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 band 7 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
In 1964 during Charlie's childhood, his mother passed away, and his father remarried. Charlie first went into nursing in 1972 at around eighteen years old. At age nineteen in early 1974 Charlie first visited the Emergency Department of Holby General Hospital at which point he decided that he wanted to work there. He started working in the ED in the summer of 1986. By September, he had been promoted to charge nurse.

Time in the Emergency Department (1986-)
For the beginning of his career as a charge nurse, he worked closely with Baz Wilder, a doctor in the ED. Their romance began in October, but she soon told him that she couldn't commit to a proper relationship. 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. In mid December, Baz discovered that she was pregnant but had an abortion without telling Charlie. The following week, she admitted the truth to him as a result of all the rumours flying around. He was initially shocked and angry but she told him that she didn't regret it.

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 of the night shift that the ED had been facing, but the pantomime cheered everyone up, and the night shift eventually didn't close.

In September 1987, Charlie received a note from Baz telling him that she'd left Holby for a new job. On the rebound from her, Charlie spent the nights with staff nurse Karen but later informed her that it was a one-off. The following month, 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. Matters were only made worse when Charlie narrowly avoided falling down an underground crevice in the cave himself. Despite the hostility he initially got from the cavers, the other staff soon stepped in to help and the situation diffused. On Halloween, Charlie received a letter informing him that he had won £5000 on the premium bonds. He initially wanted to treat himself to a Cadillac, but opted for a £600 Land Rover. Later in the year, 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. Charlie also took Duffy to see Peter's grave for the first time. 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. He later asked Valerie out on a dinner date, to which she accepted.

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. Charlie later caught Megan taking Valium and urged her to stop as both her friend and colleague. 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. He soon started drinking after becoming depressed and relied on Megan to advise him. 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. They had a few dates but Trish didn't like the fact he was obsessed with his job and they stopped seeing each other. 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 as a trust hospital. Charlie later reunited with Trish and suggested that they get married, but she just walked away.

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. Charlie started to find himself more withdrawn and lonely, and Duffy invited him to have Christmas dinner with her. Following a series of bad experiences through the new year, Charlie was diagnosed with depression by a psychiatrist in 1993 and even walked away from Ash's celebratory drinks after he was promoted to a senior staff nurse. After a shift, he argued with Duffy, messed up his office and later collapsed on the floor from stress. 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 Duffy chose to quit the department. At Christmas, Charlie was still missing Duffy which caused him to be short tempered. However, Charlie later relied on porter Frankie Drummer's quick actions to save his life with the Heimlich manoeuvre when he started to choke on a piece of bread. On his 40th birthday in February 1994, Charlie turned up to work out of uniform and threatened to resign. He was also left questioning why he entered the nursing career and even wrote a letter of resignation, only to throw it away after. Shortly after, he was given more self confidence after he was able to get a gun off a suicidal man in the ED who had caused the department to be evacuated.

In September 1994, Charlie applied for the Contracts Manager post and learned he had been successful but still turned down the job. 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 and a locum consultant was hired to fill in for them. However, to Charlie's surprise it was his former lover, Baz, who left the department almost 9 years ago and had remarried. 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. In October, 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. Baz and Charlie later hired a nanny, Margaret, to look after Louis. However, they later discovered that she'd been mistreating Louis and even tried to smother him. 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 and Louis 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 October, an elderly woman named Hannah was admitted after having a heart attack. She arrived in the ED with her friend Phylidda, but Jack refused to resuscitate her as he believed she had chance of survival. Charlie informed Phylidda that Hannah was dead but when Kate and Mark checked on her later they discovered that she still had a faint pulse. Phylidda walked in on an unsuccessful resuscitation attempt and Jack shifted the blame onto the nursing staff for the earlier mistake. The following week, Elliot asked Charlie for a statement on Hannah's death after Phylidda made a complaint, but Charlie soon began to realise that Jack had lied about what happened. The statements were found to conflict, and eventually the truth surfaced and Jack resigned. Despite this, Charlie ultimately sided with Mark when Baz revealed she was the one who made the complaint. Baz later informed Charlie that she didn't want him going on the holiday with them, and he returned home from his shift to find that they'd already left. Charlie later joined them, eager to earn back Baz's acceptance.

