After 38 years walking the wards of Holby nurse Charlie Fairhead actor Derek Thompson has hung up his scrubs and left the show.

Casualty fans were bereft tonight (March 16) as they said goodbye to the show’s longest-serving character Charlie Fairhead. After 38 years in the role actor Derek Thompson has hung up his scrubs and left the programme.

It was touch and go as to whether he would walk out of the ED under his own steam or leave in a coffin following last week’s dramatic episode which saw him stabbed by a patient. As he hovered between life and death the nurse had flashbacks to a pivotal day in his early career.

His long-standing friend Josh Griffiths (Ian Bleasdale) kept vigil as his life hung in the balance while Charlie remembered a particularly difficult shift. He was played by Jack Franklin in the scenes which took viewers back to the 80s and saw him dealing with the aftermath of a nail bomb explosion. Hungover and cocky, it was a wake-up call for the young nurse, and his shift from hell culminated in the death of his beloved Charge Nurse, Shirley (Annette Badland).

Although it was touch and go for a while, Charlie made it through but the experience changed him. As Dr Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless) chatted to him after the surgery, he told her he was retiring.

Obviously, the ED couldn’t let him go without a send-off and as a surprise, they had purchased him a yellow Volkswagon Beetle identical to the one he arrived at the ED in. In poignant scenes, he left the show exactly as he entered it driving off in the iconic car.

Charlie Fairhead bowed out of Casualty exactly as he came in, driving a yellow Volkswagon Beetle (Image: BBC)

Fans were thrilled that he survived his stabbing ordeal but devastated to see him go and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts. @cedgson91 lamented: “Stevie “I’m not ready for you to retire” OK I’m crying now #Casualty @elinor_lawless.

@AndyGibsonTV agreed gushing: “CHARLIE FAIRHEAD: “I’m going to retire” STEVIE NASH: “I don’t think I’m ready for you to retire” Stevie Nash just spoke the words of the entire nation. #Casualty #CharlieFairhead #GoodbyeCharie #FarewellFairhead.”

@mylifeinwordsuk said: “Thank you Derek Thompson for 38 amazing years! #Casualty – you will be missed.” @MatthewRimmer admitted he couldn’t miss the TV event writing: “Haven’t been a regular #Casualty viewer for decades – only caught the odd one or two since my family decided to stop watching – but I’m here to see Charlie off.”

Charlie Fairhead was based on real life nurse Pete Salt, pictured here with Derek Thompson (Image: BBC)

@ShakyWoon lamented: “#Casualty is going to be very strange without the legend that is Charlie Fairhead from next week forward.” @MissMusical101 cried: “#Casualty That has been the most worrying 2 partner ever! Don’t ever do that to us again!!!”

Touchingly the real-life nurse who inspired Charlie, Pete Salt, featured in his final scenes.

The pair were photographed together on set as the actor filmed his final scenes on the show.

Alongside his nursing career, which he left in 2002, Pete has been a consultant on Casualty since it began.