Roman Harris
Roman Harris (2007-2009)
Conrad Coleby
Episodes: 4554–4874
Children: Nicole Franklin
Occupation: Ex-SAS army officer; Chef
Roman was first seen in the Diner commenting on how nice Leah’s food was. Leah having told him that she was about to sell her share in the business, Roman said that he was a chef and would be interested in working there. Irene agreed to let him have a trial period but found him eating out of the back of a panel van shortly afterwards. Seeing a possible buisness partner like that would probably put anyone off and it certainly did with the usually open-to-take-in-almost-anyone Irene. There was one thing that she couldn’t complain about, though – his food. Irene still wasn’t happy, however, and even wanted Jack to do a search for any criminal records he might have. On Irene’s behalf Leah had a quick chat to Roman and asked him if there was anything they should know. He simply said that anything personal was strictly off limits.
As if things weren’t awkward enough, Roman soon started giving food to a derelict, who we later found out to be Miles Copeland. When Irene discovered that he was giving food away to a stranger, she quicky told him to tell the homeless man to move on to somewhere else. But Irene isn’t the type to hold a grudge for too long if you are genuine and her and Roman soon resolved their issues. It later transpired that Roman had previously met Miles during the rescue operation after the 2004 Phuket Tsunami, in which Miles lost his wife and daughter.
As with any Summer Bay newcomer it wasn’t long before romance was in the air for Roman. After an evening out to celebrate his introduction to the Diner, him and Rachel Armstrong shared a kiss. But their developing relationship didn’t last for long, as her and Tony soon started dating after Colleen pointed out that Roman was similiar to Kim – perhaps too similiar.
With Reverand Hall missing from the hospital and possible danger ahead for Geoff and Annie, Roman volunteered to stay the night at Irene’s to keep watch. However, Annie managed to sneak out in the middle of the night, causing a frantic situation in the morning. But ex-SAS officer Roman managed to cool the situation down, even with Reverand Hall hanging over the edge of a cliff!
With gang-leader Johnny Cooper on the loose, Roman volunteered to stay at Summer Bay House to look after Sally in the event of him showing up there. His offer was accepted, and when Johnny turned up in the middle of the night holding Colleen hostage, Roman rushed downstairs to see what was going on.
Roman’s kind and helpful nature soon came into force again – this time with Annie. After having been discovered drunk on the beach by Aden, Annie was confused as to what had really happened. But after Roman had a chat to her about past experiences he had when he was younger, Annie started to regain her memory of the night.
Love was in the air again for Roman; this time when Martha asked him to dinner at the Diner flat. It wasn’t your usual date, with Morag also present, but the evening was enjoyable and ended in a pash.
It wasn’t long before Roman was helping out another young Summer Bay resident – Aden Jefferies. Describing him as a ”ticking time bomb”, Roman devised a plan to change Aden’s attitude towards Miles. Roman told him about Miles’ ordeal in Phuket, which resulted in Aden saying he’d never get on his bad side again now that he knew what Miles had been through.
One of the last things you’d expect to happen having just gone into a new business venture is for it to literally come crashing down around you. Well, that’s exactly what happened to Roman when the Diner was set for demolition. With Morag and Martha made homeless, Roman offered them a place to stay at his place, which they accepted.
When Leah ended up with $100, 000 from the father whose son was saved by Dan while in the US, she wanted to come up with a great way of honouring her husband’s memory. Enlisting Roman and Irene’s help, Leah started on plans for a new Diner and a drop-in centre for kids in need of a place to go.
Taking a look around Roman’s place, Martha came across a picture of Roman with his arms around a young blonde girl. With Martha clearly suspicious of who she was, Roman revealed that she was his teenage daughter! Reluctant to talk about her at first, he waited a while before discussing the matter further. When he was ready, Roman revealed that he was in a relationship with a girl called Nat, whose parents weren’t exactly his biggest fans. When Nat’s parents discovered that she was pregnant, they moved away. After leaving the army, Roman started to search for Nicole and Nat, which proved successful. However, by the time that Martha found the photo, Roman and Nicole had only just started to reconnect and as for her mother, he didn’t have a clue how he fell in love with her.
He’s perhaps not the most romantic in the Bay, but Roman certainly made an effort with Martha when the Pier Diner was nearing its launch and decked the place out with candles before tucking into dinner.
