The usually calm and collected Charlie Fairhead finds himself losing his cool by punching a patient during the Christmas episode, leaving his boss Harry Harper with no alternative but to ask for his resignation.
‘Charlie has been under a great deal of pressure recently, because he and Tess have been forced to vie with eachother for voluntary redundancy,’ explains stalwart Derek Thompson, who has been on the show since it began in 1986. ‘He’s also struggling to raise his tearaway son Louis.’
While Tess recently decided to take the redundancy, allowing Charlie to stay on a Holby, he finds himself in a situation which pushes him to breaking point.
‘First, Charlie and Tess are on their way to work when they witness a hit-and-run accident and have to tend to the victim,’ continues Derek. ‘When Charlie then arrives at the hospital, he discovers Louis is part of a gang who’ve beaten up Santa!’
However before he has a chance to reprimand his son, Charlie becomes sidetracked by a tip-off about an abandoned baby. ‘It turns out that Sara, the mother of the child, is also the parent of Jason, the boy who caused the accident at the start of the day.’
‘Charlie alerts the police and when Jason tries to escape over a garden wall, he imapales himself on a bamboo stick. He’s admitted to hospital, but shows no remorse when he’s confronted about the hit-and-run. Charlie can’t handle that and planks him! He gets punched right back though.’
Aware that his actions are irresponsible, Charlie agrees to Harry’s request that he can resign, meaning Tess can keep her post. But is he really going for good?
‘It’s a warm ending despite everything with Charlie and Louis walking in the snow, both sporting black eyes,’ Derek concludes. ‘Who knows what the future holds for Charlie now? But hopefully this will give him the time and the opportunity to build some bridges with his son.’
