Caleb Knight

Caleb "Cal" Knight (born Stephen; 12 February 1986) is a registrar who currently works at Holby City Emergency Department. He joined the department in January 2014. On his first day, he discovered that his brother Ethan Hardy had started working there the week before, much to his disappointment. Although he was initially disliked by some of the other staff as a result of his arrogance, he has since proved to them that he is more likable than he comes across.

Since starting work at the ED Cal has seen the arrival of various staff members including the current Clinical Lead Connie Beauchamp, Ben "Lofty" Chiltern and Jacob Masters. During this time several staff members have also departed, including Martin Ashford and Tess Bateman as well as Jeff Collier, due to his sudden death.

Early life
At a young age, Cal was adopted along with his younger brother, Ethan. They were taken from their birth mother Emilie due to her poor mental state and disorders as a result of her early symptoms of Huntington's disease. The brothers were then adopted by another couple. Prior to the adoption, Cal's name was Stephen.

Years later, having grown up not knowing they were adopted, Cal told Charlie that he hadn't seen his father for a long time. Much the same can be assumed for his brother, as when they first saw each other at work they seemed very shocked, and weren't on very friendly terms.

When Ethan was due to arrive for his first shift, he stayed with his and Cal's mother, Matilda, who was very ill. Even though Ethan had to get to the ED, he didn't want to leave her by herself, but eventually realised that Cal wasn't coming anytime soon. During his shift, he sent a text message to Ethan saying that his plane was late, and he'd be running an hour late. During the day, Cal eventually arrived to see his mother, but she passed away whilst he was there which left Ethan feeling guilty that he wasn't there on the day that it mattered.

Time in the Emergency Department (2014-)
Cal arrived in the department a week after his brother Ethan joined in January 2014. It's likely that they were hired as replacements for Tom Kent and Sam Nicholls who left the ED the previous month. Upon discovering that he would be working alongside his brother, Cal was angry, as they didn't get along and had lost contact. Zoe soon realised that there was a problem, at which point they revealed how they knew each other, but they both insisted that it wouldn't get in the way of their work.

On his first day, Cal was called out to the site of an accident where a limousine was hanging precariously off the edge of a bridge. In April, Cal helped Robyn pass her assessment, and later helped Lily to show her that he was interested in her. Although this caused tension to arise between him and Ethan, they continued to throw themselves into work as Cal attempted to outdo his brother. However Cal later stole Ethan's ideas on blood transfusions and cutting down costs, but Lily helped to expose him and credit Ethan for the ideas.

In December 2014, Cal started dating Taylor Ashbie, a woman who claimed to be part of a charity organisation. Their relationship continued into 2015, when Taylor asked Cal to give her £15,000 to donate to an orphan child abroad. When Cal failed to get the money, he stole it from Ethan out of fear of losing Taylor. Soon after, Cal went to her office to find it empty and abandoned. When he called her, she picked up eventually to apologize to him for taking the money, therefore revealing that she was a con artist. In April of the same year, Cal received a call from Taylor saying that she had been stabbed and was in a public park toilet. When he got there, he said that he needed to take her to the ED, but she declined presumably due to the fact she couldn't have been seen by police. At this point, he phoned Ethan for help to bring medical supplies, to which he reluctantly accepted. After an agreement was made between Ethan and Taylor that she must run away and never come back, Cal took his anger out on him when he found out that Taylor ran off because of Ethan. Also during the course of these events in January, Connie asked Cal for his letter of resignation after an inspection went badly in the ED. Charlie managed to convince her not to do it, so she took back her request.

In June 2015, Cal held a fundraiser for a leukemia patient by doing a nude calendar shoot. Also, Cal expressed his interest about becoming a consultant to Connie, but upon taking the FCEM exam, he and his brother failed, whereas foundation doctor Lily Chao passed her CT2, and she became a registrar like them.

