Elvis Harte

In March 2016, it was announced that actor Luke Pasqualino would join Our Girl for its second series. He earned the role of special forces commander Elvis, a new main character for the series. Elvis was billed by the BBC as a "cheeky chappy Londoner" who is "fearless, impulsive, self-confident, determined and cool under pressure". Pasqualino was drawn to the role as he was attracted to Elvis's character and the themes of the series. To prepare for the role, Pasqualino watched documentaries about life in the special forces. He commented that he did so to "get into the heads" of SAS members, a task which he admittedly found difficult as they "never show much emotion". Pasqualino described Elvis as a man with "a lot of bravado, a lot of cheekiness and a lot of cockiness about him", but noted "at the end of the day, he gets his end goal finished" and considered his character a "maverick". Pasqualino did not have much time to prepare to play Elvis as he finished a job in Sri Lanka mere hours before Our Girl began preparing its actors physically. Speaking of boot camp training for the series, the actor compared it to the preparation he underwent to play D'Artagnan in The Musketeers, as both included many drills, handling of weapons, and nonverbal hand signals. Commenting on his character's relationship with Georgie, Pasqualino explained that it started with the two being "madly [...] in love with each other", but quickly ended after an event on their wedding day. Keegan had previously expressed that Georgie would "still [believe] they can't be together" when Pasqualino added that Elvis would want to "reconcile" with her as he was "head over heels in love" with her. Pasqualino helped series creator Tony Grounds come up with potential reasons for Elvis's departure, with the actor being the one to suggest his character be killed off in dramatic fashion before Grounds accepted the idea. He deemed other potential explanations for Elvis's absence as "daft", and felt his death was necessary as maintaining the drama of the show would not have been possible if Elvis and Georgie had lived happily ever after and didn't want the relationship's narrative to become repetitive. but supported the decision, arguing "it needed to be quite horrific for it to land". Pasqualino expressed hopes that Elvis wouldn't be forgotten by fans after his death. ==Storylines==

Elvis, a member of the special forces, leaves Georgie Lane (Michelle Keegan) on their wedding day. Two years later, his old friend Captain James (Ben Aldridge) requests help from the special forces to storm a Kenyan Al-Shabaab base after Georgie is abducted by a faction of the group. Elvis leads the operation, which Captain James can tell is personally motivated, as Elvis harbours feelings for her. The special forces rescue Georgie, who is not happy to see Elvis again and is now engaged to a man named Jamie (Royce Pierreson). They later bomb the holding ground Georgie was kept in. After the tour concludes, Elvis tearfully tells Georgie that the reason why he left her was because a woman named Debbie told him he had a daughter, and Elvis chose to be a part of his child's life over a future with her. They sleep together on their last night before heading back to the UK. Once back, Elvis calls Georgie to a meeting in Whitehall with the Special Branch as it has been suggested that one of Georgie's captors, a radical convert named Abu (Michael James), escaped the air strike in Kenya and has re-entered the UK. As Georgie has seen him in what she believed to be paranoid hallucinations, they decide to check CCTV in areas where she saw him. Elvis and his unit are called to help when intel indicates that Abu and his associates are to perform a series of terrorist attacks across Manchester. They incapacitate all of the attackers, except Abu. On Georgie's wedding day, Captain James tells Elvis not to get involved. However, Elvis worries that Abu will target Georgie's wedding ceremony, so tries to stop her from getting married. Georgie puts together that Abu has actually been planning to target his ex-girlfriend Saira's (Dinita Gohil) university graduation as revenge for breaking up with him. Georgie and Elvis manage to stop Abu from committing a suicide attack on the building and Abu is shot dead by the special forces. Sometime later, special forces are notified of a lead to a Taliban commander named Aban Omar, with 2-Section, Georgie's team, set to support them on a mission through Afghanistan to extract him from a compound. He reunites with Captain James and Georgie in Kathmandu, Nepal. As Elvis once had a one-night stand with a new recruit, Maisie Richards (Shalom Brune-Franklin), Georgie insists that she has moved on from him. Elvis is further dismayed to hear that she has been flirting with a Nepalese man named Milan Dhakal (Rudi Dharmalingam). Elvis pleads with Georgie to give the relationship another shot as he has struggled thinking of her with another man, but Georgie shoots down his offer. After the mission fails and many are injured, Elvis supports a defeated Captain James and heartbroken Georgie. Once back, he declares that he has changed, winning back Georgie's affections. Before they set out on one final mission, Elvis proposes, and Georgie accepts. However, the mission ends tragically as Elvis is killed in an explosion set off by Omar. Elvis dies in Georgie's arms. ==Reception==

Following the announcement that Keegan would return for Our Girl third series, Katie Fitzpatrick of Manchester Evening News noted viewers were "desperate" for Pasqualino to return alongside her, as many Twitter users were frustrated that their characters did not become a couple at the end of series two. Fitzpatrick also described Elvis as "handsome" and "hunky" upon his eventual return, adding that it sent viewers "into a meltdown". Aime Grant Cumberbatch of The Standard reported fans praising Elvis and Georgie's "intense" chemistry. Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy noted that fans were "left heartbroken" by Elvis's death, calling it "explosive" and a "shock". In 2020, her colleague, Laura Denby, commented that Elvis had "remained at the heart of fan conversation" and called his relationship with Georgie "hugely popular", leading to speculations that Elvis had somehow survived the ordeal. ==References==