Linda Patricia Mary Robson (born 13 March 1958) is an English actress. She played Tracey in the BBC comedy, Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998.

Personal life and education[link]

Robson was educated at Ecclesbourne Primary School, and at the private, fee-paying Anna Scher Theatre School, both in her native Islington.

Robson's father was a chain-smoker who died of lung cancer when he was 57.^[2]

She continues to reside in Islington, North London with her husband and three children Lauren (b. 1984), Louis (b. 1992) and Bobbie (b. 1997). Robson is a supporter of the Conservative Party.^[3]

Career[link]

Linda Robson had a non-speaking role as a young girl amidst a group of roaming 'survivors' in the second series of the original BBC Survivors drama screened in 1976, and then appeared in Pauline's Quirkes in 1976 (her first regular appearance with Pauline Quirke), the comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon in 1982 and the IRA drama Harry's Game.

She is best known for playing Tracey in the hit BBC comedy Birds of a Feather from 1989 to 1998 alongside Pauline Quirke.

She has been a regular guest panellist on Loose Women in 2003, 2010 and 2011.

She subsequently appeared in programmes such as The Bill and Crossroads. Robson appeared alongside Jenny Eclair and Dillie Keane in the original cast of Grumpy Old Women Live, a spin-off from the television series Grumpy Old Women (2004-07), written by Jenny Eclair and Judith Holder.

Robson also appeared in the Channel 4 series Come Dine With Me in 2006, in which she came last, and she is an occasional guest presenter for BBC London 94.9.

On 9 August 2007, she narrated a show for ITV called Britain's Youngest Brides. Linda joined friend and cast member Pauline Quirke on The Paul O'Grady Show on 1 November 2007. In July 2008, Robson entered Celebrity MasterChef and reached the semi-finals.

In July 2010, Robson made a guest appearance in the BBC drama series Casualty, playing the mother of a young man with bipolar disorder.

Reality TV[link]

She has also appeared in numerous reality TV and game shows, including Dick Turpin, I'm Famous and Frightened!, Celebrity Blind Man's Bluff, Come Dine With Me, Celebrities Under Pressure, The Weakest Link, and Comic Relief does Fame Academy but was evicted on the third show. In January 2010 she was one of five celebrities to appear in Celebrity Quitters, a factual show about giving up smoking, on Five.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Linda Robson at the Internet Movie Database
• Linda Robson

Pauline Perpetua Quirke (born 18 July 1959^[1]) is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Sharon in the comedy series Birds of a Feather, along with her lifelong friend and frequent acting partner Linda Robson and playing Hazel Rhodes, the mother of established character Jackson Walsh, in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. Her character left Emmerdale on 25 January 2012. Pauline grew up in east london with her mother.

Career[link]

Pauline began her career as a child actress aged eight with an appearance in Dixon of Dock Green. She has appeared in many movies and TV shows since that time.

As a teenager in the 1970s, she hosted three children's TV series: You Must Be Joking (1975), Pauline's Quirkes (1976) and Pauline's People (1978–79) (which also featured Linda Robson). She also had a small role in the movie The Elephant Man in 1980, along with future Emmerdale colleague Lesley Dunlop.

Pauline Quirke played Veronica in Shine on Harvey Moon, a British television series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian.

Her career really began to take off in 1989, when she began playing the part of Sharon Theodopolopodus in the BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather opposite Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph. She became a household name and remained with the series until it ended in 1998 after 9 series and over 100 episodes.

In 1996, she starred in the BBC television adaptation of The Sculptress by Minette Walters receiving much critical acclaim for her performance. As Birds of a Feather was ending she began playing DI Maisie Raine in Maisie Raine a drama series on BBC1. It ran for 2 series from 1998 - 1999. From 2000 to 2003, she starred alongside Warren Clarke in the BBC series Down to Earth.

She made a return to sitcom in 2001 when she starred alongside Neil Stuke, Robert Daws and Pippa Haywood in BBC sitcom Office Gossip. After a promising start with over 6 million viewers the ratings dropped and it was cancelled after just one series. Quirke however, did win an award for Most Popular Comedy Performer at The National Television Awards.

In 2002, she starred alongside Nitin Ganatra in 6 episodes of Being April, a comedy drama for BBC One. She appeared in Carrie's War in 2004 and in 2005, played a major role in The Bill as Cath Wilson, wrongly convicted of murdering a child.

In 2006, Quirke played Colleen McCabe in The Thieving Headmistress and in 2008, she made a one off appearance in an episode of My Family as Joan the Bank Robber.

Quirke has frequently been seen in the audience of the hit show Strictly Come Dancing and has appeared on its companion show It Takes Two more than once to talk about how much she enjoys it. She was a contestant on BBC's Celebrity MasterChef in June 2007.^[3]

In 2009 and 2010, she played the lead role in BBC daytime drama series Missing as DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft, head of a Missing Persons Unit in Dover, Kent.

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.^[4] Quirke said of joining the soap "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".^[4]

On 16 May 2011 it was announced that Quirke had decided to quit Emmerdale. Hazel left on 25 January 2012 and Quirke has said she would like to return.

In October 2011 she opened the Coventry-based acting academy for young children.

Awards and nominations[link]

Personal life[link]

She has three children and is married to producer Steve Sheen; they live in Penn, Buckinghamshire.^[2] On The Paul O'Grady Show in 2007 she told of how she suffers from severe stage fright and nerves and she usually refuses to appear on live TV shows. In 2009 she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and underwent a hip replacement operation.^[2]In 2011 she went on a diet and slimmed down from 19 stone 6 pounds (123 kg) at Christmas 2010 to 13 stone 0 pounds (83 kg) in July 2011, and aimed to get her weight down to 11 stone 0 pounds (70 kg) after being told she was "severely obese" and her health was at risk.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts
• Pauline Quirke at the Internet Movie Database
• Pauline Quirke at BBC Comedy Guide
• Pauline Quirke at BBC Drama Faces