Derek Thompson

Derek Thompson

Born: April 4, 1948
in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Derek Thompson (born 4 April 1948) is a Northern Irish actor, most notable for playing Charlie Fairhead in the long-running BBC television medical drama series Casualty for 37 years, from its first episode in 1986 to his final episode in 2024. In 2017, it was revealed that this role has made Thompson the highest paid actor within the BBC with a salary of £350,000-£399,000 per annum. Following his exit from the show, Thompson joined the cast of hit Northern Irish police drama Blue Lights for its second season. Prior to the lead role in Casualty he starred in several films including The Long Good Friday, TV series such as Harry's Game and The Gentle Touch and several celebrated stints at The National Theatre. As a musician, he was also part of a folk duo with his twin sister Elaine in the 1960s. He married the actress Dee Sadler in 1989, having met her filming an episode of Casualty in 1987. Together they have one son, Charlie. He has another son from his previous marriage to his first wife Christine.

Movies for Derek Thompson...

Title: Blue Lights
Character: Robin Graham
Released: March 27, 2023
Type: TV
Follows rookie police officers working in Belfast, a city in which being a frontline response cop comes with unique pressures and dangers.
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Penny From Heaven
Title: Penny From Heaven
Character: Homeless Man
Released: January 1, 2017
Type: Movie
Penny is dead. She can't really remember how it happened. All she knows is she has to save the souls of 1000 people on the verge of suicide before she can get her wings and become a fully fledged angel.
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Title: Holby Blue
Character: Charlie Fairhead
Released: May 8, 2007
Type: TV
The police force at Holby South is tasked with the toughest job yet. Not only are they fighting the usual crime with drug offenders and gang members, but today they are faced with the threat of terrorism on their own soil. A Spin off from Holby City and Casualty.
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Title: Holby City
Character: Charlie Fairhead
Released: January 12, 1999
Type: TV
Drama series about life on the wards of Holby City Hospital, following the highs and lows of the staff and patients.
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Resurrection Man
Title: Resurrection Man
Character: Herbie Ferguson
Released: February 13, 1998
Type: Movie
Belfast, in 1970s. Victor Kelly is a young protestant man who hates the Catholics so much that one night he begins to brutally murder them. A reporter soon tries to uncover the murder and obtained prestige for himself, while Victor sinks deeper into madness.
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Title: Casualty
Character: Charlie Fairhead
Released: September 6, 1986
Type: TV
Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
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Fighting Back
Title: Fighting Back
Character: Bruce Curran
Released: August 4, 1986
Type: Movie
A single mother returns to her home town after fifteen years of unhappy marriage and fights to make a better life for herself and her children.
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Wild Geese II
Title: Wild Geese II
Character: Hourigan
Released: October 18, 1985
Type: Movie
A group of mercenaries is hired to spring Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison in Berlin.
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The Price
Title: The Price
Character: Frank Crossan
Released: January 10, 1985
Type: Movie
Geoffrey Carr is a wealthy, key player in Britain's emerging computer industry, and newly married to Frances , a much younger woman, with wilful daughter Clare from a previous marriage. He'll do anything to make them happy, including stretching his finances to buy a Georgian estate in County Wicklow, where Frances grew up. Frank Crossan is an Irish Republican hitman on the run from British authorities. Seeking refuge with old girlfriend Kate, he creates a plan to kidnap a wealthy Brit for a ransom to fund a major arms deal. Their two worlds collide when Frances and Clare are brutally snatched away to a bleak hideaway and taken hostage. Geoffrey initially wants to cave in to the kidnapper's demands “ but nothing is simple when a personal crisis plays out against the forces of political intrigue, high finance and with the eyes of the media on them.
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Title: Brookside
Released: November 2, 1982
Type: TV
The ground-breaking soap set in a housing estate on the outskirts of Liverpool.
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Title: Harry's Game
Character: Billy Downes
Released: October 25, 1982
Type: TV
