
Pauline Quirke
Actor · b. 1959 · Hackney, London, England, UK
Pauline Perpetua Quirke is a retired English television and film actress, best known for her role as Sharon in the long-running BBC comedy series "Birds of a Feather". In 2025, Quirke's husband announced that she would be retiring from all professional and commercial duties due to a diagnosis of dementia which she had received in 2021.
Series24
TV4.3SoapDramaThe lives of several families in the Yorkshire Dales revolve around a farm and the nearby village. With murders, affairs, lies, deceit, laughter and tears, it's all there in the village.
Emmerdale
1972 · 100 votes
TV6.2DramaSoapDrama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
Casualty
1986 · 88 votes
TV8.0RealityTalented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes
Ready, Steady, Cook
1994 · 1 votes
TV6.6DramaPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970 · 10 votes
TV8.1DramaComedyIrreverent comedy drama which follows the messy lives, loves, delirious highs and inevitable lows of a group of raucous teenage friends in Bristol.
Skins
2007 · 1.4K votes
- TV4.5Talk Show
The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 and currently airs on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" theme with many of the shows' segments focusing on fashion, health, nature, cookery and animals.
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
2007 · 4 votes
TV5.3Talk ShowAn Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
An Audience with...
1978 · 3 votes
TV6.3ComedyTalk ShowSoccer AM is a British Saturday-morning football-based comedy/talk show, predominantly based around the Premier League. Originally presented by Jane Hoffen, Gary Stevens and Russ Williams, they lasted just a year before Helen Chamberlain and Tim Lovejoy replaced them, where Lovejoy served for over a decade. He has since been replaced by Andy Goldstein and, more recently, Max Rushden. The show has been aired on Sky Sports 2 each Saturday morning of the football season since 1995 from 7:00am or 9:00am to noon originally and currently between 10:00am and 12:00pm. In early 2009, the 500th episode was broadcast. Although the show is filmed live from 2010 it has been broadcast on a momentary delay due to bad language and/or inappropriate content from certain guests. The show's current sponsor is Procter & Gamble through their Head & Shoulders brand. The show was previously sponsored by Frijj, a brand of milkshake, after Dairy Crest signed a £2 million sponsorship deal. Parts of the show have remained since the beginning, whilst new items have been introduced each season. In that respect, it is almost the same every week, the difference being new football footage and comedy skits. Every week sees a new group of celebrity guests, generally featuring at least one footballer who is free on the Saturday, and a mix of musicians, TV personalities, and other sportsmen.
Soccer AM
1995 · 9 votes
TV7.9CrimeDramaThe murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.
Broadchurch
2013 · 1K votes
TV6.3ComedyDramaBirds of a Feather is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One from 1989 until 1998 and on ITV from 2013. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers. The first episode sees sisters Tracey Stubbs and Sharon Theodopolopodos brought together when their husbands are sent to prison for armed robbery. Sharon, who lived in an Edmonton council flat, moves into Tracey's expensive house in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbour, and later friend, Dorien Green is a middle-aged married woman who is constantly having affairs with younger men. In the later series the location is changed to Hainault. The series ended on Christmas Eve 1998 after a 9-year-run.
Birds of a Feather
1989 · 24 votes
TV6.1RealityCelebrities scramble to compete in the kitchen. What culinary triumphs will they whisk up?
Celebrity Masterchef
2006 · 14 votes
TV4.5DramaAngels is a BBC medical soap-opera which launched on 1st September 1975 and was the blue print for such medical soaps as Casualty, Holby City, plus daytime soap, Doctors. The medical soap focuses on different departments within Heath Green Hospital and was a highly successful continuing drama.
Angels
1975 · 4 votes
TV8.0Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher. The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester and Parallel 9 taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking. In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her then boyfriend, Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.
Going Live!
1987 · 2 votes
TV7.5DramaCrimeSoftly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England.
Softly, Softly
1966 · 2 votes
TV8.0DramaIn Victorian London, Louisa Leyton works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St James's.
The Duchess of Duke Street
1976 · 14 votes
TV8.3DramaCrimeA series of self-contained stories, each recounting a murder scene as seen from the chilling viewpoint of the killer. Explore the inner workings of a criminal's brain, revealing humanity at its darkest.
Murder in Mind
2001 · 11 votes
TV7.5RealityBen Shephard hosts the quiz show in which three celebrities take on an extraordinary machine in the hope of winning 20,000 pounds for charity.