In mid December, they both returned to work after their unsuccessful holiday where Charlie left after the first week. Just a week after their return, Charlie and Baz were both put on the interview panel for the new charge nurse post. Things were still frosty between them and Charlie ended up spending his break with personnel officer Zoe Garrard. Things only got worse for Charlie as just before the new year, Baz told him that she was going to move in with her mother. The news of the break up soon became the gossip of the department and Charlie soon told Baz that he was moving out. Towards the end of January, Charlie went for dinner with Zoe. Just a week later, Baz walked out of work when she walked in to find Charlie and Zoe kissing.

In February, Baz found herself in a hostage situation when she went to see her solicitor and had to call Charlie for help. Shortly after, Charlie proposed to Baz and she accepted. The kidnapper tried to shoot Baz, but was soon killed by a police sniper. At the end of the month, the date had arrived of Charlie and Baz's impromptu wedding. The wedding was forced to conclude early though as a fire had broken out at St Thomas'. They returned to work, however a gangster had hijacked an ambulance and run over a man and when Charlie went to help he was run over too. They both escaped with minor injuries and later that day the wedding went ahead as planned and Charlie and Baz got married.

By September, Baz had got a new job elsewhere and Charlie went to visit her every weekend. Despite the strain it put on him of not seeing his son or wife, he was glad to have his old colleague Duffy back working in the ED. The following month, Charlie was on his way to work when a man summoned his help as his wife had been attacked. In early November, Charlie reprimanded Eve after she booked her holiday and disregarded him. Drugs also began going missing from the ED and Sam discovers it to be agency nurse Lee who's responsible. Sam later told Lee to leave, but Charlie confronted Sam at the Christmas party and was annoyed that he knew and didn't tell him.

In March 1999, a reporter annoyed Charlie by coming into the department and questioning him on the press leak regarding the department's closure. That September, the whole team including Charlie were shaken following Sam's attack which led to him falling from a balcony. Later in the shift, the staff were all forced to stay inside after a patient was admitted covered in radioactive waste. Also in the ED, Charlie felt sorry for a Marine, Jack, who was on the run for attacking his wife's lover but had just saved the life of a young girl's mother. He stayed with the girl as opposed to running from the police, something which Charlie admired.

In October, Adam asked for Charlie's advice on applying for a nursing post due to the fact he had HIV. Charlie told him that if he declared the fact he would still have a chance of the job. After giving Adam advice, Charlie was forced to suspend Sunny after he hit a patient. Later in the month Charlie heard that Eve was thinking of resigning. He went to look for her and tried to persuade her not to leave but she did anyway and hugged Charlie goodbye. In November, Duffy applied for the sister post and Charlie reminded Max not to give her any preferential treatment. He gave Duffy a hard time in the interview and when she confronted him after, they ended up kissing. Charlie saw through the window and wasn't impressed.

Duffy soon realised that Charlie knew about her and Max, and he reminded her that she had a husband and kids at home. This prompted Duffy to end things with Max. Max later confronted Charlie thinking he was responsible and told him that they couldn't be friends anymore. Duffy later thanked Charlie for being right and asked Max to apologise to him. Max did this but said to Charlie that he thinks he only ruined their relationship because he had feelings for Duffy himself. On Christmas Day, Charlie and Duffy were both on shift and Charlie was missing Louis so Duffy comforted him. After their new year's shift, Charlie asked Duffy if she wanted to go for dinner with him. She looked at him and he knew it was a no, but she kissed him and they headed off in separate directions.

In February, a regular patient, Leona, came into the department demanding to see Charlie. She kept missing her psychiatric appointments but Charlie finally persuaded her to go. Later in the month, Charlie was there to support Max following his son's death. In March Charlie was saddened when Tina told Charlie that she was leaving. Towards the end of March, Leona once again showed up in the ED wanting to see Charlie. Exasperated, he tried to avoid her but she continued following him trying to tell him her news. He managed to escape into the toilets where he suffered a pulmonary embolism which nearly killed him.

