As Casualty’s Charlie bows out, the well-known faces he is labored with
Casualty’s longest showing star will bid a tearful farewell to Holby City Hospital on Saturday night time, after a whopping 37 years on the hospital drama.
Actor Derek Thompson, 75, has performed emergency division nurse Charlie Fairhead for almost 4 a long time, after becoming a member of the cleaning soap within the eighties.
However, after the programme’s episodes had been dramatically diminished because of prices on the BBC, the star has confirmed he is heading for pastures new.
Derek can be featured within the second collection of the BBC’s hit drama Blue Lights, returning to his hometown of Belfast.
37 years younger! Charlie Fairhead aka actor Derek Thompson has been an A&E nurse at Holby City Hospital on Casualty since 1986 – however after 900 episodes, he is hanging up his uniform
Discussing his departure, Derek stated: ‘The time has come for me to hold up Charlie’s scrubs after probably the most fantastic 37 years.’
He continued: ‘Charlie Fairhead was impressed by an actual nurse – Pete Salt.
‘Together with the writers and producers, I’ve tried to convey to Charlie the compassion, kindness, heroism and sound judgment that all of us see and love in Pete and I wish to say due to Pete and everybody else over that point who has impressed me in bringing this character to life.’
During his time in A&E at fictional Holby City, additionally the setting for the spin-off with the identical title, Charlie has seen his justifiable share of blood and resus makes an attempt however he is additionally seen quite a lot of jobbing actors on their technique to world stardom.
Here, FEMAIL appears at a few of the well-known names Thompson has labored with by way of the a long time, together with Orlando Bloom, Kate Winslet, Tom Hiddleston…
KATE WINSLET: PLAYED A TEEN BABYSITTER IN 1993
From Holby City Hospital to the Oscars: Kate Winslet pictured starring within the present in 1993. Right: Winslet at the Net-a-Porter Incredible Women’s Dinner at London’s V&A on March fifth
Big break: Kate Winslet’s character is given unhealthy information by Derek Thompson, who has performed Charlie for 37 years, on this 1993 episode
Now a completely fledged British appearing icon, Kate Winslet had a bit-part function in Casualty in 1993 – when she was simply 18…and it set her firmly on the street to stardom. A yr later, she would make her large display debut in Heavenly Creatures.
The, 48-year-old as soon as stated she by no means anticipated her profession to soar, revealing she solely anticipated doing the odd play or showing in episodes of the BBC medical drama.
In 2016, she stated: ‘My dad was an actor, and my older sister is an actress, and so I very a lot keep in mind pondering, “Well, of course I’ll do that as well.”
‘But I by no means imagined myself as an actor who can be in movies. I at all times solely considered myself being in a play or a musical and perhaps the odd episode of Casualty.’
The actor starred as a home violence sufferer within the present, with the episode seeing her teenage boyfriend turning violent when his dad and mom left the younger couple to babysit for his little sister.
MINNIE DRIVER: TOOK ON THE ROLE OF HIV PATIENT ZENA IN 1991
Minnie Driver had a small half in Casualty within the early levels of her appearing profession. The star has carved out a Hollywood profession since
Actress Minnie Driver cemented her rise to fame taking part in Skylar in 1997’s Good Will Hunting, which earned her an Academy Award nomination – however lengthy earlier than that, she was a head harm affected person named Zena at Holby City Hospital.
Appearing in an episode of Casualty known as The Last Word in 1991, Minnie was contemporary out of drama faculty and racking up expertise with small components, with different roles together with being solid in The House of Elliot and Lovejoy.
Alongside a bleeding brow, Zena additionally reveals she has HIV, with Charlie involved concerning the dangers of treating her.
Two years later a film debut got here through Circle of Friends…and put her firmly on her technique to larger movie roles, together with Good Will Hunting.
ORLANDO BLOOM: PLAYED A BUILDER CALLED NOEL FOR THREE EPISODES
Orlando Bloom starred in a 1996 episode known as ‘Another Day In Paradise’ earlier than happening to grow to be a star in Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean
Not only a one-off look, Orlando Bloom starred in three episodes between 1994 and 1996.
The fresh-faced younger actor – simply 17 on the time – starred as a troubled builder known as Noel Harrison who was admitted after self-harming.
Now 47 and married to Katy Perry, Bloom stays one among Britain’s greatest movie stars, with roles in Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean propelling him to A-list standing.
TOM HIDDLESTON: STARRED AS AN ACCIDENT-PRONE ROCK CLIMBER IN 2007
In 2007 The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston appeared as a rock climber who by accident knocked a girl off a balcony when he abseiled down her constructing
Now 43, and well-known for his current function as Loki in addition to starring in Thor and The Night Manager – and likewise being Taylor Swift’s one-time beau – Hiddleston has seen his profession soar in current a long time.
A extra humble TV outing got here through a 2007 episode of Casualty, the place he performed a rock climber who by accident knocked a girl off a balcony when he abseiled down her constructing.
DAVID WALLIAMS: STARRED AS A CHARACTER CALLED JON FIELDING IN 2003
A bespectacled David Walliams appeared in an episode known as Love Hurts in 2003
Before turning into a well-known comic and youngsters’s creator, David Walliams was a jobbing actor and appeared in an episode of Casualty in 2003 – the identical yr his controversial sketch present Little Britain additionally launched
In a 2003 episode of the long-running cleaning soap drama, entitled Love Hurts, David Walliams appeared as a personality known as Jon Fielding.
The identical yr, his controversial Little Britain comedy collection with Matt Lucas aired on BBC3, earlier than getting a BBC One slot in 2006.
Walliams has since grow to be one of many nation’s best-selling youngsters’s authors, with titles reminiscent of Gangsta Granny, The World’s Worst collection and Billionaire Boy.
In 2012, he joined Britain’s Got Talent, however final yr was changed by Bruno Tonioli after adverse feedback he’d made about contestants emerged.
MARTIN FREEMAN: PLAYED A STAB VICTIM IN 1998
Hobbit actor Martin Freeman was a stab sufferer in 1998. He’s gone on to look in a number of blockbuster movies
Long earlier than Love Actually The Hobbit, Sherlock and even The Office, Martin Freeman turned up in a 1998 episode of Casualty, when he was in his mid twenties.
The now 52-year-old performed Ricky Beck in episode eight of collection 13, entitled ‘She Loved the Rain’, and performed the sufferer of a violent facial stabbing.
RAY WINSTONE
Already in his 40s, Ray Winstone, now 67, performed Terry Brennan, a jail inmate in a 1999 episode known as Heartbreak Hotel
Acting legend Ray Winstone appeared as arduous man Terry Brennan in an episode entitled Heartbreak Hotel in collection 9 of the present in 1999.
The Sexy Beast star, now 67, was 42 when he performed the function, along with his appearing profession not fairly but in A-list territory. There was drama galore although, Terry seems in A&E twice in a single episode, together with a scene the place he collapses in Holby City Hospital with a knife wound to the chest.