Tipping Point: Lucky Stars
2013 · 2 votes
TV7.7DramaShine on Harvey Moon! is a British comedy-drama series made by Central Television for ITV from 8 January 1982 to 23 August 1985 and briefly revived in 1995 by Meridian. This generally light-hearted series was created by comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. The series is set in the East End of London shortly after the Second World War. Upon being demobbed RAF serviceman Harvey Moon, played by Kenneth Cranham, returns home and finds his family involved in various troubles. His wife Rita, played by Maggie Steed, is not interested in resuming their relationship, and works in a seedy nightclub frequented by American servicemen. He becomes involved with the Labour Party and the union movement. The name of the series is a wordplay on the title of the popular 1908 song 'Shine On, Harvest Moon'. The first series was commissioned and recorded by ATV at their Elstree studios with the remaining series filmed at newly constructed facilities in Nottingham.
Shine on Harvey Moon
1982 · 8 votes
TV8.1DramaMargaret Hale is a southerner from a country vicarage newly settled in the industrial northern town of Milton. In the shock of her move, she misjudges charismatic cotton mill-owner John Thornton, whose strength of purpose and passion are a match for her own pride and willfulness. When the workers of Milton call a strike, Margaret takes their side, and the two are brought into deeper conflict. As events spiral out of control, Margaret - to her surprise - begins to fall in love with Thornton...
North & South
2004 · 208 votes
- TV6.8ComedyAction & Adventure
A modern day version of the 1969 detective series about Private Investigator Jeff Randall, who is aided in cases by the ghost of his deceased partner Marty Hopkirk.
Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
2000 · 11 votes
TV6.8DramaComedyWhen the news is announced that a comet is on an unavoidable collision course with Earth, the most hilarious and unexpected chain of events imaginable is set in motion.
You, Me and the Apocalypse
2015 · 128 votes
- TV
The programme that tries to make the impossible possible. Each week Anneka Rice is set a challenge by a member of the public and, using only her giant Challenger truck, has to beg, borrow and otherwise persuade people to help her complete the task on time. All challenges aim to achieve something of lasting benefit, and Anneka has no idea what lies in store until the fateful moment when the challenge arrives.
Challenge Anneka
1989
TV7.1DramaA young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development, and the complexities of human relationships.
David Copperfield
1999 · 59 votes
TVCrimeDramaMaisie Raine was a drama series originally broadcast on BBC1 for 2 series from 28 July 1998 – 9 July 1999. Pauline Quirke took the lead role as DI Maisie Raine, an unorthodox detective whose hands on and down to earth approach was not always appreciated by her superiors. When she took on a case, she did it her way, regardless of whose toes she stepped on and who she offended. Each episode would see the team investigating a crime and often uncovering more about the perpetrators and the victims histories with DI Raine often becoming personally involved or bending the rules to get the results she wanted. Also starring alongside Quirke were Ian McElhinney, Steve John Shepherd, Rakie Ayola and Richard Graham.
Maisie Raine
1998
Movies22
Movie8.1DramaHistoryA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.
The Elephant Man
1980 · 4.1K votes
Movie6.4DramaAmy Dorrit spends her days earning money for the family and looking after her proud father who is a long term inmate of Marshalsea debtors' prison in London. Amy and her family's world is transformed when her employer's son, Arthur Clennam, returns from overseas to solve his family's mysterious legacy and discovers that their lives are interlinked.
Little Dorrit
1987 · 14 votes
Movie6.9DramaMusicSiblings Maisie and Tony, along with their mother, gather for their sister Eileen's wedding. It is a joyous occasion, but through flashbacks, it becomes clear that the family was not always happy. Their father was physically abusive to his wife and left the children emotionally traumatized. As a result, the children have grown into unhappy adults, looking for love they didn't receive when they were young.
Distant Voices, Still Lives
1988 · 138 votes
Movie6.2DramaThe horrors of World War I have robbed returning veteran Chris Baldry of his memory. The traumatized soldier doesn't even recognize his own wife, Kitty, or remember their years together. While Baldry attempts to cope with the unfamiliar surroundings of his own home, he seeks out the company of an old flame from his childhood, Margaret Grey. His amnesia also makes him a ready target for the affections of his older cousin, Jenny.
The Return of the Soldier
1983 · 22 votes
Movie8.0HorrorTV MovieA misfit teenage checkout operator has an unrequited crush on her supermarket manager. At the same shop's cuddly cartoon mascot seems to have come alive and is causing havoc. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale’s “Beasts” horror anthology miniseries.
