TWO Casualty legends will be heading back to the programme to aid in the exit storyline of Charlie Fairhead.

Derek Thompson appeared as Charlie on the BBC medical drama for a whopping 37 years but quit the role in a surprising move.

The actor chose to leave his role amid a string of budget cuts at the programme which saw the episode count slashed to save money.

Now it has been revealed that Charlie will meet a grisly end with his character set to be killed off.

Two of his former co-stars will make a surprising return for his final episodes which will be broadcast as part of an epic two-parter.

Sunetra Sarker will find herself back at Holby once again as Zoe Hanna, one of Charlie’s dearest friends.

She first appeared in the programme between 2007 and 2016 before enjoying another guest stint in 2018.

Sunetra is not the only former star heading back for the special double episodes.

Ian Bleasdale will also be back as the fan-favourite paramedic Josh Griffiths.

The characters will wish they are back under better circumstances after it was revealed that Charlie would be brutally stabbed before being left to fight for his life.

The first of the two episodes will kick off that Saturday before continuing the following week.

Heartbreaking scenes will see Charlie set out to prove that not everyone is bad in the world but it will ultimately backfire.

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Disaster will strike as nurse Charlie gets on the wrong side of troubled patient Kyle which will see him plunge the knife into Charlie after a dispute in the pharmacy.

Holby will be rocked as the doctors do their best to fight to save Charlie’s life.

Confirming last year that he had decided to leave the role for good, Derek said: “The time has come for me to hang up Charlie’s scrubs after the most wonderful 37 years.

“Charlie Fairhead was inspired by a real nurse — Pete Salt. Together with the writers and producers, I have tried to bring to Charlie the compassion, kindness, heroism and sound judgement that we all see and love in Pete, and I want to say thanks to Pete and everyone else over that time who has inspired me in bringing this character to life.”

Once the highest paid actor at the BBC, Derek was receiving between £350,000 and £400,000 for his role in 2017.

Last year, fans of the show were left gutted when it was revealed that the BBC would be temporarily taking the show off air after cutting the number of episodes produced per year.

A source told The Sun at the time: “Casualty peaked in the Noughties when it was on our screens on a Saturday night almost all year round, and that’s what many people have come to expect.

“The only year that saw a shorter series was in 2021 because of the pandemic, when all TV productions were severely affected.

“Now it seems the cost of living crisis could prove just as devastating.”