Pauline Quirke
Encyclopedia
Pauline Perpetua Quirke (born 18 July 1959) is a British
actress. She is best known for her role as Sharon in the comedy series Birds of a Feather
, alongside her lifelong friend and frequent acting partner Linda Robson
. Currently, she appears as the character Hazel Rhodes in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale
.
. She has appeared in many movies
and TV show
s 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 also had a small role in the movie The Elephant Man
in 1980, along with future Emmerdale colleague Lesley Dunlop
.
Pauline Quirke played Veronica in Shine on Harvey Moon, a British television series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian.
Her career really began to take off 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. 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. From 2000 to 2003, she starred alongside Warren Clarke
in the BBC series Down to Earth
.
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 just 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, she made a one off appearance in an episode of My Family as Joan the Bank Robber.
Quirke has frequently been seen in the audience of the 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.
In 2009 and 2010, she played the lead role in BBC daytime drama series Missing
as DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft, head of a Missing Persons Unit in Dover, Kent.
In May 2010, it was announced that Quirke would be joining the rural soap opera Emmerdale
. 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".
In October 2011 she opened the Coventry-based acting academy for young children. See www.pqacademy.com for details.
. On The Paul O'Grady 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. In 2009 she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis
and underwent a hip replacement
operation.In 2011 she went on an extreme low calorie diet and slimmed down from 19st 6lb at Christmas 2010 to 13 stone as of July 2011 and aims to get her weight down to 11 stone after being told she was "severely obese" and her health was at risk.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actress. She is best known for her role as Sharon in the comedy series Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather was a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1989 until 1998. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers.The first episode sees sisters...
, alongside her lifelong friend and frequent acting partner Linda Robson
Linda Robson
Linda Patricia Mary Robson is an English actress. She played Tracey in the BBC comedy, Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998.-Personal life and education:...
. Currently, she appears as the character Hazel Rhodes in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
.
Career
Pauline began her career as a child actress aged eight with an appearance in Dixon of Dock GreenDixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
. She has appeared in many movies
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and TV show
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
s 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 also had a small role in the movie The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (film)
The Elephant Man is a 1980 American drama film based on the true story of Joseph Merrick , a severely deformed man in 19th century London...
in 1980, along with future Emmerdale colleague Lesley Dunlop
Lesley Dunlop
Lesley Dunlop is a British actress.Daughter of the television writer Pat Dunlop, she began as a child actress in the seventies featuring in a BBC version of the classic A Little Princess and as Lydia Holly in the ITV adaptation of South Riding.Her transition to adult roles began by playing Lizzie...
.
Pauline Quirke played Veronica in Shine on Harvey Moon, a British television series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian.
Her career really began to take off in 1989, when she began playing the part of Sharon Theodopolopodus in the BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather was a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1989 until 1998. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers.The first episode sees sisters...
opposite Linda Robson
Linda Robson
Linda Patricia Mary Robson is an English actress. She played Tracey in the BBC comedy, Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998.-Personal life and education:...
and Lesley Joseph
Lesley Joseph
Lesley D Joseph is an English actress and broadcaster.-Life and career:Joseph was born in Northampton. She is best known for starring in the BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather from 1989–1998, in which she played Dorien Green, the Jewish next-door neighbour of the main characters Sharon and Tracy...
. 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
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
adaptation of The Sculptress
The Sculptress
The Sculptress is a crime novel by English writer Minette Walters. She won an Edgar and a Macavity Award for the book. The novel was adapted as a BBC-TV series in 1996, starring Pauline Quirke as Olive Martin.-Synopsis:...
by Minette Walters
Minette Walters
Minette Walters is an English crime writer.- Life and work :After her birth in Bishop’s Stortford to a serving army officer, Capt Samuel Jebb and his wife Colleen, the first 10 years of Minette’s life were spent moving between army bases in the north and south of England...
receiving much critical acclaim for her performance. As Birds of a Feather was ending she began playing DI Maisie Raine in Maisie Raine
Maisie Raine
Maisie Raine was a drama series originally broadcast on BBC1 for 2 series from 28 July 1998 - 9 July 1999.Pauline Quirke took the lead role as DI Maisie Raine, an unorthodox detective whose hands on and down to earth approach was not always appreciated by her superiors...
a drama series on BBC1. It ran for 2 series from 1998 - 1999. From 2000 to 2003, she starred alongside Warren Clarke
Warren Clarke
-Biography:Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968. His first major film appearance was in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork...
in the BBC series Down to Earth
Down to Earth (UK TV series)
Down to Earth was a BBC One television series first broadcast in 2000 about a couple who start a new life on a Devon farm. The early episodes of the series were based on a series of books written by Faith Addis about their real-life move from London to Devon.The music in the series was composed by...
.
She made a return to sitcom in 2001 when she starred alongside Neil Stuke
Neil Stuke
Neil Stuke , is an English actor notable for playing Matthew in the second and third series of Game On after taking over the role from Ben Chaplin,and for his role as Billy Lamb, Head Clerk in the 2011 BBC television series "Silk"...
