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 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." On 16 May 2011, it was announced that Quirke had decided to quit Emmerdale. Her character left on 25 January 2012. From 2013 to 2015, Quirke had a recurring role as Susan Wright in ITV drama series Broadchurch, appearing in all eight episodes of the first series and returning to feature in two of the eight episodes of the second series. Her pet Labrador, Bailey, also appeared in the programme. She was a guest panellist on Loose Women on two occasions. In 2015, she played the role of Paula Winton in the ten-part comedy thriller You, Me and the Apocalypse for Sky1. Quirke decided not to be involved in the final episode of Birds of a Feather in December 2020, to concentrate on her Performing Arts Academies. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to young people, the entertainment industry and charity. Filmography Selected stage credits Awards and