Pauline Quirke
Pauline Quirke | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pauline Perpetua Quirke[1] |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Spouse | Steve Sheen (?–present) |
Pauline Perpetua Quirke (born 18 July 1959[1]) is an English actress, well known for her role as Sharon in the series Birds of a Feather, alongside her lifelong friend and frequent acting partner Linda Robson.
Career
Pauline began her career as a child actress at age eight with an appearance in Dixon of Dock Green. She has appeared in many movies and TV shows since that time.
As a teenager in the 1970s, she hosted three children's TV series, You Must Be Joking (1975), Pauline's Quirkes (1976) and Pauline's People (1978-79) (which also featured Linda Robson). She had a small role in the movie The Elephant Man in 1980.
Her career changed in 1989, when she began playing the part of Sharon Theodopolopodus in the BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather opposite Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph. She became a household name and remained with the series until it ended in 1998 after 9 series and over 100 episodes.
In 1996, she starred in the BBC television adaptation of The Sculptress by Minette Walters receiving much critical acclaim for her performance. From 2000 to 2003, she starred alongside Warren Clarke in the BBC series Down To Earth.
As Birds of a Feather was ending she began playing DI Maisie Raine in Maisie Raine a drama series on BBC1. It ran for 2 series from 1998 - 1999.
She made a return to sitcom in 2001 when she starred alongside Neil Stuke, Robert Daws and Pippa Haywood in BBC sitcom Office Gossip. After a promising start with over 6 million viewers the ratings dropped and it was cancelled after one series. Quirke however, did win an award for Most Popular Comedy Performer at The National Television Awards.
In 2002, she starred alongside Nitin Ganatra in 6 episodes of Being April, a comedy drama for BBC One. She appeared in Carrie's War in 2004 and in 2005, played a major role in The Bill as Cath Wilson, wrongly convicted of murdering a child.
In 2006, Quirke played Colleen McCabe in The Thieving Headmistress and in 2008 made a one off appearance in an episode of My Family as Joan the Bank Robber.
From 2009 she has played the lead role in BBC daytime drama series Missing as DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft, head of a Missing Persons Unit in Dover.
In March 2009 it was reported by The Mirror that all three original cast members of Birds of a Feather have been in talks about a possible return to the small screen.
Quirke has frequently been seen in the audience of hit show Strictly Come Dancing and has appeared on its companion show It Takes Two more than once to talk about how much she enjoys it. She was a contestant on BBC's Celebrity MasterChef in June 2007.[3]
In May 2010, it was announced that Quirke would be joining soap opera Emmerdale.[4] Quirke said of joining the soap "I've never done anything like this before so it's something different for me and I'm very happy to be a part of it".[4]
Personal life
She has two children and is married to producer Steve Sheen. On the Paul O'Grady talk show in 2007 she told of how she suffers from severe stage fright and nerves and she usually refuses to appear on live TV shows.
References
- ^ a b http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=7755369&c=uk
- ^ http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=7755369&c=uk
- ^ BBC Celebrity MasterChef biography
- ^ a b Green, Kris (28 May 2010). "Pauline Quirke joins 'Emmerdale'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
External links
- Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
- Pauline Quirke at BBC Comedy Guide
- Pauline Quirke at BBC Drama Faces