Next week’s episode of CASUALTY is part of the BBC’s No Home series of programmes focusing on homelessness.
The episode is based around a number of characters who all have connections with homelessness. They’ve come to the streets or to hostels for various reasons, including drug addiction and alcoholism.
Actress Pauline Quirke, famed for her role in comedy Birds of a Feathers, make a guest appearance in the show as a tramp, Jackie, who ends up being the victim of a horrific road accident.
Jackie is a woman who has lost everything through her addiction to alcohol. She used to be a journalist but she is now living on the streets. Despite the trouble she causes, the staff at Holby enjoy her sense of humour. And this allows the audience to see beyond her outward appearance to the person underneath all the problems.
Pauline was delighted to make a return to the show, having made a guest stint in CASUALTY back in Series 3 and thanks her son, Charlie, for landing her the new role.
‘I’m sure I only got considered because I was chaperoning Charlie on CASUALTY earlier this year, where he got his very first acting role!’ she jokes.
