Charlie Fairhead
| Charlie Fairhead | |
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| Casualty character | |
Derek Thompson as Charlie Fairhead
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| First appearance | "Gas" 6 September 1986 |
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| Spouse(s) | Baz Hayes (1998–2001) Lisa Duffin (2017–) |
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Charlie Fairhead, played by Derek Thompson, is a fictional character from the BBC British medical drama Casualty. He is the longest-serving character having played the role of Charlie for over 30 years and the only remaining original character to have appeared continuously since the first episode on 6 September 1986. Thompson chose to take a nine-month break from the show in early 2004. Charlie left the show in series 18 on 17 July 2004 and after five months, returned on 1 January 2005 in series 19. At the end of series 19, Charlie left again as Thompson returned to his break from the show, with Charlie's exit scenes airing on 20 August 2005. After four months off-screen, Charlie returned in the series 20 Christmas crossover with Holby City, which aired on 24 December 2005. Thompson has remained with the show since, but regularly takes breaks of around two months every year.
Thompson has so-far made four appearances in Casualty's sister show Holby City: the show's first episode in January 1999; the second episode to the Christmas crossover in December 2005; another crossover to Holby City in February 2010 when Charlie has a heart attack; and the most recent appearance in October 2012 when he interviewed Chantelle Lane (Lauren Drummond) for a full-time nursing position. Thompson also made an appearance in Casualty's spin-off police drama, HolbyBlue for its first episode in May 2007.
Charlie is the lynchpin of the emergency department. He's been there since the beginning (having joined the department more than a decade before Casualty was first aired) and has always proved to be an indispensable, trustworthy and diplomatic member of the team. People look up to him, and he always tries to be there when the ED family need him.
In the early days of Casualty, he was depicted as a leader figure with a good sense of humour, but a short temper, which occasionally got him caught in strife when dealing with people higher than himself.
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