gathered to say goodbye to him.