Still on recovery leave, Charlie was contemplating what he really wanted from life whilst sitting on the waterfront when he met a young mum who was finding it hard to be a single mum. However, she disappeared when she went to buy an ice cream leaving Charlie with her baby. He eventually found her and took her into the ED with him. Upon arriving in the ED, Charlie was bombarded by questions from his colleagues about when he was going to be returning to work. The young mum whom he had come in with later tried to commit suicide but Charlie was able to stop her. His colleagues demands led him to return to work the following week. He came back with a stern approach and soon informed manager Dan that he wouldn't tolerate money or policy issues coming before patient care. His approach to work left Duffy concerned about the effect throwing himself back into work was having on his health.

At the end of September, Charlie revealed to Duffy that following his split from Baz, she was moving to Canada with Louis, and he feared that Louis woukd forget him. In early October, a reporter heard from Holly that one of the nurses in the department had HIV and Charlie successfully persuaded her to stop him before it got out of hand. However, a patient overheard and sold the story anyway. Charlie and Dan discussed how to protect Adam from the press and when he arrived for work, Charlie showed him the front page headlines.

Later in October Leona returned to the department presenting stomach pains. It later transpired that she was pregnant and later gave birth to a baby girl whom she named Charlie. However, the turn of events resulted in Charlie being late to Adam and Reuben's wedding, and it was only worsened by the fact he had the rings. In the following weeks, Charlie was let down by his childminder and fatherhood started to become more stressful for him. In November, Charlie took Louis to the local zoo as one of their last trips together before he flew out to live with Baz. However, the day soon turned into a nightmare when Charlie went to help a man who was having an epileptic fit and Louis wandered off. Charlie frantically began to search for him and eventually found another man looking after him. Once back from their trip, Charlie organised a surprise party for Duffy's 40th birthday.

A few weeks after the party, Charlie told Duffy that he was going to need some time off work to take Louis to Canada but was still dreading the thought of giving up his son. He later flew with Louis to Canada and returned in mid December feeling down as Baz had met someone else and was asking for a divorce. Things only got worse for Charlie when Baz told Charlie that she'd only let him see Louis in Canada. Charlie was left feeling helpless until he treated a lawyer with a broken hand who encouraged him to speak with a family lawyer.

In January 2001, the ED was extremely busy and Charlie was inundated with complaints. He asked for Dan's help to find more beds but Dan said he'd only do it if Charlie implemented new hospital guidelines on patient delays. Although Charlie followed Dan's plan, it backfired and he was left to apologise to a number of patients. To add to Charlie's worries, a series of patients were admitted with a mystery disease which turned out to be Legionnaires disease. The outbreak was found to have perhaps come from the hospital, and Dan was annoyed when Charlie and Max contacted Public Health.

At the beginning of February Charlie went to see a solicitor regarding his custody case but she informed him that he didn't have much chance of winning his son back. Despite this, Charlie told Duffy that the news was positive even though he'd have to sell his house to pay the legal fees. Two weeks later, Charlie went to court to discuss his application for custody but his solicitor again urged him to drop the application which left him disheartened. His day went from bad to worse when he arrived at work to find that a major incident exercise was taking place that he didn't know about. Charlie later decided to drop the proceedings against Baz as he didn't want to lose contact with Louis. Duffy attempted to cheer him up and asked him to supper.

Later in the month, Charlie was annoyed to hear that due to budget cuts agency nurses were to be lost. He also blamed Dan for Duffy's earlier collapsed and claimed she was under too much pressure. When the ED became overcrowded later that day Charlie contacted the Director of Nursing who allowed him to shut down the hospital until the backlog of patients was cleared. Dan wasn't happy and the two had a heated argument the following week. In mid April Charlie returned from another trip to Canada and told Max that Louis wanted him to stay, but he told him that his life was in Holby. By this time Charlie had also sold his house and was due to move into his new flat only to be told last minute that he couldn't have it. Left homeless, Max offered Charlie his spare room although Max's partner Amanda wasn't so keen. Just weeks after this, Charlie had to break the news to Duffy, who was heavily pregnant, that her husband Andrew had been killed which left her distraught.

