Charlie Fairhead

Charlie Fairhead (born 26 February 1954) is a nurse who currently holds the position of emergency nurse practitioner and senior charge nurse in Holby City Emergency Department. He is the longest serving nurse of the ED, having started working there in 1986. Charlie has a background in psychiatric care and completed a trauma nursing course which led him to working at the ED of the hospital. Prior to arriving at Holby, Charlie had experience elsewhere working as a staff nurse.

He used to have one of the most stressful jobs in the ED but stood down to spend more time with his son, Louis. He took a sabbatical then a demotion to do this. When he started at the department, he was a charge nurse and he held this position until 2003 when he was promoted to senior charge nurse, a position he still currently holds. In 2005, he was also given another role of emergency nurse practitioner, another of his current roles in the ED.

He was married to Barbara "Baz" Wilder for three years and they had a child together, Louis. He has been romantically involved with several women in the past, but this was the only significant relationship. In recent years, his top priority has been his son, as he has found himself needing Charlie's help on several occasions including rescuing him from Romania, helping him come off heroin and giving him a deposit for a flat he wanted. Despite the fact Charlie wants to help Louis, he has had trouble trusting him in the past, and therefore has a hard time doing so now.

During his time working at the Emergency Department, Charlie has seen nearly all staff members come and go since 1986 including his ex-wife Baz, his good friend Tess Bateman and Martin Ashford.

Early life
During Charlie's childhood, his mother passed away, and his father remarried. He then spent his teenage years growing up with his father and his new wife until he was an adult, at which point he decided to become a nurse. In his adulthood, he frequently visited his father who was being cared for in a nursing home.

Time in the Emergency Department (1986-)
Charlie joined the department in September 1986. For the beginning of his career, he worked closely with Baz Wilder, a doctor in the ED. That November, they worked together to save the life of a drowned boy, but were later shocked to see the arrival of one of their staff who had been injured. Just after Christmas, Charlie noticed that the department was lacking Christmas cheer, and set up an impromptu pantomime for staff and patients to enjoy. This was a result of the threat of closure that the ED had been facing, but the pantomime cheered everyone up, and the ED eventually didn't close.

The following year, Charlie continued to uphold his respected attitude in the ED, but encountered hostility from some cavers when they were admitted in the ED following an accident. However, the other staff soon stepped in to help and the situation diffused. Later in 1987, Charlie treated an elderly lady who was on the list for an operation. Out of kindness, Charlie decided to go the extra mile to make sure she got it in time.

Following the arrival of David Rowe in 1988, several disputes occurred between him and Charlie. Notably, they saw conflict regarding patient confidentiality. On Bonfire Night, hospital administrator Valerie Sinclair expressed concern to Charlie regarding the need for cutbacks in the ED, but Charlie was preoccupied with Kuba Trzcinski's threat of resignation. Just before the end of the year, Charlie was able to help Valerie, but Kuba left the department anyway.

In 1989, nurse Cyril James became annoyed with Charlie after he didn't select him to get the ITU job. Also in September, Charlie told off Jimmy Powell, a porter. Jimmy pleaded with him not to tell the head of portering. In October, Charlie learned that it was Queens, not Holby, that was being chosen for the new trauma centre, much to his disappointment. Later in the year, Charlie faced more issues from Valerie, after he complained at her about the bed shortage.

Almost a year later in September 1990, Charlie was saddened to hear about the death of one of his close friends after he collapsed and died after recovering from a broken leg. His emotional distress continued through much of the following month. Things only worsened for Charlie, as in October he witnessed a lorry crush a man on his way to work. He travelled with the man in the ambulance, but he later died. Also in October, Charlie allowed a drunk man to sleep in a cubicle, much to Julian and Ash's disapproval. When another seemingly drunk person came in, Charlie sent him to the other cubicle but it was later found out that the man was diabetic and had a hypo. Megan expressed the risks of heavy drinking after Charlie brought in a friend after he had cut his wrist on broken glass. Just before Christmas that year, Charlie was wounded when a schizophrenic man shot him in the chest in a panic when he saw a policeman. Having just murdered someone, the man was getting Charlie to dispose of the body whilst holding Megan hostage. After being shot, Charlie was quickly treated and suffered no major damage.