A British Cabinet Minister is gunned down outside his home in London by a member of the Provisional IRA. Security protocols are activated, but the assassin evades them and successfully escapes to Belfast. In the aftermath of the incident, rash decisions are made by politicians seeking revenge, and the Ministry of Defence responds by sending Captain Harry Brown (Ray Lonnen) - a special forces soldier who has done deep cover work in hostile territory - into the Falls Road area of Belfast, notorious for civil unrest and Republican activity. Harry's mission is to infiltrate the local nationalist population, uncover the identity of the assassin, and kill him in his own neighborhood - proving to the IRA that they are not safe, even in their "own back yard".
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Title: Bergerac
Character: Wyatt
Released: October 18, 1981
Type: TV
Bergerac is a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it stars John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in Le Bureau des Étrangers, part of the States of Jersey Police.
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The Long Good Friday
Title: The Long Good Friday
Character: Jeff
Released: November 1, 1980
Type: Movie
In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.
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Breaking Glass
Title: Breaking Glass
Character: Andy
Released: October 1, 1980
Type: Movie
Breaking Glass is the story of punk singer Kate and her meteoric rise to stardom. Starting out in the rock pubs of London, Kate, assisted by her manager Danny, becomes a huge star overnight. Once at the top the pressure is immense as Kate's band are squeezed out and she is left to cope alone in the spotlight.
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Title: The Gentle Touch
Character: Detective Sergeant Jimmy Fenton
Released: April 11, 1980
Type: TV
The Gentle Touch is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which ran from 1980-1984. Commencing transmission on 11 April 1980, the series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police detective as its leading character, ahead of the similarly themed BBC series Juliet Bravo by four months.
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Title: Minder
Character: Harry
Released: October 29, 1979
Type: TV
This comedy drama series featured Terry McCann, a former boxer with a conviction for G.B.H., and Arthur Daley, a second-hand car dealer with an eye for a nice little earner. Alongside his many business ventures, Arthur would regularly hire Terry out as a minder or bodyguard, later replaced by nephew, Ray Daley.
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Yanks
Title: Yanks
Character: Ken
Released: September 1, 1979
Type: Movie
During WWII, the United States set up army bases in Great Britain as part of the war effort. Against their proper sensibilities, many of the Brits don't much like the brash Yanks, especially when it comes to the G.I.s making advances on the lonely British girls. One relationship that develops is between married John, an Army Captain, and the aristocratic Helen, whose naval husband is away at war. Helen loves her husband, but Helen and John are looking for some comfort during the difficult times.
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Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Title: Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Character: Skinner
Released: December 2, 1978
Type: Movie
A repressed night-school teacher, secretly homosexual, struggles to cope with his demanding, eccentric mother.
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A Photograph
Title: A Photograph
Character: Chet
Released: March 22, 1977
Type: Movie
A man's life is turned upside down when he receives a mysterious photograph in the post.
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Title: Rock Follies
Released: February 24, 1976
Type: TV
Rock Follies, and its sequel, Rock Follies of '77, was a musical drama shown on British television in the 1970s. The storyline, over 12 episodes and two series, followed the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the "Little Ladies" as they struggled for recognition and success. The series starred Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington as the Little Ladies, with support from Emlyn Price, Beth Porter, Sue Jones-Davies, Stephen Moore and Little Nell among others. The series was made with a very low budget for Thames Television, with a style inspired by fringe theatre. The series was a success, winning three BAFTA Awards and the soundtrack album reaching No.1 in the UK Charts.
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Gonks Go Beat
Title: Gonks Go Beat
Character: Singer (Derek and Elaine)
Released: May 24, 1965
Type: Movie
A swiftly assembled musical fantasy movie made to capitalise on the mid-Sixties, British craze for gonks (a sort of soft, furry toy). Today it is of more interest for featuring music by such artists as Lulu, The Nashville Teens, and The Graham Bond Organisation.