In September 2001, Charlie went to visit Duffy at home to see how she was coping following Andrew's death. However, she suddenly went into labour and refused to go to hospital and Charlie was forced to deliver the baby at her home. Later in the month, Charlie met a woman named Jan at a supper club held by a dating agency. They got on really well, but the following week Charlie discovered that she was his boss. Although Jan still wanted to see Charlie, he felt uncomfortable with the situation and turned her down at the end of their shift. Despite this, she encouraged him to apply for the clinical nursing specialist job.

In October, Charlie was left furious with Lara and Dillon after Lara broke hospital procedure and delivered a baby in the ED. Just weeks later Jan arrived to take a tour of the department and Charlie was concerned that everything may not go smoothly following the incident with Lara. Jan later questioned Charlie as to why they hadn't seen each other much lately and they agreed to go for a meal out. At the meal, Jan informed Charlie that he had got the job and reminded him that their work and personal life was completely separate and he didn't get the job on merit.

In November, Charlie and Jan attended a charity dinner together but she was annoyed when he abused his position to have a rant about hospital issues. Despite this, they managed to later reconcile. Later in the month, Charlie's friend Leona once again visited the department worried about her baby who had developed some spots. Patrick concluded that it was result of Leona overdressing her, after which Leona left with free nappies and wipes. Duffy was more concerned over the welfare of her Leona's baby. Charlie later argued with Jan over the hospital's security but she reminded him that they were on the same side. Also, Duffy broke down in front of Charlie because she missed Andrew.

Near the end of the month, Spencer was attacked by an irate man and Charlie confronted Security Officer Mr Dobbs and Jan demanding extra security. However, he let it slip to Mr Dobbs that he was dating Jan, who proceeded to send an email to all the staff. Duffy was annoyed that she didn't know about the relationship and Jan eventually agreed to get some security.

In September 2002, Duffy confided in Charlie about Andrew's life policy money that she'd received. She didn't want the money but Charlie persuaded her that it's what Andrew would have wanted. Later in the month, Duffy's mother was brought into the ED with cancer and as her condition deteriorated she told Charlie that she wished not to be resuscitated. Charlie later clashed with Harry and Dillon over how to deal with an illegal immigrant who'd swallowed drugs. The following month, Dillon grew annoyed with Charlie again when he called social services on a case involving a down syndrome mother.

In November, Charlie discovered that Duffy was dating Ryan and was left wondering why he was last to know. Later in the month Josh confided in Charlie about his marriage problems. 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. In January 2003, Duffy told Charlie of her plans to marry Ryan and asked if he would give her away. At the beginning of March, Charlie was unhappy about Selena's arrival in the department. Towards the end of the month, Charlie was upset to hear that Ryan had run off with all of Duffy's money, so he offered her a place to stay with him. However, just two weeks later an apologetic Ryan returned to Duffy and asked her to go to New Zealand with him. Charlie wasn't pleased and Duffy found it hard to say goodbye to him. With Ryan having returned the money, Charlie and Duffy shared a kiss goodbye and she flew off to Auckland with him.

In September 2003, there was a major train crash in Holby and the team discovered that staff nurse Anna Paul had been badly injured. They managed to get her out of the wreckage and initially held back on telling her how ill she really was. Despite this, she knew they were holding back and Charlie told her the truth and she died shortly after. The following month, still recovering from the events of the train crash, Charlie and Josh went AWOL for the day and went for a drink at the pub.

