EAST END LEGEND Carrying guns for the Krays to work as a stuntman… how Derek Martin’s real-life was more remarkable than roles he played
Martin died on Saturday at the age of 92
DEREK MARTIN’S real-life exploits were even more extraordinary than the roles he played in a 50-year career on our TV screens.
The actor, best known as cabbie Charlie Slater in EastEnders, who died on Saturday at the age of 92, once carried guns for the Kray twins, stood trial at the Old Bailey on a theft charge and worked as a driver for a mate who was later murdered.
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A statement from his family read: “Derek wasn’t just a dad to us he was a friend and supported us through our highs and lows.
“He never stopped learning, he loved meeting people and was always generous with his time. We miss him terribly.”
His agent Sharon Henry said: “For over 50 years, Derek was a truly authentic working-class voice in British television and film.”
An EastEnders spokesman added: “We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Derek.
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“His portrayal of Charlie Slater cemented him in the hearts of the audience, as the head of one of EastEnders’ most iconic families.”
Born Derek William Rapp in Bow, east London on April 11, 1933, to Bill, a docker, and Christina, who worked in a laundry, Derek was a proper East Ender.
Home was a typical working class two-up, two-down with an outside loo and a tin bath, but he was proud of his roots.
“Growing up in the East End you have to be tough, but the people are the best,” he said.
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Derek was six when World War Two broke out and during the Blitz his Dad worked as a fireman.
At bedtime, he’d tell Derek about his exploits that day. “It was the nearest thing to a bedtime story,” he added.
“In my eyes, my Dad was the bravest fireman alive.”
His father later received the British Empire Medal for his outstanding bravery in the Fire Service.
Derek, who spent most of the war in London, said: “Bomb sites formed terrific playgrounds for young boys.
“We’d re-enact dogfights and collect discarded bullets, shells, misshapen helmets, tin mugs and shrapnel.”
Derek did National Service in the RAF.
During guard duty he’d sometimes “borrow” vehicles from the transport compound and take them for a spin around the camp.
These included buses, cranes, lorries, fire engines and even the commanding officer’s car.
‘I DIDN’T ASK QUESTIONS’
“I escaped detection or I’d have been court martialled,” he said.
His driving skills helped later when he became a stunt driver.
“If I could handle a tank, I could handle anything,” he joked.
After National Service he drifted between odd jobs including club bouncer and scrap metal dealer. He wanted to avoid falling into crime.
But it was hard.
As a young man he’d been an amateur boxer and used to drink in the Blind Beggar pub in Mile End Road, haunt of the Krays.
There he was befriended by their elder brother Charlie.
One evening he got a call from Charlie Kray telling him to meet him in the gents’ toilets at a casino.
“I didn’t ask questions — well, you just didn’t,” he recalled.
“So I did as I was told and sure enough Charlie was waiting for me.
“No-one argued with a Kray.
“He handed me two guns and said, ‘Stick these in your pocket, wait 15 minutes and then go straight home’.
“Checking to see there was no-one around, he whispered in my ear, ‘I’ll come and collect them tomorrow’.
“I tucked each gun into my trousers, so they were hidden, and carried out his instructions.”
The following day Charlie collected the weapons. “Apparently, I’d done Charlie such a big favour that he told me, ‘Any time you need me, I’ll do the same for you’.
“I did my fair share of petty wheeling and dealing, but nothing too awful or violent.
“It consisted of buying stuff that had fallen off the back of a lorry.”
But in 1961, while working as a porter at Smithfield meat market, Derek was arrested for theft.
He and three mates planned to steal a lorry load of beef worth £2,000 — around £57,000 today.
But as they were loading the meat into a van, Derek realised they were being watched and told his mates to scarper. Derek was arrested.
He was charged with larceny and receiving stolen goods and chose to stand trial at the Old Bailey hoping he could persuade the jury and dodge a two-year sentence.
He went to court in his smartest jacket and flirted with a red-headed juror.
After three days, the jury found him not guilty. Derek recalled: “Outside the Old Bailey, I bumped into the red-headed juror.
‘AUTHENTIC’
“She said, ‘I gave you the benefit of the doubt. You’re a born actor!’”
He took the comment to heart and decided to become an actor. “I wanted to turn my life around,” he said.
An agent took a shine to him but recommended he change his name, so Derek picked Martin.
“Not very original but it worked for Dean Martin,” he said.
Within a week, he got a job as an extra on police series Z Cars and soon became a regular walk-on in shows including The Morecambe And Wise Show.
On the set of Softly, Softly he met a stunt arranger called Derek Ware, who signed him up as a stuntman — and he worked in shows including Doctor Who with Jon Pertwee.
He still yearned to be a proper actor.
He’d always cringed at how posh actors delivered cockney roles — the voices, the posture, even the way they held a cigarette was wrong.
He knew he could be authentic.
A new agent gained him work in all the big shows over the next three decades including Angels, The Sweeney, Minder, Dempsey And Makepeace, The Saint, Taggart and King And Castle.
He worked with Glenda Jackson in the BBC’s Elizabeth R, starred in the acclaimed 1978 drama Law And Order, played a crime boss in the BBC’s shortlived soap, Eldorado and appeared in Little Britain.
You’ve got to have humour because there’s always something to laugh about in life
Derek Martin
Derek married twice, first to Gloria in 1960. That marriage broke down within months when he found out she’d been cheating.
In 1970, he fell in love with actress and beauty queen Christine Rigg, 17 years his junior.
They married the following year, but struggled to have children.
After nine years of tests and operations, they adopted twins, David and Jonathan.
But Derek’s world collapsed when he found Christine kissing another man in a car.
They divorced and had joint custody of the boys.
In 2000 it was third time lucky for Derek as he joined the cast of EastEnders as cabbie Charlie Slater.
He had previously auditioned for the roles of Dirty Den and Frank Butcher, but lost out to Leslie Grantham and his friend Mike Reid.
His on-screen family, including Jessie Wallace and Michelle Ryan, became integral to the soap and he was “gutted” to be axed from the show in 2011.
In 2022, Derek begged EastEnders to inject comedy back into the show, saying it had become “miserable”.
He said: “You’ve got to have humour because there’s always something to laugh about in life.”
In the 1990s a tax bill left Derek very short of money, and his old friend John Harvey, who he said “wasn’t a hard-nosed villain, but did a bit of wheeling and dealing” came to the rescue with some work as a driver.
Derek didn’t ask questions when John asked him to courier large packages of cash to locations across Britain.
It was just as well Derek didn’t know too much, because in 2003 John was shot and killed.
A man John owed money to was jailed for life for his murder.
On screen or off, in film and TV, what you saw was what you got with Derek Martin.
He was an authentic working class East Ender, who really did live an East End life.