Early work Quirke began her career as a child actress with an appearance in
Dixon of Dock Green. 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. In 1996, she starred in the
BBC television adaptation of
The Sculptress by
Minette Walters, receiving much critical acclaim for her performance, including a
British Academy TV Award nomination for
Best Actress. When
Birds of a Feather ended, Quirke began playing DI Maisie Raine in
Maisie Raine, a drama series for
BBC One, which ran in 1998 and 1999. From 2000 to 2003, Quirke starred opposite
Warren Clarke in the
BBC series
Down to Earth. She made a return to comedy in 2000 when she starred with
Neil Stuke,
Robert Daws and
Pippa Haywood in
BBC sitcom
Office Gossip. After a start with over six million viewers, the show found its ratings dropped and it was cancelled after only one series. However, Quirke was nominated for
Most Popular Comedy Performer at the
National Television Awards for her role. In 2002, she starred alongside
Nitin Ganatra in
Being April, a comedy drama for
BBC One. Quirke appeared in ''
Carrie's War in 2004 and in 2005, played a major role in The Bill'' as Cath Wilson, a woman wrongly convicted of murdering a child. In 2006, Quirke played
Colleen McCabe in
The Thieving Headmistress and in 2008, she appeared in an episode of
My Family as Sharon the Bank Robber. Quirke has frequently been seen in the audience of
Strictly Come Dancing and has appeared on its companion show
It Takes Two more than once. She was a contestant on BBC's
Celebrity MasterChef in June 2007, but was disqualified for creating a dish that was described by
Loyd Grossman as "in no way resembling a meal". In 2007, Quirke set up The Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts, which opened at various locations across the UK as an extracurricular centre for young people who want to learn
performing arts. The academy operates at over 200 locations in the United Kingdom. In 2009 and 2010, she played the lead role in the
BBC daytime drama series
Missing as DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft, head of a Missing Persons Unit. In May 2010, it was announced that Quirke would be joining the rural soap opera
Emmerdale as
Hazel Rhodes, the mother of established character,
Jackson Walsh. Quirke said, "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." Quirke decided not to be involved in the final episode of
Birds of a Feather in December 2020, in order to concentrate on her Performing Arts Academies.
Charity work Quirke is an honorary member of the
NSPCC, supports the charities Children with Leukaemia,
Children in Crisis and Children’s Hospices UK. She is a patron of Rennie Grove Hospice. ==Personal life==