Pauline Quirke

Pauline Perpetua Sheen (born 8 July 1959,) better known by her stage name Pauline Quirke, is an English actress who has played Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series Birds of a Feather (1988–1999, 2014–2017). For this role, she won the 1990 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. She was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1996 BBC miniseries The Sculptress. Her other television credits include Maisie Raine (1998–1999), Down to Earth (2000–2003), Emmerdale (2010–2012) and Broadchurch (2013–2015). Career Early work Quirke began her career as a child actress with an appearance in Dixon of Dock Green. Another early role was that of an autistic teenager in the 1975 TV drama Jenny Can't Work Any Faster. By 1976 she had her own TV show, Pauline's Quirkes, on Thames Television, which featured pop music, teenage topics, and comedy sketches. This was also the first television show in which Quirke and Linda Robson appeared together regularly. In 1976 she played the lead role in the "Special Offer" episode of ATV's Beasts, by Nigel Kneale, also starring Wensley Pithey and Martin Shaw. Quirke also had a small role in the movie The Elephant Man in 1980. Quirke played Veronica in Shine on Harvey Moon in 1982.