Pauline Quirke 'protected' co-star amid 'intimidating experience' on set
Birds Of A Feather legend Pauline Quirke once stepped in to 'protect' a younger co-star.
Pauline Quirke, 66, best known for her role in the sitcom Birds Of A Feather, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2021. Since then, her son Charlie Quirke has tirelessly worked to raise awareness about the condition. On Tuesday, Charlie braved the rainy weather to walk through Stoke Newington towards the Hackney Empire, part of his 140km walk to fundraise for Alzheimer's Research.
During his walk, he was unexpectedly joined by Pauline's former co-star, Mathew Baynton, the actor known for BBC's Horrible Histories and Ghosts. Mathew shared heartfelt stories of working with Pauline when they appeared together in You, The Apocalypse and Me. He told Charlie, "Pauline was so wonderful to work with. She played my adoptive mum, and we faced the end of the world together. The filming was very ‘Hollywood’, but Pauline brought a sense of home for me. We really connected."
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He added: "It was so nice to have her protective, maternal presence on that set because it was quite an intimidating job in many ways." Charlie, 31, began his challenge just before 8am at Victory Hall in Chigwell, the suburban Essex-London border town where the BBC sitcom Birds Of A Feather was set, which also starred Loose Women panellist Linda Robson.
Linda came to wave Charlie off, alongside fellow actor Ray Winstone. He was also sent good luck messages from actresses Ruth Wilson and Olivia Colman, West Ham's Jarrod Bowen and former Hammer Carlton Cole. Over the course of Mr Quirke's five-day walk, he will head to Islington in north London, where his mum was born, and to the headquarters of her theatre school in Buckinghamshire.
"My mum's career has been so iconic and so many places have formed her life - it's going to be a really emotional, beautiful journey," Charlie told BBC.
Pauline is best known for playing Sharon Theodopolopodous in Birds of a Feather and was also nominated for a BAFTA in 1997 for playing a convicted murderer in the BBC drama The Sculptress. However, earlier this year, her husband, Steve Sheen, whom she married in 1996, announced her retirement.
In 2021, ITV axed Birds Of A Feather for good after they aired a 2020 special that did not feature, with Linda sharing at the time: "Pauline just chose not to do Birds Of A Feather. She wants to concentrate on her acting academy, that's that."
Outside of her acting career, Pauline was also head of the Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts, which has about 250 academies and more than 15,000 young students across the UK.