In September 1991, Charlie took a liking to a social worker, Trish Baynes, who he met at a counselling session. In February 1992, disaster struck at Holby International Airport after a plane full of holidaymakers returning from Greece crashed into an embankment. Back at the ED, Charlie assisted in the mass casualties being admitted as a result of the accident through the night. At the end of the stressful shift, Ash and Charlie pondered about the future success of Holby General Hospital as a trust hospital.

Later in 1992, the hospital's general manager Simon Eastman visited the ED and allowed Charlie to go ahead in hiring new agency nurses, but the job proved more difficult than he had first expected. Following a series of bad experiences through the new year, Charlie was diagnosed with depression in 1993 and even walked away from Ash's celebratory drinks after he was promoted to a senior staff nurse. At the end of February, some troublesome youths set fire to the ED. Following a death, Charlie vowed to repair the damage done to the department. In Autumn 1993, clinical nurse specialist Ken Hodges took a romantic interest in Charlie, and upon realising that Charlie didn't feel the same way, told him they shouldn't be friends anymore. Charlie was upset by this. A few weeks later, Charlie was ordered to tell Ken he no longer had a job, something he found hard to do. Charlie was later left upset when his close friend Lisa "Duffy" Duffin chose to quit the department. On his 40th birthday in 1994, Charlie turned up to work out of uniform and threatened to resign. Shortly after, he was given more self confidence after he was able to get a gun off a suicidal man in the ED.

In September 1994, Charlie was offered the position of contracts manager but turned it down. The following month, Charlie noticed that Mike was being snappy with the rest of the staff, but he later revealed that his wife had left him. However on Christmas Eve, Mike was invited to spend Christmas with Rachel, which Charlie witnessed. In January 1995, Ash asked Charlie and Mike to be character witnesses in his court case, after he lashed out at a patient who was in possession of a knife, but other people failed to see it. In February, Charlie and Mike attended the court case. Following this, both Mike and Ash took temporary leave. However, to Charlie's surprise it was his former lover, Baz, who left the department almost 9 years ago. Charlie later confided in Kate about his history with Baz. In March, Charlie agreed to join Baz and her husband Peter for dinner. When Charlie turned up, he was annoyed to discover that Baz had actually invited him to a large dinner party. However, Charlie took Baz back to his place instead of the party and they kissed.

Later that year, Mike returned to the department, with his marriage over for good and Baz continued having an affair with Charlie. He was later left feeling guilty when he met Peter, Baz's husband, and liked him. Nevertheless, Charlie was annoyed to witness Baz and Peter enjoying an anniversary meal. Charlie later tried to end the affair with Baz, but she took him back to her flat and seduced him. He called things off with her again when she cancelled a date to see Peter's mother. However, in November Baz told Charlie that she had left Peter. Charlie later attended a ball with his new romance Zoe, along with Baz and Peter. In January 1996, Baz told Charlie that she was pregnant and that he was the father, much to his shock. After this, Charlie decided enough was enough, and prepared to tell Peter about the affair and the pregnancy but Baz told him before Charlie could. Following the wedding of Martin Ashford and Laura Milburn, Baz showed Charlie the first ultrasound of their baby.

That September, Baz was heavily pregnant and in the maternity ward and Charlie was jumping between the ED and being by her side. Eventually, their son Louis Charles was born via caesarean. The following week, Charlie interviewed for a new staff nurse position, and decided to hire Sam Colloby. In January 1997 a female patient became uncomfortable around Charlie when he attached ECG wires to her chest, and decided to make a sexual harassment complaint. Shortly after, Charlie and the rest of the staff were interviewed by personnel regarding the incident, and Charlie was ordered to take temporary leave. A reporter later tried to get in to see him by acting as a patient, but Baz realised and kicked him out. Charlie returned to work in February having received a formal reprimand. In September, Charlie was left worried about Baz when a bomb went off in a van whilst she was out shopping. However, he was relieved to find out from Penny that she was at the scene attending to casualties.

In 2000, Charlie suffered from a pulmonary embolism which left him seriously ill. However, in September Charlie jumped back into work and still recovering, managed to prevent a mother who had just given birth from committing suicide. Just before Christmas in 2002 as recently promoted Clinical Nurse Manager, Charlie temporarily left the department, only to return with the same role the next month. Once again in July 2004, he departed, this time for a longer period. He returned to work in January 2005.