In November whilst Charlie was on his way to the airport he bumped into Baz's father Kenneth leaving the hospital. He discovered that he had lung cancer and also that Baz had remarried. When Charlie met with Baz, things were awkward between them as he broke the news about her father's illness. Charlie was made to feel even more uncomfortable after Baz's new husband Dan Wilder arrived and walked away with her. In early December, Charlie invited Baz to join him and Louis on their day out bowling together. However, Louis took a turn for the worst and ended up in the ED where Jim diagnosed him with a rare fever which panicked Charlie. Although Dan felt useless, Louis turned to him when he woke up. Following the eventful day, it was clear that something had been reignited between Charlie and Baz.

A week after the disastrous bowling trip, Louis was recovering and was told that he could go within the next week. Baz's father bought the whole family tickets to Lapland but the party mood was soon spoilt when a major RTC shout came in. They all travelled to Lapland the following week once Louis had recovered, but Charlie and Dan found it very awkward around one another. Dan got very competitive over several family games, but when he later pulled a reckless stunt he got trapped under a ski mobile. Baz and Louis went for help and Charlie was forced to think fast. He stemmed the bleed on Dan's leg and used his own body heat to keep Dan warm. During this time, Charlie admitted to Dan that he still loved Baz. Whilst Dan was recovering in hospital, Charlie and Baz shared an embrace under the Northern Lights. After Christmas, Baz informed Dan that her and Charlie slept together. In a rage, he stormed into the hospital and punched Charlie.

In January 2004, Baz reluctantly travelled with Dan to appease a defiant Louis but as his tantrum spiralled, Baz attempted to restore order in the car. In the commotion, Dan got distracted whilst driving which resulted in a car crash which Charlie witnessed whilst driving past. Baz was left struggling for her life and after tests, they decided that it was time to give up. Dan and Charlie later clashed over organ donation and Baz's wishes. Later in the month at Baz's funeral, Dan attempted to stake claim over Louis and announced his plans to bring him back to Canada. An argument ensued between them and Charlie threatened to contest custody. the following week, Charlie got an injunction to prevent Dan from taking Louis out of the country. He rushed out of work only to find that they'd already left, and ultimately caught him at the station and presented him with the court order.

Charlie later took Louis to the department with him, but realised that he hadn't been back there since Baz died. In early February, Charlie had a meeting with the children's welfare officer and began to doubt his worth as a father. Later in the month, Charlie custody hearing was adjourned when Louis discovered his grandfather fighting for breath. He was rushed to hospital and Dan was granted custody, but on his death bed, Baz's father asked Dan to let Charlie and Louis be together. Unable to ignore this, Dan dropped the case when Louis told him he wanted to stay with Charlie.

In May, Jim was covering as clinical director and was annoying everyone in the department by trying to implement new systems he had learnt in America. He discussed abolishing the three hour rule with the hospital's Chief Executive, Helen Grant, but Charlie was furious with Jim's intended changes and confronted him. The following week, a patient died in reception and Charlie was quick to blame Jim who'd just implemented unpopular changes in the department. However, Helen took Jim's side and Charlie, speaking for the rest of the staff, threatened industrial action. Harry was horrified when he returned to work the following week to find that all the nurses were on strike. Although he managed to put the doctors' rota back to normal, Charlie felt betrayed and wrote his resignation letter.

By the end of May, Charlie felt increasingly disillusioned with the hospital procedures and systems, and Josh pleaded with him not to abandon his career. Charlie later got a call from Canada informing him that Baz's homeless project was in danger of losing funding, and needed to employ someone with nursing experience in order to keep it going. This ultimately led Charlie to taking a six month sabbatical to work on Baz's project. The staff all bid him a temporary farewell.

Charlie returned to work on New Year's Day in 2005, oblivious to the hospital explosion which occurred in his absence which resulted in Jim's death. Charlie also decided to cut down on his hours, leaving Tess to carry on his position. The following week as Charlie realised that it was nearly his birthday, he asked Bex to organise a party for him. Bex was busy preparing for his party in reception, and set the dress code as "come as you dressed when you were 18". Later in the month, Charlie received an email from a mysterious woman asking to meet him in the on call room at 4:30pm. Upon arriving there, he found Harry and they were soon interrupted by Selena who asked where the two old men needing assistance were. Luke and Woody appeared laughing, and Charlie and Harry realised that they'd fallen victims to a practical joke. The following week they tried to get their revenge on the paramedics after pretending that they'd need injections after getting parrot droppings on them. However, the plan backfired.

