Former Casualty star Sunetra Sarker has opened up about her co-star Derek Thompson’s departure from the show, saying he “deserved a lot more” after his three-decade tenure.

Sunetra, 51, famed for her portrayal of Dr Zoe Hanna on the BBC medical drama, first graced our screens in 2007 and was a fixture at Holby City Hospital until 2016, with a fleeting return in 2018.

Recently, Sunetra appeared in two episodes aired in March this year to commemorate the exit of her colleague Derek, 76, who had been playing senior nurse Charlie Fairhead since 1986, making him the longest-standing character.

In a candid chat with the Mirror, Sunetra revealed that she had “always promised” Derek she would return if he ever left Casualty. Promoting her role as a judge at the JustGiving Awards, when asked about her comeback for Derek’s farewell, she shared: “Well, I always promised Derek if he ever left, I’d come … I’d be there in a heartbeat.”

Sunetra thought Derek ‘deserved more’ (Image: BBC/Alistair Heap)

She admitted she initially thought her appearance would be limited to “as part of a group of people clapping at the end of the episode or like a little memory lane montage”, expressing surprise at her character’s significant involvement in his send-off: “I didn’t think it would be [Zoe] coming back to be part of seeing him out.”

Sunetra, who had previously worked with the celebrated figure, believes he didn’t get the widespread recognition he needed when he quit the show five months prior. She confided: “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,” reports the Mirror.

She also voiced her desire that the show’s admirers could have lauded his contributions more extensively. While she values the chance to participate, she remarked: “It was an honour to go back. 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.”

In her homage to Derek, Sunetra further shared: “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.”

Charlie exited the programme after over three decades (Image: Casualty )

The return to the show was marked by deep emotion for her, as she recounted: “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.”

Reflecting on her character, Sunetra shared how “lucky” she felt to be able to play such a “mad, sassy, crazy b****” and that she found it refreshing to play a doctor who was’t “holier-than-thou doctors who are like saints”.