, Robert Daws
Robert Daws
Robert Daws is an English actor. He is most notable for a variety of roles he has played in television dramas.-Career:Daws played Tuppy Glossop in the early 1990s version of Jeeves and Wooster...
and Pippa Haywood
Pippa Haywood
Philippa Haywood is an English actress who trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.Famous for playing the much-put-upon Helen Brittas in the BBC One comedy series The Brittas Empire, Haywood has an extensive television career which includes Julie Chadwick in the BBC Two comedy Fear, Stress &...
in BBC sitcom Office Gossip
Office Gossip
Office Gossip is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One in 2001. Starring Pauline Quirke, it was written by Paul Mayhew-Archer, who co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley, and George Pritchett....
. After a promising start with over 6 million viewers the ratings dropped and it was cancelled after just 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
Nitin Ganatra
Nitin Ganatra is a Kenyan born British actor. He is known internationally as Prince Pondicherry in the Tim Burton film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also appears in the Gurinder Chada film Bride and Prejudice as Kholi Saab and The Mistress of Spices as Haroun...
in 6 episodes of Being April, a comedy drama for BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. She appeared in Carrie's War
Carrie's War
Carrie's War is a 1973 children's novel by Nina Bawden, set during the Second World War and following two evacuees, Carrie and her younger brother Nick. It is a common fixture in secondary schools.-Plot:...
in 2004 and in 2005, played a major role in The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
as Cath Wilson, wrongly convicted of murdering a child.
In 2006, Quirke played Colleen McCabe
Colleen McCabe
Colleen McCabe is a British fraudster who spent £500,000 on herself from the budget of the school where she was the headteacher.- Early years :...
in The Thieving Headmistress and in 2008, she made a one off appearance in an episode of My Family as Joan the Bank Robber.
Quirke has frequently been seen in the audience of the hit show Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
and has appeared on its companion show It Takes Two
Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two
Strictly: It Takes Two is a British television programme, the companion show to the popular BBC One programme Strictly Come Dancing. It airs on weeknights during the run of the main show on BBC Two at 6:30pm...
more than once to talk about how much she enjoys it. She was a contestant on BBC's Celebrity MasterChef in June 2007.
In 2009 and 2010, she played the lead role in BBC daytime drama series Missing
Missing (2009 TV series)
Missing is a British daytime television drama series starring Pauline Quirke and Mark Wingett. The series is set in a busy, under-resourced missing persons unit, and follows the team led by DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft . The first series of five episodes aired on BBC One in 2009, with a second series of...
as DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft, head of a Missing Persons Unit in Dover, Kent.
In May 2010, it was announced that Quirke would be joining the rural soap opera Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
. 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".
In October 2011 she opened the Coventry-based acting academy for young children. See www.pqacademy.com for details.
Awards and Nominations
| Year | Nominated For | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Birds of a Feather Birds of a Feather Birds of a Feather was a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1989 until 1998. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers.The first episode sees sisters... |
British Comedy Awards British Comedy Awards The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:... |
Best TV Comedy Newcomer | |
| 1990 | Birds of a Feather | British Comedy Awards | Best TV Comedy Actress | |
| 1997 | The Sculptress The Sculptress The Sculptress is a crime novel by English writer Minette Walters. She won an Edgar and a Macavity Award for the book. The novel was adapted as a BBC-TV series in 1996, starring Pauline Quirke as Olive Martin.-Synopsis:... |
BAFTA British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:... |
Best Actress | |
| 1998 | Birds of a Feather | National Television Awards National Television Awards The National Television Awards is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted on by the general public. Because of the way the awards are decided, winners are... |
Most Popular Actress | |
| 2001 | Office Gossip Office Gossip Office Gossip is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One in 2001. Starring Pauline Quirke, it was written by Paul Mayhew-Archer, who co-wrote The Vicar of Dibley, and George Pritchett.... |
National Television Awards | Most Popular Comedy Performer | |
| 2002 | Down to Earth Down to Earth (UK TV series) Down to Earth was a BBC One television series first broadcast in 2000 about a couple who start a new life on a Devon farm. The early episodes of the series were based on a series of books written by Faith Addis about their real-life move from London to Devon.The music in the series was composed by... |
National Television Awards | Most Popular Actress | |
| 2011 | Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972... |
The British Soap Awards | Best Newcomer |
Personal life
She has three children and is married to producer Steve Sheen; they live in Penn, BuckinghamshirePenn, Buckinghamshire
Penn is a village and civil parish in Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of Beaconsfield and east of High Wycombe...
. On The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show was a BAFTA award-winning British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format was originally devised by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV before moving to Channel 4...
in 2007 she told of how she suffers from severe stage fright and nerves and she usually refuses to appear on live TV shows. In 2009 she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis also known as degenerative arthritis or degenerative joint disease, is a group of mechanical abnormalities involving degradation of joints, including articular cartilage and subchondral bone. Symptoms may include joint pain, tenderness, stiffness, locking, and sometimes an effusion...
and underwent a hip replacement
Hip replacement
Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi replacement. Such joint replacement orthopaedic surgery generally is conducted to relieve arthritis pain or fix severe...
operation.In 2011 she went on an extreme low calorie diet and slimmed down from 19st 6lb at Christmas 2010 to 13 stone as of July 2011 and aims to get her weight down to 11 stone after being told she was "severely obese" and her health was at risk.