In September 2007, Charlie celebrated his 35th year in nursing. During his shift on this day, Connie Beauchamp, the Clinical Lead of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Darwin ward of the main hospital took over the ED due to the absence of a Clinical Lead. During this shift, Charlie subscribed a patient to some painkillers, but she had a severe allergic reaction, and he was reprimanded by Connie. Near the end of the day, Charlie was able to apprehend the animal rights activist who was behind a bombing which left casualties flooding into the ED. In October, Marilyn decided that the department only needed 1 band 8 nurse so either Tess or Charlie needed to be replaced by a band nurse in order for the department to save £1500. Harry tried his best to prevent either of them getting fired, but came to the realisation that one of them would need to go by Christmas. Over the next few months, tension rose between Charlie and Tess over who would be leaving the department. In November, Charlie was left worried after a fire broke out at Louis' school and he was nowhere to be seen outside. Charlie later found out that Louis was safe, as he had skipped school after starting the fire. The following month, Charlie began to find coping with Louis hard, and he was later expelled from school.

With Charlie's feud with Louis growing, Louis raided Charlie's locker and took his phone. Louis' new school phoned Charlie to let him know Louis had been caught with cannabis. Although it was the day Harry would be deciding who would be fired, Charlie ended up missing part of it because of Louis' misbehavior. At the end of the day, Tess approached Harry and let him know that she would resign after he told them both it would be favourable if one of them volunteered. In December on Tess' last day before redundancy, Louis once again escaped from Charlie after he dropped him off at a friend's house but Louis managed to get away. At the same time, Charlie and Tess noticed a woman being dragged under a car. Back at the ED, Charlie informed the man responsible that the woman died. In anger after the man made remarks about the woman, Charlie punched him. As a result, Harry asked for Charlie's resignation, to which he agrees in order for him to spend more time with Louis and let Tess keep her job.

During is absence, Charlie was working in a health centre. In March 2008 upon Harry's departure, he invited Charlie back to work at the ED. Shortly after his arrival, he confronted Marilyn about the atrocious security at the hospital. In August, Maggie decided to leave the department to go travelling, and asked Charlie to go with her but he said no as he had a son to look after. Just before her departure, Charlie and Maggie shared a kiss.

In January 2010, Charlie began to experience health problems just as Louis arrived at the ED asking him for money. However, things suddenly turned around for Charlie when one of Louis' lovers, Shona, arrived at the ED claiming to be pregnant with Louis' child. Charlie had multiple talks with Louis about parenting, as he didn't feel that he was responsible enough to care for a child. Due to the fact that Louis was uninterested in the child, Charlie provided support for Shona by giving her money and attending parenting classes. However, Shona instead decided to waste the money on pills and cigarettes, despite acting genuinely grateful for the money. The stress soon got to Charlie though, and in February his health took a turn for the worst when he was admitted after his chest pains worsened and he started coughing up blood. In June, Shona once again arrived at the ED to speak to Charlie about aborting the baby, but she realised that she couldn't do it, and when Charlie suggested that she seek social services, she stormed out. The following week, Charlie was able to secure her a job at reception alongside Noel. However, her position wasn't held for long as Charlie fired her when he discovered that she hid the manual check in book. After this, he felt bad and offered her a roof to stay under for the night. After a couple of weeks with him, her bad behaviour became too much for Charlie and he asked her to leave.

In July, a surprise reunion with a terminally ill Megan left Charlie devastated. However, he was forced to choose between her and everything he believed in when she asked him to help her die. Tess tried to get her to not take drastic action. When Charlie asked Megan what she would do if she had three wishes, she said to go to Las Vegas and drink cocktails and dance to her favourite songs. After this, Charlie, Tess and Megan's carer Lily Knowles recreated Vegas in her living room in an attempt to fulfill her wishes. Eventually, Tess and Charlie went to visit her to complete her final wishes of helping her to die and provided her with a lethal cocktail of drugs. The following week, Tess was going to go to the police and tell them about her role in Megan's death but eventually decided not to after realising that she did what Megan wanted. In August, Shona gave birth to a baby girl, Megan, and Tess and Charlie gathered round, prepared to make a new start.

