Good natured cabby Charlie has spent most of his life sorting out the complicated lives of his five girls, as well as putting up with his mother-in-law Mo. Charlie puts his family first and once his girls left he looked after his troubled neice, Stacey.
We can fix it if we just all stick together…
2000 Arrives in Walford with his four of his girls Maureen, Lynne, Kat and Zoe, and mother-in-law Mo after the death of his wife, Viv, from a stroke.
2001 Gets a visit from his brother, Harry ,and is horrified when it comes out that Harry had raped daughter Kat when she was a teen. Charlie had brought up Kat’s daughter Zoe as his own, but didn’t know the identity of the father.
2002 Learns Harry has died, but Charlie later has a heart attack and is rushed to hospital.
2004 Is arrested for attacking Graham, his daughter Little Mo’s rapist, and is sent down for three months. Daughter Lynne leaves the Square. Takes in niece Stacey Slater when she has trouble at home.
2005 Loses two more daughters when both Zoe and Kat leave the Square.
Derek was born on 11 April 1933 and brought up in Bow in the East End of London. After he left school at 15 he worked as an apprentice to an Estate Agents and Surveyors and then later as a builder, before joining the RAF at 18.
Derek quit after reaching the rank of corporal and became a meat porter at London’s Smithfield’s meat market. After seven years at the market he tried his hand at motor racing, but went through a messy divorce with his first wife that put a halt to his aspirations. He finally settled on becoming an actor and spent the early part of his career as a stuntman in numerous films and TV shows.
Derek married model Christine Turner in the mid-Seventies and had his first big acting break in 1978 in the drama series Law and Order. He also appeared in many other drama series, including The Gentle Touch, The Professionals, and doomed BBC soap Eldorado.
Derek, who split from Christine in 1982, has two adopted sons from his second marriage, David and Jonathan.
