Charles "Charlie" Slater is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Derek Martin, making his first appearance on 4 September 2000. He is played by Jason McGregor in flashbacks broadcast in 2001. He also makes a cameo appearance in the second series of the spin-off EastEnders: E20. In April 2010, the character was axed among five others by new executive producer Bryan Kirkwood as part of a plan to "breathe new life into the show". The reaction to Charlie's axing was negative with Stuart Heritage from The Guardian saying that it "should be a national day of mourning" and Phil Daniels, who had previously played Kevin Wicks, also criticised the axings, stating that Charlie was a "good character". He departed from EastEnders on 13 January 2011. Martin retur