A staple of BBC television ever since it started airing in 1986, Casualty has become the longest-running emergency medical drama in the world.
The much-loved programme has won four BAFTAs, five Royal Television Society Awards (including one this past week) and a National Television Award for its catalogue of emergencies, romances and tragedies in the fictional Holby City Hospital.
It is currently filmed in Cardiff, although for many seasons the world outside the ED – the imaginary county of Wyvern – was represented by Bristol.
Over the years it has amassed 35 series, 1,193 episodes and far too many cast members to mention in just one article.
But there was only one original cast, memorably including Derek Thompson, Cathy Shipton, Bernard Gallagher, Brenda Fricker, Robert Pugh and George Harris.
So, where are they now?
Derek Thompson – Charlie Fairhead
Casualty would now be difficult to imagine without Derek Thompson’s kind-hearted nurse, Charlie Fairhead.
As the only remaining member of the original cast still on the show, the character has seen his fair share of drama – including being shot, held hostage and having several heart attacks.
Outside of Casualty, Thompson has appeared on Children in Need, Through the Keyhole and in the film Resurrection Man.
But it is his portrayal of Charlie that has kept him busy in recent years, with the character recently struggling to come to terms with the death of his on-screen wife, Duffy.
Talking of whom…
Cathy Shipton – Duffy
Another actor who quickly became a familiar face on Casualty, Cathy Shipton has had several stints on the show as Lisa “Duffy” Duffin.
Featuring regularly from 1986 to 1993, and then again from 1998 to 2003, she made a full return to Holby A&E in 2016.
Sharing a “will they? won’t they?” relationship with Thompson’s Charlie Fairhead over the decades, Duffy finally married him in 2017.
Shipton’s most recent appearance on television was in Duffy’s final episode in February 2020, when she died from hypothermia in the snow.
Beyond Casualty, she has also appeared on The Bill, Doctors and Taggart.
Bernard Gallagher – Ewart Plimmer
An established theatre actor before arriving in Casualty, Bernard Gallagher played the role of consultant Ewart Plimmer for the first three series of the medical drama.
At this time, he had already trodden the boards for the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and in the West End, including in Willy Russell’s Breezeblock Park.
Gallagher continued to appear on the small screen after leaving Casualty, with roles in Midsomer Murders, The Thin Blue Line and Downton Abbey, in which he played gardener Bill Molesely.
He passed away in 2016 at the age of 87.
Brenda Fricker – Megan Roach
Before Brenda Fricker appeared in Casualty she had already had experience as an on-screen nurse, having attended on the birth of Tracy Barlow in Coronation Street in 1977.
But it was her role as nurse Megan Roach in Holby City Hospital that helped establish her on British television.
After featuring in the show from 1986 to 1990, and then again for a couple of cameos in 1998 and 2007, Roach was killed off in 2010 as part of a widely-acclaimed plot about euthanasia.
Beyond Casualty, Fricker appeared in films including Home Alone 2, Veronica Guerin, Inside I’m Dancing and Albert Nobbs.
Most notably, in 1990 she became the first Irish actress to win an Oscar, earning the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in My Left Foot.
Fricker has now retired, but remains one of Ireland’s most famous film actors – and one of Casualty’s most successful alumni.
Robert Pugh – Andy Ponting
Robert Pugh is another actor who left Casualty in its infancy, yet has gone on to have an impressive career.
Now a familiar face on British television, he has featured in shows including Doctor Who, Death in Paradise, The White Queen, Doctor Foster and Mr Selfridge.
On a more international stage, he has recently played wildling Craster in HBO’s Game of Thrones.
A prolific actor, in 2020 alone he appeared in Silent Witness, The Tuckers and the BBC J.K. Rowling adaptation, Strike.
George Harris – Clive King
The first of the original cast to leave the show, George Harris departed the hospital after one series.
Since then he has appeared in The Bill, 55 Degrees North and… Casualty.
Yes, that’s right, Harris returned to the show in 2004 for a one-episode cameo as a completely different character, Neville Newton.
On the big screen, you might recognise him as Captain Katanga in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Osman Atto in Black Hawk Down and Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Harry Potter franchise.