Later in 2015, Taylor turned up at the ED with a baby girl claiming it to be his. After she disappeared again, Cal was stuck with the baby who he named Matilda after his and Ethan's mother. In November, he brought her into the ED and it was discovered she had a rash, but she soon recovered just in time for Cal to find out he wasn't her biological father via a paternity test. When looking at the test again, Cal realised that his blood type was O+, which wasn't possible as his mother's was AB. Charlie confirmed this, and Cal came to the realisation that he was adopted.

In December, Cal went with Charlie to visit his biological mother, Emilie Groome, but was distraught to discover she had Huntington's Disease, was seriously ill and that he had a fifty percent chance of inheriting it. However, he was relieved to find out from her care worker that there were two children given away for adoption, the other being Ethan, meaning him and Cal were still related. That evening at the pub, Ethan noticed Cal crying and assumed it was because of Matilda being taken away. Presumably because he knew how upset it made him, Cal decided not to tell Ethan that they were adopted. On New Years Day during Cal's shift, he became increasingly paranoid about the fact he could inherit Huntington's Disease. That evening, he went to a bar and got drunk and met a girl named Katya. He escaped her pimp with her and she stayed at his flat. The next morning after she left, she was taken by the pimp from the night before. Cal chased them in his car which resulted in a car crash involving them both and two patients who had been at the ED the day before. When back at the ED, he was speaking to Jacob and Charlie about the accident when he said that he may have still been under the influence of alcohol from the night before. Connie overheard this and decided to send him under observation for another couple of hours in order to be on the safe side and let him sober up so he would definitely be within the legal limit by the time the police tested him.

Continuing into the new year, Cal avoided telling Ethan about his discovery, as Ethan was facing problems of his own, primarily due to the guilt he felt due to the fact he missed Olivia's signs of abuse. Charlie frequently pestered Cal in an attempt to get him to tell Ethan, but Cal eventually snapped at him and told him that it's not his decision to make, but Charlie was left wondering whether he should tell Ethan himself. During the black alert, Cal was prepared to tell Ethan once and for all but Ethan's issues only worsened when he realised that a man who he had given little attention to had committed suicide later that day.

In February, Emilie arrived at the ED with a burn to her hand. Cal quickly realised that she had turned up merely so she could see Ethan. Although initially angry, he later came to realise that she didn't choose to give them up and had sympathy for her. During the shift, Cal still attempted to keep Ethan and Emilie separated due to the fact that he didn't want Ethan finding out that way. However, Ethan ended up treating her still remaining oblivious to their connection. At the end of their shift, Ethan went to check up on Emilie one last time to find her emotional with Cal by her side, and Cal told Ethan the truth once and for all.

Personal life
He has been romantically involved with Lily at one point, although they didn't ever date. In 2014, he was seen to be flirting with Connie Beauchamp but she ignored his attempts to woo her. Although Cal was in a relationship with Taylor Ashbie, it soon ended when he realised that she was a con artist after his money, although he was reluctant to let her go. Cal has no children, but Matilda, Taylor Ashbie's daughter, was left in his care for a short period before it was found that he wasn't the father. He located his birth mother in 2015, but soon realised it was a mistake.

Trivia

 * Ethan Hardy is his brother.
 * He hates his father, his brother and facing up to the consequences of his actions.
 * He loves fast cars and a fast lifestyle and spending his salary and beyond.
 * When they were younger, Cal and Ethan's favourite meal was crisp sandwiches.
 * Cal's biggest fear is to end up like his father.
 * Cal's biggest regret is that he wasn't there for his mother when she died of cancer.
 * His blood type is O+.
 * Cal was adopted.

Behind the scenes
Cal has been portrayed by Richard Winsor on Casualty since his arrival in 2014. When asked what it was like jumping onto a show like Casualty, Winsor said: "It’s a juggernaut. Everyone knows each other, a lot of people have been here for a while and clearly know what they’re doing. So you are jumping into the middle of all that. But the producers, cast and crew are all so lovely and supportive. It feels like a big family."

In terms of prominence in the show, Cal has had 7 centric episodes to date. He was one of the few characters not to have a centric episode in series 29.

Appearances

 * See also: Character appearances and Category:Cal centric.

Cal made his first appearance in Casualty in the series 28 episode "Brothers in Arms".