In March, Bex went home early after being tormented by Claire but when Charlie and Selena went to check on her they found her collapsed in the bathroom after a hypo. Later in the month, Charlie asked Claire if she wanted some time off, but she reacted negatively and assumed Charlie simply wanted her out of the way for Bex's sake. She later interfered with a patient's personal business and Charlie had stern words with her, and advised her to consider his previous offer. Charlie later correctly diagnosed one of Selena's patients.

In April, Charlie tried to intervene in an argument between Claire and Bex after it was revealed that Luke was going out with Claire. During Pete's court hearing the following week, Bex and Charlie turned up to hear Pete's evidence. Charlie told Luke that he shouldn't be there with Claire, and that she's being very courageous and as her ex-husband he should show some loyalty. In May, Charlie couldn't find some patient records and Tess told Charlie that Sam destroyed them when he was ill. Charlie couldn't understand how this could have happened and clearly disapproved but he later told them he wouldn't take the matter further. Later in May, the day of the verdict arrived and Charlie worried that Bex was getting her hopes too high, and he was right when a verdict of not guilty was passed.

At the beginning of July, Pete was threatening Bex in an unusual corridor of the hospital. In defence, she pushed him down the stairs and he fell to his death. Luke and Charlie discovered them and urged Bex to leave. The following week, Luke begged Charlie to lie to the police about Bex's involvement and he reluctantly agreed. Claire later discovered the CCTV footage of Bex pushing Pete to his death and planned revenge. Towards the end of August, Claire convinced Charlie and Luke to go with her to scatter her brother Pete's ashes with her by the sea. However, she soon started to behave erratically and demanded to know what happened to her brother. Later when they all got in the car to go home, Claire deliberately drove off the harbour into the water. Luke managed to pull Charlie out of the water to safety but Claire didn't survive.

Following the dramatic car accident, Charlie took another sabbatical. He returned to the department in December 2004 when he attended the Trust's party with his girlfriend Helen. However, whilst there he got a call from the babysitter to tell him that Louis had gone missing. The couple headed home but on the way were involved in a tunnel collapse where Charlie tended to the injured and trapped. Charlie was later reunited with Louis who was worried he'd been killed like Baz. Charlie and Helen later agreed that it would be best to split up for Louis' sake. Towards the end of January 2006, Charlie started to become suspicious of Bruno's dodgy dealings and he later started an investigation which led to his arrest.

In February, Charlie tried to keep the Hepatitis B clinic open by handing out leaflets to prostitutes but got into trouble with an angry pimp and was arrested by the police. Josh later came to his rescue. In April, Louis skipped his youth club to go to a bike club with his friend Niall. However, he was admitted after a skating accident caused him a leg injury. Louis took a shine to Maggie and after Niall teased him that his dad was gay because he lived with Josh, he claimed that Maggie was his girlfriend. The following week, Maggie received a romantic email from a stranger. She asked Alice to find out who was behind it and was surprised to find out it was Charlie. However when she subtly tried to bring it up with him, she wasn't convinced that he knew what she was talking about. Midway through the month, Maggie and Charlie went on a date but soon realised that they'd been set up and the culprit was Louis.

At the end of July, Nathan was on the warpath following his needle prick injury and blamed Sam. Charlie was furious when he discovered a tearful Sam packing up his locker and later told Nathan that he was a bully. Although he got on the wrong side of Nathan, Charlie wasn't bothered as he had stood up for Sam and what he believed in. Although he was packing up his locker, Sam later decided to stay at the hospital.

In September, Charlie headed to Cambodia with colleagues Guppy, Abs and Comfort to assist Duffy in the opening of a new clinic. Charlie had his doubts about Duffy's new boyfriend which didn't go down well and the pair argued. After some heated arguments, they finally made peace and Charlie revealed his feelings for Maggie. After returning from Cambodia by the following month, Charlie cancelled a drink with Maggie after he learned from Kelsey about her romance with Somnang. Meanwhile he was involved in a tragic case involving a young boy who'd accidentally killed his baby brother.