In September 2010, a series of shootings in Holby had the department on edge. With leadership from Adam and Charlie, they coped with the situation until they discovered that one of the shooters was in the department. With the media scrutiny that followed the week after the shooting, there was strain on the ED when patients started to refuse treatment. An incident with grenades the following week only made things worse, and Charlie was left inside the ED whilst it was evacuated after an explosion. In October, Louis' daughter Megan was abandoned in Charlie's care. That same day, Charlie Edward kissing his lover whilst married to Ruth, but decided to keep it quiet. However, when Ruth found out that Charlie had known, she had him transferred out of the department. Although the team confronted Ruth about her decision to make Charlie a victim of the budget cuts, she refused to reinstate him. In March 2011 after being put in a psychiatric ward, Ruth went out shopping but forgot to take her medication and it was down to Charlie to fetch her before she got arrested.

In August 2011, Charlie welcomed two new nurses into the department; Lloyd Asike and Scarlett Conway. Whilst Lloyd got off to a good start, Scarlett failed to make as good of an impression when she took more of an interest in the hospital's anaesthetist rather than the patients. In October during a traffic jam, Charlie discovered that a girl had fainted on a road bridge and had fallen onto his car. The girl later claimed that Charlie was the saviour of the Earth. Just before Christmas when a fire broke out in the ED, Scarlett once again failed to impress Charlie when she re-entered the burning ED to rescue some elderly patients.

In January 2013, Charlie began mentoring a new student nurse, Ally Hunter. Despite getting off to a good start, Ally decided to leave following an incident involving some schoolchildren in a coach crash. After Yvonne Rippon's death, Nick Jordan returned to work, against the advice of Charlie and Zoe. In February, Charlie was delighted to see the return of his old friend and colleague Martin Ashford, however Zoe wasn't as happy. In August, Charlie helped figure out that a man who was admitted to the ED had been involved in a crash which sent casualties in earlier that day. In January 2014, Charlie spent an evening frustrated, and trying to contact Louis. In April, he helped a man come to terms with his wife's dementia.

Charlie later visited Louis in New Zealand, and upon returning in August 2014 Connie Beauchamp, the new Clinical Lead after taking over from Zoe, raised her concerns that Charlie didn't seem interested in his job anymore, but little did she know of his health problems. Charlie arrangeed an appointment with Elliot Hope where he believed Charlie had a high possibility of angina. Charlie later became irritable towards Tess when she recommended a retirement care plan. When Connie, Tess, Ash, Ethan and Lily were involved in a minibus crash, Charlie took charge of the ED and ensureed that Connie did not attempt a risky procedure on Ethan due to her own injuries. When Connie went to him later in his office, he launched a tirade about how he loved his job too much and refused to retire. Connie conceded and stated that the team will need him, when she discovers that Jeff was killed when the minibus exploded. In February 2015, Charlie gave Connie a few harsh words after she made the rash decision to ask Caleb Knight for his letter of resignation. He managed to make her reconsider.

In April, Charlie managed to save Connie from a wrongful imprisonment after Rita hid vital evidence that would prove that she didn't murder a patient of hers. Eventually, Charlie convinced Rita to hand over the evidence so he could set Connie free. When Connie found out it was Rita, she was furious.

In May 2015, just after returning to the ED from the police station with Connie, he got a phonecall from his son Louis' girlfriend Sofia in Romania, telling him that his son has been attacked by drug dealers and needed urgent medical attention. He said to Connie, who had just got out of police custody after a wrongful accusation, that he needed to catch a flight there. Connie then offered to join him as they left the ED for the airport. Once he was there, he went to the hospital where Louis was and spoke to one of the doctors there after seeing him. However, he later noticed that Louis had gone missing, and he and Connie started searching for him across Bucharest. After they eventually found out that Louis was on the run from drug dealers who he owes money to, they attempted to track Louis down. Things only got worse when they found out from some locals who know about the local trade in the area that he may be being used for organ harvesting. They went to the hospital that they were told about, and Charlie found Louis with the doctor from earlier performing the operation. He pushed him in anger which caused him to accidentally cut one of Louis' arteries. Whilst he was recovering afterwards after Connie saved him, Sofia told them that Christian, the man who orchestrated it and the one Louis owes money to, was on the way. Charlie managed to escape the hospital with Louis, and Chrisitan chased them down the motorway, but Charlie swerved his car into Christian's, causing it to flip over.

