Former Eastenders and Death In Paradise star joins the cast of Casualty, revealing personal connection to the NHS

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Casualty is gearing up for its dramatic storm storyline and a familiar face is joining the Holby ED

Casualty: Kellie Shirley as psych nurse Sophia Peters.
(Image credit: BBC Studios)

Casualty viewers have said hello to a new face on the Holby ED - and it's one that soap fans are likely to recognise.

Eastenders legend Kellie Shirlie has joined the cast as a new nurse - Psych Liaison Nurse Sophia Peters - as the medical drama begins a huge new storyline called 'Storm Damage'. 

Viewers may also recognise Kellie from her role in Death In Paradise as Pamela Bellman. With such impressive credentials under her belt, it will be exciting to see how Kellie shakes things up at Holby in her ongoing role. 

The actor also has also shared how she has some personal experience of the NHS, bringing her personal knowledge to the role. 

She revealed in an interview with The Express, "My mum worked for the NHS for 30 years. My grandma worked to the end for the NHS. My mother-in-law worked for the NHS... It feels like a really perfect fit to play a part that I can bring a tiny bit of authenticity to. 

Kellie Shirley: 'I wanted a Wicks' suicide pact'

(Image credit: BBC)

"And also, in between acting jobs, I worked at King's in London and Lewisham hospital neuro wards, and so I could try to feed in a little bit of my work downtime as an actor so that's been quite nice."

Fans of the BBC medical drama were quick to notice the new face, with one writing before the show aired, 'KELLIE SHIRLEY So proud of you joining the cast of my favourite show I cannot wait to watch you on tonight. Everyone make sure you tune in tonight (15th June) at 8.20pm on BBC Two.'

While another asked, 'So is Sophia now a permanent character?'

Kellie has been working on the show for some time now, though her first scenes aired last night. She's kept her role under wraps previously but does admit that she did go to her mum for some advice. 

Kellie told The Express, "I tell my mum everything and also because she works as a nurse herself, I have a few times gone to her with some words in the script [asking] 'mum, how do I say this? What does this mean? What happened?'

"She's kind of been a bit like a mentor to me I suppose, and I wanted to get authenticity as much as possible because it's really important for me to do research and look like I'm doing the job that I'm actually doing and that I don't look out of my depth."

Tune in next week on Saturday 22nd June to find out what's next in store for the residents of Holby ED.

Casualty airs on BBC One — check out our guide to every episode for all the latest news and spoilers.

Viewers can also now tune into Casualty at 6 am on the day the show airs on BBC iPlayer.

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Lauren Hughes
Freelance writer

Lauren is the former Deputy Digital Editor at woman&home and became a journalist mainly because she enjoys being nosy. With a background in features journalism, Lauren worked on the woman&home brand for four years before going freelance. Before woman&home Lauren worked across a variety of women's lifestyle titles, including GoodTo, Woman's Own, and Woman magazine. After starting out working for a local paper in Yorkshire, her journalism career took her to Bristol where she hunted out stories for national papers and magazines at Medavia news agency, before landing a job in London working as a lifestyle assistant.

A big fan of adventure, Lauren is also a keen travel writer and loves sharing tips on where to find the best places to eat, drink, and be merry off the beaten track. Lauren has written a series of travel guides for London hotels and loves sharing her insights into a destination's cultural and culinary offerings. If you need a recommendation on any UK destination, she's more than happy to help. At the weekend, you'll usually find her hanging out with her pet cat (or anyone else's pet she can get her hands on), escaping to the countryside, or devouring a good book.