A newsagent's son is terrorised by thugs on his paper round and is saved by a passer-by who takes him to Casualty. When examined, he refuses to say how he got the knife wound to his neck and it's comes to light, he's been seen before and Dr Lucy Parry thinks he's being bullied. When his father arrives she tries to convince him to report the incident but he refuses. When Charlie takes over, the father tells him about previous attacks and how the police have failed to protect him and his family, so now they just try to get on with their lives. He takes his son home before returning to his shop and finds his assistant has been harassed and she tells him she can't work for him any longer but agrees to stay on until he can get a replacement. Shortly afterwards, the thugs return and when he tries to stand up to them, he's beaten senseless and is rushed to Casualty. As his family wait for news, the staff battle to save him and he survives, although he's in a serious condition.
Casualty is the world's longest running and most successful medical drama series on television. It depicts the private and working lives of the patients, doctors, nurses and all others attending a small but frantically busy accident and emergency department of the large Holby General hospital. By mixing episodic plots with longer, character-based stories it ensures that we get to know the characters as people with lives, not just doctors or nurses. With consistently superb storylines and great acting, Casualty is compulsive viewing. The show began in 1986 and since then only one character remains; the one and only Charlie Fairhead played by Derek Thompson.