In August 2015, Charlie's good friend Tess left the ED to spend more time with her son, Sam, after he revealed to her that he had a child and couldn't raise him alone. Charlie was upset by this, but understood that Tess must move on. Later in August at Zoe and Max's wedding, a drunken Louis started taunting Max, which caused him to punch Louis. After Charlie intervened, Louis pushed him over, which caused Max to punch him again. Lofty tried to break up the argument but his clumsiness led to a patio heater being knocked over and fire starting, which quickly spread throughout the marquee. However, Zoe had meanwhile escaped on Dylan's houseboat with Dylan, but one of the embers from the fire landed on their boat and resulted in an explosion. Realising the danger that Zoe was in after drowning, Charlie jumped in and swam across to rescue her from drowning. A freezing Charlie succeeded, however started to experience chest pains on his way back to the ED. At the ED, he suffered a heart attack and was discovered by one of the hospital's cleaners. After a long night and extensive efforts from the staff, Charlie was successfully resuscitated, and took the next few weeks off work to recover.

After returning to work, Charlie helped a father and young girl come to terms with the loss of her mother. In December, Charlie accompanied Cal in going to visit his biological mother, after a paternity test inadvertently revealed that Cal was adopted. However, they were soon shocked to discover that she had Huntington's Disease. The care worker told Cal that two children were given away, which was a relief to Cal as it meant that him and Ethan were still brothers. However, this also meant Ethan was at risk of inheriting Huntington's too.

Personal life
Charlie has one child with Barbara "Baz"  Wilder, Louis, born in 1996. The couple married two years later but divorced in 2001. After Baz died in 2004, Charlie was left as the sole carer for Louis.

In August 2015, Charlie suffered a heart attack after diving into a lake to save Zoe from drowning, following an explosion on the boat that she was on. He was taken back to the ED and treated by Connie, Rita and other members of staff as they successfully managed to resuscitate him.

Trivia

 * The mother of his child, Baz, died in a car crash.
 * Has a background in psychiatric care and has completed a trauma nursing course.
 * Never forgets that he almost lost his son, Louis.
 * When lifelong friend, Megan turned up in Holby, he was faced with a difficult decision and chose to assist in Megan's suicide.
 * He has a granddaughter who is aptly named Megan.
 * After having an Angina attack he was pestered by Connie to retire. She later apologised to him.

Behind the scenes
Derek Thompson, who plays Charlie, has been in Casualty since the show began in 1986 and is currently the only cast member to still be in it since the first episode. He is also the longest serving cast member to date, and the second-longest is Jane Hazlegrove who portrays Dixie who has been in the show for 20 less years than him.

In flashbacks shown in the 30th series premiere "A Child's Heart, Part One" an 11-year old Charlie is played by Baxter Westby and 19-year old Charlie by Ryan Owen. In the series 8 episode "Hidden Agendas" which aired on 26 February 1994, Charlie celebrated his 40th birthday, making his date of birth 26 February 1954.

Reception
He is described by the BBC as "the lynchpin of Holby's ED. [...] an indispensable, trustworthy and a diplomatic member of the team." Series producer Oliver Kent has described Charlie as "by far our most important character" and "absolutely core to the show's success". In 2012, Inside Soap described Charlie and Tess as 'the mum and dad of Casualty'. Current producer Nikki Wilson talked about the importance of Charlie and Tess saying, "I think it's really crucial that we keep them around. Charlie has been in the show for nearly 30 years, and he's such an iconic character. It's fantastic he's still here.

His relationship with Tess is quite important - as you say, they're like the parents of the whole department - so long may it continue." In 2014, series producer, Erika Hossington spoke to Digital Spy about the show's plans for Charlie, saying that they have big plans for Charlie, "We've got a small story that will show in the first third of series 29. However, we've also got bigger plans for him, which will begin in the final third of series 29 and continue towards the thirtieth anniversary." She continued to say how Charlie will be "centre of the thirtieth anniversary" and "in order for that to be impactful, they have to really build up to that". "Charlie's older fans will have complete satisfaction. I think Charlie is the heart of the show and always should be central, hence why he is going there."

Appearances

 * See also: Character appearances.

Charlie has appeared in over 650 episodes of Casualty, making him the character to have appeared in the most episodes. He made his first appearance in the series 1 episode "Gas".