Birds Of A Feather star has been 'an inspiration', husband says

Birds of a Feather star Pauline Quirke has retired from acting, with her husband revealing that she was diagnosed with dementia in 2021.

The 65-year-old – who played Sharon in the long-running sitcom – also founded a successful string of stage schools.  

In a statement, her husband Steve Sheen said: ‘It is with a heavy heart that I announce my wife Pauline's decision to step back from all professional and commercial duties due to her diagnosis of dementia in 2021.’

However, this is the first time that diagnosis has been revealed.

He added: ‘Pauline has been an inspiration through her work in the film and TV industry, her charity endeavours and as the founder of the very successful Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts (PQA). Her talent, dedication, and vision have touched countless lives.’

‘Her acting career has now come to a close, but PQA, with its network of approximately 250 academies and over 15,000 students across the UK, remains robust and will continue to operate as normal in accordance with Pauline’s ideology.’

He added that neither he nor Quirke would be engaging in interviews or making further statements for the time being. 

Even before Birds Of A Feather, Quirke had her own youth-oriented comedy and music show,  Pauline's Quirkes, on Thames TV in 1976.

Birds Of A  Feather – in which she starred alongside Lesley Joseph and Linda Robson, her friend since drama-school days –  began on the BBC in 1989, and ran until 1998. It was resurrected on ITV between 2014 and 2017, which was her last screen credit. Quirke did not appear in the one-off final episode in December 2020.

Her comedy roles  also included in the short-lived 2000 BBC sitcom Office Gossip alongside Neil Stuke and Pippa Haywood in BBC sitcom Office Gossip and the 200 comedy-drama Being April. 

Quirke also starred in BBC detective drama Maisie Raine from 1998 to 1999, appeared in ITV's Broadchurch, and played Hazel Rhodes in Emmerdale from 2010 to 2012.

In 2022, she was made an MBE for services to the entertainment industry, young people, and charities.

Episodes of Birds Of A  Feather are streaming on ITVX and U.

Published: 21 Jan 2025