Call of DUTY

KELLIE SHIRLEY on why she was destined to work in Holby ED

- ELAINE REILLY

CASUALTY

SATURDAY, 8.35PM, BBC1 DRAMA

Kellie Shirley’s enthusiasm is truly contagious as she joins TV Times for an exclusive video interview about her new role as psychiatric liaison nurse Sophia Peters in BBC1’s Casualty.

‘My character’s uniform is a nice, fresh colour and very flattering,’ smiles the former EastEnders star, 40, proudly holding up lilac scrubs from her dressing room at the show’s studios in Cardiff. ‘As a psychiatric nurse, Sophia looks different to the other medics. But because her tunic is the same colour as the cubicle curtains, it’s sometimes a bit like Where’s Wally!’

Sophia made her debut last week during the opening instalment of the medical drama’s new 12-part story, Storm Damage, and quickly pitched in to help the Holby ED regulars as the department was swamped with admissions as a result of the dangerous weather conditions.

Along the way, she clashed with consultant Dylan Keogh (played by William Beck), but as the chalk-and-cheese pair find themselves working together again this week to help a vulnerable patient, they start to see each other in a new light. Could romance be on the cards?

Here, Kellie, who is married to playwright Phil Davies, tells us more and reveals why this job feels like fate…

So how did you come to join the cast of Casualty, Kellie?

Casting director John Cannon came to see me in Abigail’s Party