When Colleen discovered she was a Stewart, Roman was one of the first to hear the news. Listening to her in the Pier Diner as she explained the importance of the discovery, Roman made a toast to Colleen and later spoke with Alf about how he’d be pleased if someone was that happy to be part of his family.
Seeing Aden in a fight with his dad at home, Roman burst in and cooled the situation down before taking Aden back to his place. When Aden saw photos of Roman in his army gear, however, he rushed out. Roman soon realized that Aden likely thought him to be the enemy now, with Aden’s grandfather having also been in the army. Aden was later found under a heap of a rubble at the old Diner and was taken to hospital, where Larry made it clear that he wasn’t keen on Roman taking to his son. Morag convinced Roman to give it some time.
Meanwhile Martha was having a time of it after the news broke that Sam Holden had supposedly been murdered. Roman tried to support her but things were starting to get tough, and her and Jack were becoming closer. As the mystery thickend, Roman started to organize for him and some of his SAS mates to go out to sea to find the boat that Sam used on the night of her death. Gathering everyone together, they headed for the water but after several attempts had no luck in finding the dinghy. A phone call changed everything, however, as it was revealed that someone had found the boat after they had pulled up the anchor on their own.
Back at the Pier Diner, everyone was praising Roman and his mates for their efforts earlier in the day. Seeing Jack and Martha talking together, Adam – one of Roman’s SAS friends – asked him whether he thought Martha was “the one”. Roman didn’t look so sure and looked even less so after seeing how close Jack and Martha appeared.
Worried about his girlfriend’s increasing closeness to her ex-husband, Roman expressed his concerns to Martha. But she denied that anything was happening and said that she just needed his support right now. Roman wasn’t convinced, however, and later met up with her to tell her that she was free to get back together with Jack. She then said she would move out.
With Aden still in hospital and in need of a place to stay, Rachel asked Roman if he could move in with him at his apartment. Roman didn’t appear too keen at first but later changed his mind.
When Morag discovered that Martha had moved out, she suggested that she should leave too. But Roman wouldn’t hear it and encouraged her to stay. Morag was about to get a little suprise, however, as Roman revealed that a certain Aden Jefferies was about to move in. At first it was clear that Morag felt Roman had swapped one ‘situation’ for another, but Roman insisted that Martha living there was different from Aden moving in. Aden wasn’t the only one to find himself living with Roman, though, as teenage daughter Nicole rocked up on his doorstep on the same day!
He struggled to build a bond with Nicole but did manage to befriend new cop in town, Cahrlie and they slept together but the news that Martha was pregnant rocked Roman. He agreed to keep quiet but Charlie found the paternity test in his room and Jack soon found out. Roman soon had other things to think about as a new guy in town came asking questions. Elliot wanted to know how his brother Mark had died after serving with Roman in Afganistan. Roman was wary of Elliot and was upset when Elliot hooked up with Nicole. She later went missing and was found at Elliot’s house; they became a couple, to Roman’s fury.
Meanwhile Roman was revealed as the father of Martha’s baby and his backing of Martha over her refusal to terminate her pregnancy saw Jack take against him. After seeing Martha hug Roman, Jack wrote him a parking ticket but Roman objected as it wasn’t his van and pushed Jack. Roman was arrested but Charlie convinced Jack to let him go. She later toild Roman she loved him but he failed to respond.
Elliot continued to cause Roman concern and he asked Charlie to keep an eye on him but Elliot took matters into his own hands by kidnapping Nicole and forcing Roman to drink an unknoen substance, which knocked him out. He woke up, hanging upside down from a cliff and managed to escape before being led by Elliot on a wild goose chase through the bush. He stepped on a wire which caused an explosion and Elliot, thinking Roman had perished, was surprised when Roman disarmed him and marched him to the police station. There he admitted that his brother Mark had been a cowerd and that Roman had left him to die to save his team. He extracted Nicole’s whereabouts from Elliot and Charlie helped him come to her rescue.
In the aftermath he and Nicole built a bond but Martha losing her baby saw Roman push Charlie further away. Charlie went on a date with Angelo, making Charlie jealous and when she later turned up at Roman’s and demanded a relationship, he admitted it was what he wanted too. He supported Aden through his trial and martha after the revelation of the development site by giving her money to go on a retreat.
