(Robert Daws)
Simon Eastman first reared his ugly head in the department early on in series 7. After sacking his line manager Kate Miller, Eastman took charge of the department himself. Whereas Kate had been sympathetic to the needs of the department Simon was more interested in keeping costs down to a bare minimum. His smarmy, false manner got on the nerves of most of the staff, particularly Julian and Charlie. After driving Julian out he overloaded Charlie with too much work and pushed him to the point of a nervous breakdown. When the department was set alight by a gang of youths Eastman escaped unharmed. But he was sacked before the beginning of the next series as Mark Calder took over his job.
Written by Christopher Watson