Emergency exit

Casualty legend Derek is quitting after 37 years

- TOM BRYANT

FOR almost four decades, nurse Charlie Fairhead has been the lynchpin of the drama in Casualty. 

Viewers have seen him run over by a bus on his wedding day, almost die from a heart attack during a gang siege, and have a 30-year “will-they-won’t-they?” romance with fellow nurse Duffy.

But now Derek Thompson, 75, the actor who has played Charlie since the launch of the BBC show back in 1986, has confirmed he is leaving.

Derek, Casualty’s longest-serving actor, appearing in almost 900 episodes, will film his final scenes in the autumn, and viewers will see nurse Charlie’s exit next year.