His ex wife Natalie came to town and he tried to broker peace between her and Nicole but her presence caused him and Charlie to row and eventually split. Roman rescued her from a storm drain but Charlie refused to have anything to do with him and after a disasterous double date instigated by martha, Charlie realised that Roman was still in love with Martha. He was there to support Martha after Jack died and comforted her at his funeral but took an instant dislike to Jack’s cousin Hugo. A chance remark by Charlie saw Hugo tell Martha that Roman was in love with her and she reacted furiously, pushing him away. Charlie helped them to make peace and he supported her through her breast construction surgery.
He was kissed by a drunken Leah at her birthday and bought her tickets to a cooking event but after she failed to remember their kiss, he neglected to bring it up. They had fun at a speed dating event and grew closer, with Leah eventually remembering what had happened and confronting him about it. They shared another kiss and became a couple. Nicole was keen on them getting together but VJ reacted furiously and Leah suggested they cool things off but a stone through the window of the car caused a crash and Roman was seriously injured. In hospital he came round but found himself blind and pushed Leah away.
Roman struggled to cope with being blind and refused to believe that it was psychological and not physical. He pushed everyone away including Nicole, Aden and Miles and bacame irritable and snappy. Eventually Roman decided to do something about it and contacted his old army friend, Dave ‘Gardy’ Gardiner, in the hope that he could help resolve whatever it was that was affecting him. It was clear that Gardy was a very bad influence on ‘Hardcore’ as he led Roman astray by getting drunk and getting into bar brawls. Gardy seemed to have a hold over Roman and the reason behind this was soon revealed. It emerged that Roman had killed Mark Gillen in Afghanistan because he was about to run Gardy over and the two of them had covered it up at the inquiry. This only served to push his loved ones further away as they all seemed to take an instant dislike to Gardy and couldn’t understand why Roman continued to stick up for him.
In an attempt to make Roman regain his sight Gardy took Roman to a bridge and threw him off. Roman was furious about it and it didn’t restore his sight as Gardy had planned. However, later when Roman was sleeping he had a nightmare and awoke to find his sight fully restored. It looked like life was about to get back to normal but Gardy had other plans when he blackmailed Roman into helping him commit a robbery at a bottle shop or he would tell the police what really happened in Afghanistan. Gardy’s inappropriate behaviour towards Nicole was also gettting out of control and Roman told Gardy to stay away from her. Nicole was furious that he took Gardy’s side and it drove a huge wedge between them when he suggested that she moved into Leah’s for the time being.
Gardy then told Roman about his next plan, to rob a warehouse, and told Roman once again that he had to help him then he would be out of his life forever. However, Gardy had to raise the funds first and in an attempt to get cash from the bank that Trey’s mum managed, he invaded their house and tied them up. Thanks to Nicole, who was hiding in the bedroom, Roman arrived and saved the day but kept quiet about Gardy’s involvement when questioned by Charlie.
Miles could see that Gardy had some kind of hold over Roman and forced the truth out of him. However, Gardy figured out that Roman had told Miles everything and threatened both him and his family unless he kept quiet. Because of this Gardy seemed in a hurry to carry out the warehouse robbery and him and his ‘mates’ grabbed Roman off the street and forced him to go along with their plans. As they arrived at the warehouse Roman text Miles who called the police which foiled the robbery. Gardy found out about the text and later bashed Roman over the head.
Roman then woke up in the back of van outside the warehouse with Gardy insisting they finish the job they started. Roman locked the workers and security guards into a room but then decided it was time to put a stop to the whole thing and pulled his gun on Gardy. They found themselves up in a fight which ended in a Mexican Standoff. Roman went to shoot Gardy but the gun didn’t go off. Gardy’s did however and he shot Roman in the shoulder. Even though Roman was bleeding, another struggle broke out which ended in Gardy pulling another gun on Roman. The unfortunate Xavier arrived just at the wrong time and Gardy took him hostage. Hugo told him to let him go and shot at him with a speargun. Roman then arrived and shot Gardy in the leg just as he was about to shoot at Hugo and Xavier. While Hugo was attending to Roman, Gardy disappeared into the river never to be seen again.
Roman immediately went to the police station to make a statement about the robberies and insisted that he didn’t want to defend himself. He also told them everything that happened in Afghanistan and said an emotional goodbye to Nicole, Miles and Aden before the military police arrived to arrest him for Mark’s killing.