Casualty newcomer Kellie Shirley reveals ‘no-brainer’ reason she’d return to EastEnders

Actress Kellie Shirley recently made her debut in BBC One’s Casualty as psych nurse Sophia Peters – but you probably remember her as Carly Wicks, the daughter of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) in EastEnders.

Kellie played this role from 2006-2008, and then again in 2012.

In 2008, Carly departed Walford with Denise Fox (Diane Parish) to go travelling and scatter the ashes of Carly’s dad Kevin. When Denise eventually returned, it was confirmed Carly had stayed in Thailand, and then travelled again to live in Australia.

In 2012, Denise revealed to Shirley that Carly had given birth to a little boy. Shirley attempted to contact her daughter but was rejected, causing her to breakdown. As Shirley spiralled in the aftermath of Ben Mitchell killing her best mate Heather Trott, Carly arrived back in Walford to try and help her mum.

It eventually resulted in them making amends and Shirley deciding to leave with Carly and her boy Jimmy.

While we haven’t seen Carly Wicks for over 10 years, Kellie hasn’t completely shut the door on this soap alter-ego and recently, during a chat with Metro.co.uk, she revealed what would get her back to Albert Square.

‘I dip in and out of watching it. I’m very grateful for the time there. It was 18 years ago when I started!’, she explained to us.

‘I’ve done lots of things since then, it’s opened up lots of lovely doors for me. I loved playing Carly and there’s always unfinished business. If I got to work with Linda Henry again that would be a no brainer, if it was the right storyline too.’

Given the fact we haven’t seen Shirley Carter since the devastating news Mick (Danny Dyer) died after getting swept out to sea, could she return to Walford with Carly in tow?

We’d be here for it.

Nurse Sophia arrived at Holby ED last week (June 15), when Casualty’s new boxset Storm Damage began.

‘Sophia is at the top of her game’, Kellie told us.

‘She’s a psychiatric liason nurse and works in mental health, which is obviously something so massive in society right now. I think it’s brilliant the BBC are shining a light on mental health storylines. The role I’m doing has never featured in Casualty before and I love my costume! My barbie nod to Margot Robbie!

‘It’s really brilliant to play a part where she’s likable, relatable, knows her stuff, she’s got a good sense of humour, she’s a terrible flirt – I can relate to that. She thinks Dylan is a bit blunt but because he’s so good at his job, it’s a little bit of an aphrodisiac for Sophia!’

Delving further into the intriguing dynamic between Sophia and Dylan (William Beck), Kellie said: ‘It’s a bit of a will they/won’t they situation. They get close, but then Dylan says something that’s a right clanger! It’s great though because that’s what real life is like.

‘It’s been really fun to play, he’s a complicated character but so is she. They’ve got similarities and I think Sophia brings something out in Dylan that viewers haven’t really seen before.’

When the series began, viewers watched Cam (Barney Walsh) and Siobhan (Melanie Hill) deal with the death of a baby.

Opening up about these harrowing scenes, Kellie explained they were particularly hard to film because of her young son Ezra.

‘The series opened with a baby dying which was hard to film, because Ezra was six months when I started there. I found it quite upsetting because he was the same age as the baby in the story. The actress playing the mum, she was so natural and so fantastic. I was all over the place.

‘There are some hard-hitting mental health storylines, and also the plot with Dylan is peppered throughout the boxset too’, she added, teasing what’s ahead for her character.

‘You get to see that Sophia has a great sense of humour, she gets on really well with Rida too and Siobhan.’

Pondering over the creation of her role, Kellie reflected on her career as an actress and how if she hadn’t attended a discussion that featured the likes of Stephen Graham and Shane Meadows, things could’ve been very different.

‘I was part of this thing called Bafta Elevate, which supports working class actors and those from underrepresented groups. So being an actress who dares to have children and be working class, things like that are seen as invisible barriers.

‘BAFTA invited me along to this discussion with Stephen Graham, Shane Meadows, other people who are from similar backgrounds. We were talking about what they’ve come up against, and what’s been the thing that’s broken them, so to speak.’

She added: ‘I was saying that I still felt like I had my glass ceiling. We were looking back at my career and the lady who chaired the meeting said we’ve looked at your CV and you’ve played like 21/22 prostitutes. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but I was talking about it and I’ve never actually played anyone who’s had a professional job. I’ve always played single mums who don’t.

‘John Cannon, who’s the casting director on Casualty, saw this and he’d seen me in a play called Abigail’s Party with Matt Di Angelo. John had seen the show and this discussion, so he got me in for Sophia.

‘I thought this is so amazing, not only has she got this professional job, she’s also at the top of her game, and I’m from this background too. Just because you’ve got this London accent, it doesn’t mean you’re not educated or switched on. It felt like the universe was aligning!’

Away from life as a TV star, Kellie has also launched a new podcast series called ROAR.

The series, available on all podcast platforms, delves into challenging life experiences and shines a spotlight on subjects such as child abuse and addiction.

‘It’s a six part drama series, 20 minute episodes, and I’ve pulled in lots of favours from people I’ve worked with in the past and people I absolutely adore’, Kellie said.

‘Danny Dyer is in it, he’s off the scale brilliant, he’s such a good actor, Lorraine Ashbourne who I cheekily asked. I was at an ADR session and I plucked up the courage and asked her and honestly my heart!

‘I asked her if she would consider reading the script and she said okay, and then she read it and in a couple of days, she said Kellie I think this is brilliant and I’d love to play your mum.

‘Laura Checkley is also in it. I plucked up the courage and asked her too! She was totally on board with it. It’s stuff of truth and I needed to have some distance as well from it, but any money made from it will go to The Children’s Society, a fantastic charity.’

Kellie explained: ‘I initially wrote it as a TV series, that’s the medium I work in the most. I took it to Kate McGowan and she suggested turning it into a podcast series, because TV takes so long to develop.

‘It felt like a way to do something now, to get everyone in the studio for four days to record it, and allow it to actually happen.

‘I did have to go back into it and write it slightly differently, because it was just audio, but I hope I’ve achieved it!’

Actress Kellie Shirley recently made her debut in BBC One’s Casualty as psych nurse Sophia Peters – but you probably remember her as Carly Wicks, the daughter of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) in EastEnders. Kellie played this role from 2006-2008, and then again in 2012. In 2008, Carly departed Walford with Denise Fox (Diane Parish) to go travelling and scatter the ashes of Carly’s…