Casualty’s Sunetra Sarker says co-star Derek Thompson ‘deserved more’ from exit

Sunetra Sarker has starred as Dr Zoe Hannah on Casualty over the years since her introduction in 2007 and recently returned for the departure of co-star Derek Thompson

Former Casualty cast member Sunetra Sarker has said that her co-star Derek Thompson “deserved a lot more” when he left the show after three decades earlier this year.

Sunetra, 51, is known for her role as Dr Zoe Hanna on the long-running BBC medical drama. The character was first introduced in 2007 and remained at Holby City Hospital until her departure in 2016, before briefly returning in 2018.

More recently, Sunetra featured in two episodes, broadcast in March this year, that marked the departure of her co-star Derek, 76. He had played senior nurse Charlie Fairhead, the longest-serving character on the show, since 1986.

Sunetra shared with the Mirror this week that she had “always promised” Derek that she would come back should he decide to leave Casualty. She was speaking in promotion of her role as a judge at this year’s JustGiving Awards.

Asked about returning for her co-star’s departure, she told us: “Well, I always promised Derek if he ever left, I’d come … I’d be there in a heartbeat.” The actor said she thought it would just be “as part of a group of people clapping at the end of the episode or like a little memory lane montage”. She added about her recent return: “I didn’t think it would be [Zoe] coming back to be part of seeing him out.”

She went on to suggest that her former colleague didn’t receive the attention that he deserved when he left the show five months ago. She told us: “Y’know, I feel like he deserved a lot more, personally. I feel like I wish we could have had him on every channel talking about his departure.”

Sunetra expressed a wish that fans of the show could have had more opportunities to celebrate his involvement. She however shared that she appreciates her involvement, saying: “It was an honour to go back […] Y’know I would have loved for so many of us … I know so many of the cast would have loved to be a part of that. […] I was just thrilled to be a part of it.”

Paying tribute to Derek, she also told us: “I can’t explain who he is to everyone on that show because it’s more than a father figure. It’s more than a team leader. He’s just a very modest, talented man who knows how to make a show work [because] there would be no Casualty without Derek. I don’t think without his throughline so many of us could have had big parts to be in the show.”

Asked if it had been emotional to return, she shared: “Yeah, it was.” She added: “Kinda felt a bit surreal and he gave the most wonderful speech to the cast and crew which was so from the heart. It brings tears to my eyes just seeing him loving us all. And the reason that so many people in that whole show have got families and homes is because of him. Like he’s kept people in employment, some of them for 30 years. I do think the show’s gonna be very different without him.”

And discussing her character, Sunetra told us: “She’s got a real special place in my heart cause I just got so lucky being able to play such a mad, sassy, crazy b****. […] I just found it quite refreshing to see like not these holier-than-thou doctors who are always like the saints. And usually everybody’s got these redeeming features, but she was like quite self-destructive at times.” Sunetra said she stepped back into “Zoe mode” for her return and teased: “That’s my Casualty return for now, I don’t know if I’ll go back again.”

Sunetra spoke to us ahead of the JustGiving Awards next month. She was on the judging panel for the event, which celebrates the fundraising efforts of “unsung heroes,” beside the likes of Amy Dowden and Ellie Simmonds.

She said: “In our world now, we do have so many unsung heroes. […] I think we all do look for the happy news and often it’s only small things, but these people, who have literally spent years, hours, all the energy that they’ve put into trying to do something really good, very selflessly – I think what they’re doing now is they’re trying to commend that achievement in these awards.”

The actor – who is herself an ambassador for the charities Sightsavers and Savera UK – added: “It’s the hardest thing ever cause it’s like trying to pick the best out of a bunch of good.” She said that “everybody’s stories got examined” but acknowledged that each category has a winner.

Sunetra said that losing her close friends Louise Bracken-Smith and Louise Clark, both following cancer diagnoses, last year influenced how she approached the role. She said: “I think what we were doing really was voting for what our heart responded to the most out of so many things.

“So, yeah, it became … I think it’s a really nice way of doing it because we all have our own causes. I’ve lost a couple of very dear friends to me recently and that was forefront in my mind, so maybe I responded better to certain y’know fundraisers that really went down that road. Everyone’s going through different things.”

Sunetra Sarker has starred as Dr Zoe Hannah on Casualty over the years since her introduction in 2007 and recently returned for the departure of co-star Derek Thompson Former Casualty cast member Sunetra Sarker has said that her co-star Derek Thompson “deserved a lot more” when he left the show after three decades earlier this year. Sunetra, 51, is known for…