Howard Bellamy is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Ian Kelsey. Howard first appeared on 28 May 2012, where he is introduced as the practice manager of the fictional Mill Health Centre. Kelsey was cast in the soap following the departure of Julia Parsons (Diane Keen), the practice manager prior to Howard. He is an ex-army captain, and producers deliberately made his personality different to Julia's. Howard was based on a real person since producers had heard of a situation where somebody quit the army to become the practice manager of a doctor's surgery. Kelsey spoke to a real-life practice manager to aid his accuracy in the role.