Derek Thompson Exiting BBC One’s Casualty

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Actor Derek Thompson will be exiting BBC One’s Casualty after 37 years of starring as Charlie Fairhead.

Thompson is Casualty’s longest serving cast member and has played a central part in the series since it launched in 1986. His final scenes as Charlie will air in 2024, with a gripping exit storyline that will place him front and center.

Throughout the show’s run, Charlie has been a central part of the hospital’s emergency department and has been at the center of multiple major storylines, including when he was run over by an ambulance on his wedding day, a near-fatal cardiac arrest during a gang siege and his loving relationship and heartbreaking farewell with beloved fellow nurse Duffy.

Casualty is a BBC Studios production for BBC One and iPlayer.

“The time has come for me to hang up Charlie’s scrubs after the most wonderful 37 years,” Thompson said. “Charlie Fairhead was inspired by a real nurse—Pete Salt. Together with the writers and producers, I have tried to bring to Charlie the compassion, kindness, heroism and sound judgement that we all see and love in Pete, and I want to say thanks to Pete and everyone else over that time who has inspired me in bringing this character to life.”

Jon Sen, executive producer of Casualty for BBC Studios, added: “Derek and I would often joke that, after such a long and dramatic career in the NHS, there was almost nothing that Charlie hadn’t seen. So it was an amazing surprise to me when Derek arrived with a brilliant idea for Charlie’s exit as part of an upcoming storyline, which was too good to pass up. We will all miss Derek enormously. Over nearly four decades, Derek has crafted an iconic character who is woven into the fabric of British TV history. We will miss his craft, his humor and his on-screen presence. We’re also going to miss a friend, so for the next few months we’re going to have a ball filming Charlie’s final chapter.”