Derek Thompson (actor)

Derek Thompson (born 4 April 1948) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is known for playing Charlie Fairhead in the long-running BBC television medical drama series Casualty, playing the role since the series' inception in 1986, until his departure 38 years later in 2024, and his performance as Jeff in the gangster film The Long Good Friday.

Derek Thompson
Born	(1948-04-04) 4 April 1948 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1961–present
Spouse(s)	Christine (m. 1967; div. 1978) Dee Sadler (m. 1989)
Children	2

Early life

Thompson was born in and is from Belfast, Northern Ireland and has a twin sister, Elaine Johns (née Thompson). During their teenage years, they combined to form the singing duo Elaine and Derek. They recorded four albums and 15 EPs together, singing in harmonies, and released one eponymously titled album on the Parlophone label in 1961. They then formed the folk trio Odin's People with Larry Johns, and recorded two singles in 1967. Derek appeared in the feature film Gonks Go Beat (1965).

Career

In the mid-1960s, Thompson worked as Stage Manager in the Nonentities Theatre in Kidderminster.

From 1976 he appeared in many early productions at the National Theatre, London's new South Bank home.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Thompson became a regular face in BBC and ITV dramas. Appearances included Softly Softly, Play for Today, and Rock Follies of 77. He got a big break in Harry's Game, where he played the lead IRA gunman on the run following the assassination of a government minister. Later he played another IRA hitman in the TV series The Price and for a British mercenary gang in the Wild Geese II, both filmed in 1985.

During the same period, Thompson had minor film roles in Yanks (1979) and Breaking Glass (1980), and also played Jeff, Harold Shand's lieutenant, in the box office hit movie The Long Good Friday. Before he appeared in Casualty, he had a recurring role, as DS Jimmy Fenton, in the ITV police drama The Gentle Touch and a minor role as William Thurley in Channel 4's Brookside in 1983.

Casualty

Thompson began portraying Charlie Fairhead in Casualty in 1986. The following year he met his future wife, Dee Sadler, an actress playing the role of Maggie in an episode of the show's second series, a potholer who had to be rescued from a cave before hospitalisation. Thompson played the role of Charlie for over 30 years, and was the last remaining character from the original cast until his departure on 16 March 2024. In 2004 his character went on a six-month sabbatical, which remains his most notable absence from the show. In his latter years with the programme, he was allowed a few months off from filming per year. Apart from Casualty, he has also played Charlie in the spin-off shows Holby City and HolbyBlue. It was revealed in July 2017, that Thompson was the BBC's highest-paid actor, earning between £350,000 and £400,000 over the last financial year. In 2023, it was announced that after 38 years, Thompson would be leaving Casualty; his exit aired in March 2024, at the conclusion of a special two-part episode.

Family

As of 2010, Thompson and his wife, Dee, lived in a rented flat in Bristol and also own a house in Brixton. The couple have a son, who appeared as a baby in one 1990 episode of Casualty as the son of regular character Duffy, and he also has an older son by a previous marriage to Christine, a theatre director.

A sufferer of dystonia, Thompson became patron of the Dystonia Society in 2006.

Theatre

In London between 1975 and 1985, mainly for the National Theatre, but also at the Garrick, Half Moon and Old Vic theatres.

• Strawberry Fields
• WC/PC
• The Bells of Hell
• The Garden of England
• Serjeant Musgrave's Dance
• The Cherry Orchard
• The Passion
• Dispatches
• The Mysteries
• Weapons of Happiness
• Lavender Blue
• Has Washington Legs
• School for Scandal

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1964	Gonks Go Beat	Ballad Isle Singer	Robert Hartford-Davis
1979	Yanks	Ken	John Schlesinger
1980	Breaking Glass	Andy	Brian Gibson
	The Long Good Friday	Jeff	John Mackenzie
1985	Wild Geese II	Hourigan	Peter R. Hunt
1998	Resurrection Man	Herbie Ferguson	Marc Evans
2016	Penny from Heaven	Homeless Man	Marlek Al-Habib	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Softly, Softly: Task Force	Dave Marshall	Episode: "At Risk" (8.10)
1977	Play for Today	Chet	Episode: "A Photograph" (7.13)
	Rock Follies of '77	Harry Moon	6 episodes
1978	Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf	Skinner	Television play
1979	The Danedyke Mystery	Tom Richards	6 episodes
1980	Flamingo Road	Un­known	Episode: "Pilot" (1.0)
	Minder	Harry	Episode: "The Old School Tie" (2.10)
1980–1982	The Gentle Touch	Det. Sgt. Jimmy Fenton	25 episodes
1982	Code Red	Workman #2	Episode: "Trapped by Time" (1.14)
	Harry's Game	Billy Downes	3 episodes
1983	Bergerac	Wyatt	Episode: "A Miracle Every Week" (2.7)
	Women	Jonathan	Episode: "Hard to Get" (1.3)
1983–1984	Brookside	Will Thurley	6 episodes
1984	Paper Dolls	Male Paramedic	Episode #1.8
1985	The Price	Frank Crossan	6 episodes
1986	Fighting Back	Bruce Curran	3 episodes
1986–2024	Casualty	Charlie Fairhead	Main role, 901 episodes
1992, 1994	Children in Need	Himself	Television specials
1999–2012	Holby City	Charlie Fairhead	4 episodes
2001	Through the Keyhole	Himself	Participant
2007	Gina's Laughing Gear		Episode: "Dollby City" (1.8)
	HolbyBlue	Charlie Fairhead	Episode #1.1
2014	You Saw Them Here First	Himself	Television special
2024	Blue Lights	Robin Graham	Series 2: 5 episodes

External links

• Derek Thompson at IMDb
• "Holby – Derek Thompson". Retrieved 12 May 2017.