At the beginning of December, Charlie and Maggie were called out to the scene where a homeless woman had become trapped. Maggie later agreed to go out on a date with Charlie and Josh looked after Louis. Whilst looking after him, Louis fell over and cut his face and although Josh tried to help him, Louis lied to Charlie and told him that Josh had hit him. The following week Charlie was still angry with Josh after believing Louis' story and failed to back him up with a patient's case. Later in the month Louis went to visit Charlie at the hospital and ran into Josh. Charlie and Josh argued because he would't apologise for hitting Louis and harsh words were exchanged. Following Josh's stabbing, Charlie went to see him on Christmas Eve. Whilst Louis confessed to Charlie that Josh didn't hit him, Charlie simply told Josh that they shouldn't waste any more time arguing.

At Ellen's funeral just before the new year, Charlie persuaded Josh to do something pro-active with his time off work. The following day Charlie found Harry upset in his office and took him up to the hospital roof to chat. In March 2007, Charlie shared an emotional reunion with Megan after she came into the ED with her ill grandson.

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' misbehaviour. 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 his 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 Cal 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.

In 2016 Charlie and Rita were forced to make tramadol a control drug following several incidents where stock levels were lower than usual. When the levels seemed to have returned to normal, Charlie's suspicions dissipated. However, at the end of May a patient's relative had some tramadol stolen and when he noticed Big Mac was acting differently, Charlie spoke to him. Mac revealed that he was the one who had been taking the drugs and gave him the ones he stole from the patient. Charlie told Mac he'd hide the pills in his locker for a short while and then put them somewhere they'd be found so there was no connection to Big Mac.

The following week, Hanssen told both Elle and Connie separately outside the ED about the severity of the situation, as the relative from the previous week had gone to the press about the theft. Hanssen implied to Elle that Connie's job could be on the line as a result of the chain of events which had happened in the ED in the previous months, and that the trust would want someone to blame. Elle later suspected Charlie after he told her that he'd closed the investigation into the missing drugs which had been stolen prior to the previous week's events. Later when Charlie left the key in his locker, Elle looked inside and found the pills. She went to Rita and they went to Connie, but Connie insisted that they not report it to Hanssen yet and although Elle tried to warn Connie of what Hanssen had said earlier, she asked her to leave.

When Elle later saw Hanssen exit the ED, she assumed he knew and dropped Charlie's name into conversation to his surprise. Rita was then forced to suspend Charlie after he couldn't provide a valid reason as to why the drugs were in his locker, and when Jacob asked why Charlie had been suspended Connie told him and the rest of the staff it was Elle's fault for targeting him. A week later, Charlie was still on suspended leave. However, Big Mac helped a young girl during his shift which made him realise that he should own up to what he'd done. He admitted everything to Rita and although she told him he wouldn't have to resign, he said he would anyway. After his final shift he went to the NA meeting and Charlie was also there, presumably by his request. He apologised to Charlie and left the meeting.

Towards the end of the month, Charlie visited the ED prior to his official start date. Despite knowing Elle was responsible for his suspension, he told her that she did the right thing. During the day, Charlie was also reunited with Duffy once again, who was working in the UK once again in the obs and gynae department of the hospital. She revealed to him that New Zealand was still her home, and that she was just over in the UK for a couple of weeks doing some agency work.

Personal life
Charlie has one child with Barbara "Baz"  Wilder, Louis, born in 1992. The couple married in 1998 but divorced in 2001. After Baz died in 2004, Charlie was left as the sole carer for Louis.

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.
 * Charlie suffered a heart attack in 2015 after jumping into a freezing lake to save Zoe's life.

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.

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.

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 and Category:Charlie centric.

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". He is also the character with the most centric episodes to date, with over 270. Over a quarter of all episodes are Charlie centric, around 1 in 4 across the whole series although he was often credited at the top for almost every episode in the earlier series.