Charlie Fairhead

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Charlie Fairhead is the main protagonist of the British medical drama Casualty.

He is a nurse at the fictional Holby City Accident and Emergency, and one of the original characters from the first episode as well as the longest serving characters.

The character is portrayed by Derek Thompson.

Biography[]

Charlie Fairhead is a nurse at Holby City Hospital, and began working there in August 1986, one month prior to the events of the show.

Along with the rest of the staff, he campaigned for the night shift to remain. Although the night shift ended up being axed by the hospital board, it is eventually reinstated in 1987. In the first series, he is involved in a fling with doctor Baz Samuels, although she left Charlie suddenly in 1987. He began a relationship with a younger nurse, although she herself ended up leaving Holby suddenly.

In 1990, Charlie became a patient himself when shot dead by a schizophrenic gunman when he took nurse Megan Roach hostage and Charlie went to save her. Charlie recovered from his injury and resumed nursing the following year. Baz returned to the hospital in 1995 after an eight year absence, by which point she was remarried. Baz and Charlie had an affair and she left her husband. Baz became pregnant to Charlie's child and gave birth to a baby boy Louis in 1996 (although this would be retconned to 1992 later in the show). Charlie and Baz were due to wed in 1998 although he was struck by an ambulance driven by a madman. Charlie survived and wedded Baz, with their friends and colleagues enjoying the celebration. But the happiness wouldn't last as Baz left Charlie not long after and moved with Louis to Canada, where she eventually remarried.

In 2003, Baz returned to Holby City again to see her dying father. Charlie rekindled his relationship with Baz despite her third marriage. Baz died in a car accident, and Charlie got custody back of his son and her husband returned back to Canada alone. Louis began rebelling against Charlie in 2006, and lied that Charlie's flatmate (and colleague) paramedic Josh Griffiths had assaulted Louis during a disagreement. Charlie took Louis' side and evicted Josh and refused to speak with him. But Charlie felt remorse when Josh ended up being fatally stabbed by a mentally disturbed patient on Christmas 2006, and a guilty Louis confessed to lying about the assault. Josh survived his injury but chose to take a sabbatical from work to travel to India. Although Josh would eventually return to the hospital in 2007, he only remained a few months before retiring to India for good when falling in love with a woman there.

In 2007, Louis' issues developed further as entered his teenage years and became angry at Charlie's constant commitments to the hospital. Louis began hanging out with the wrong crowd at school and they smoked weed but accidentally caused a fire at the school. Although Louis wasn't suspended, he would begin bunking off to hang out with his mates, and refused to listen to Charlie's demands. Louis felt bad when Charlie ended up being assaulted by a violent patient on Christmas 2007. Charlie fought back which caused him to be fired. He departed the hospital with Louis, with the pair of them finally at peace. Charlie entered into private practice, although returned to the hospital several months later when convinced by Harry Harper. On his first day back, Charlie helped tackle a mad gunman.

In 2010 Louis began a relationship with a girl and got her pregnant. Louis disappeared and Charlie ended up being forced to help support her. That same year, Charlie's former colleague Megan resurfaced, having been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a short amount of time to live. Charlie eventually agreed to help Megan end her life, and was assisted by colleague Tess Bateman. Megan took a cocktail of sleeping tablets and passed away peacefully. After Louis' girlfriend gave birth, she did a bunk and left Charlie to take care of his granddaughter, whom he named Megan.

In 2016, Charlie celebrated 30 years working at the hospital, although the celebrations were interrupted when a hospital helicopter crashed outside the hospital and killed several people and injured many others. Around this time Charlie reunited with former colleague Lisa Duffin, who returned to work at the hospital after 13 years. They formed a close relationship and later married in 2017. But the happiness wouldn't last long as Duffy would be diagnosed with dementia. Her condition got worse overtime and Charlie struggled to support her. She passed away in February 2020. Suffering from severe grief, Charlie had an outburst in the hospital and walked off, claiming he quit. A few weeks later, he returned to the hospital to collect his paycheque, and intended to never returned. But he ended up involved in a hospital situation, and managed to help stop the gunman. Charlie realised he is still needed at the hospital, and agreed to return and help save people.

In March 2024, Charlie is stabbed by a drug dealer when trying to stop the man from stealing hospital supplies. Charlie's life hangs in the balance, and he has a flashback to his early life of nursing. After surviving the stabbing, he reunites with his old friend Josh Griffiths. Charlie takes the decision to retire from nursing after 37 years. He is seen off by his colleagues and friends, and is gifted with a yellow beetle, the same make from when he was a young man. Charlie then rode off with Josh to start his well deserved retirement.

Trivia[]

Charlie Fairhead appeared in the first episode in September 1986. He left the show in March 2024, after almost 37 years.

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