Beasts: Special Offer
1976 · 1 votes
Movie6.4CrimeDramaA parent's grief has no bounds. Our Boy tells the moving and tragic story of one couple’s struggle to come to terms with the disappearance and death of their only son. Woody, Sonia and their son, Lee, live contentedly in West Ham, London. When Lee is killed in a hit-and-run everyone grieves but Woody’s grief has no limit. His best friend, Phil, counsels revenge, while in the view of the ambitious Detective Constable Spence, Woody himself is the prime suspect. Woody searches for a way to react with extraordinary and touching results. Features award-winning performances by Ray Winstone and Pauline Quirke.
Our Boy
1998 · 5 votes
Movie6.8ComedyRomanceGavin is 31 years old and still lives with his parents. He is awfully shy but before he knows it there are three women interested in him. Lady Minerva Munday has a casual way of life and lives in a basement, Joan is an over-sexed millionairess, married to a Greek architect. But Gavin prefers the ugly assistant in the barbershop.
Getting It Right
1989 · 12 votes
- Movie8.0DramaComedy
Supermarket checkout girl Dianne Clarke embarks upon a campaign as a modern day Robin Hood, with no inkling of the chaos she is about to create. Within just a few days the Friendly Saver where she works will be brought to its knees. Double-check your receipt!
Checkout Girl
2000 · 1 votes
Movie10.0DocumentarySir Michael Parkinson looks back over his 50 years as a broadcaster, revealing some tricks of the interview trade and remembering some of his favourite encounters.
Parkinson at 50
2021 · 1 votes
Movie6.4DramaA tough young girl lives with her aging grandfather near a cove on the coast of Cornwall. She supports herself and him by gathering seaweed to sell as fertilizer. A cocky young neighboring boy decides to help her with the work.
Malachi's Cove
1973 · 10 votes
Movie6.4FamilyScience-fiction comedy: Junket, a schoolboy, borrows an apparatus invented by the absent-minded science master for transporting matter - and, by accident, makes it work...
Junket 89
1970 · 5 votes
Movie4.5TV MovieDramaA young boy's dream of finding his dead father comes true when his father visits him as an angel. But things turn sour when he discovers that his father was not the hero he imagined him to be.
Last Christmas
1999 · 2 votes
Movie6.4ComedyDramaTwenty years ago, three men set out on the longest walk of their lives. They vowed to repeat the walk, but this time they are joined by a forty year old wife and mother who is in the midst of a mid-life crisis.
Arthur's Dyke
2001 · 5 votes
Movie7.3ComedyThe late, great comedian Bob Monkhouse entertains a celebrity audience that includes Stephen Fry, Mandy Smith and Eamonn Holmes in this 1994 special. Watch him answer questions, tell funny tales and crack jokes.
An Audience with Bob Monkhouse
1994 · 3 votes
Movie7.0DramaTV MovieClive decides he will go mad. Stark raving mad. His wife doesn't take him seriously, until Clive does something that makes her realise he means it.
Name for the Day
1980 · 1 votes
- MovieFamily
It isn't really the fault of the children in 2B that their efforts to be helpful end in disaster.
Movie7.7DramaFamilyCarrie's War is an adaptation of a 1973 children's novel by Nina Bawden, set during the Second World War and following two evacuees, Carrie and her younger brother Nick.
Carrie's War
2004 · 10 votes
MovieDramaTV Movie"We were so close, we loved each other, we made a whole together. I feel cut in half." Meg struggles with the sudden death of her husband.
Life After Death
1982
MovieDramaJenny is an autistic teenager. Her father is concerned about her being withdrawn and hopes that employing her in his own business will bring her out of her shell. He also employs a new young assistant called Brian.
MovieMysteryDramaEleanor seems normal enough to her parents and teachers. Why then has she disappeared?
Eleanor
1974
Movie7.0DramaTV MovieIt's such a simple, natural thing to have a baby, thinks Mary. But she and husband Paul are preoccupied with their careers. Can their young neighbour Tessa help, or are the emotions around a new baby more complex than anyone had expected?
Baby Talk
1981 · 1 votes
MovieFantasyComedy'The Canterville Ghost' is one of the most popular choice for making a film in Oscar Wilde's works, and the original short story deserves the popularity. It is a witty spoof about a ghost and the 'haunted' mansion where a rich American family start to live. In this story, the family are not annoyed by the presence of the ghost; no, it is the ghost who is annoyed by the family who just refuse to be terrified. After all, why should we be scared by an old man wearing rusty coat of mail, whose best trick is to walk in the middle of night making big noises?