Casualty's Kellie Shirley reveals 'struggling' with heartbreaking storyline

A Casualty star has revealed that a heartbreaking storyline left them struggling. Kellie Shirleyfirst appeared on the BBC medical drama last year, playing psychiatric liaison nurse, Sophia Peters, and she made quite the impact.

Despite only appearing on the show for several months, Sophia became a firm fan favourite after making Dr Dylan Keogh open up like never before, finding love. In a twist that fans hadn't seen coming, Sophia told Dylan she was pregnant with their child, leaving the doctor completely stunned, with him being vocal about his fears of becoming a dad.

Due to his fears, he suggested that Sophia have a termination, something she was initially hesitant about, having felt as though she was alone. But while Dylan was being held in police custody, having been arrested for manslaughter by gross negligence after he treated Thea, who died after a car smashed into a restaurant, Sophia made the decision to terminate their child, having spent hours trying to call him, unaware he was locked up.

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Things, however, changed rapidly. Dylan soon realised that he wanted to have the child, and even gifted Sophia a bib, unaware that she had taken the first abortion pill. When she informed him of the news, she also revealed she was leaving Holby and had taken a job elsewhere, leaving him utterly devastated.

"I struggled with that storyline," Kellie told the Mirror. She went on to add: "I mean, I'd only recently had my baby, and my hormones were all over the place. Yeah, I found it difficult." But looking back, she admits Sophia should have realised something was amiss when Dylan didn't pick up the call.

"She knew that he was a doctor and of course, he'd have been in surgery or all sorts of things. But it's a drama, it's a continuing drama, and it's not real life." Before Kellie joined the programme, it had briefly touched on the topic of mental health.

"Mental health is so spoken about now, isn't it? And it's so important," she explained. The former EastEnders star continued: "Everybody, since COVID, since the pandemic, has experienced mental health issues. How could you not? Being in lockdown, being shut away, not knowing about your family members. I mean, everybody experienced it."

She added that despite the heartache some faced during the pandemic and various lockdowns, it enabled people to break the taboo and speak openly about mental health. Kellie said: "One of the good things about that experience was that people were talking about mental health more, won't they? I suppose that's the silver lining from something so awful. And so for the BBC to bring this psychiatric liaison nurse, bossing it, was really exciting for me."

The role, however, also had a different meaning for Kellie, who in previous roles has not had a full-time profession. "And I very rarely get cast as somebody who's got a job,somebody who is a professional," she commented, before continuing: "And that was something that was really exciting for me and fair play to Kohn Cannon, he's the casting guy at the BBC, who got me in the room for it, because I was doing a chat on this thing called BAFTA Elevate that I was part of, and it was about working class actors who hit his glass ceiling, or always up for the same, playing the same parts.

"I love playing those parts, of course, I do, but I wanted to be challenged a bit more, and he saw me do this. Talk, and then he got me in the room for this part. So thank you, John Cannon."

Kellie has just written and starred in a short film, Croydon Cowgirl, set in Barry, South Wales, focusing on the life of two lonely strangers. Speaking about the career change, Kellie revealed that she was part of a roundtable with Stephen Graham at a BAFTA Elevate event, who offered invaluable advice.

She said that the Liverpudlian explained that actors shouldn't moan if they want to play a certain part, and if a script doesn't appear, they should write it themselves. "It just kind of dawned on me that all the people that I really respect have created it themselves. It was a lightbulb moment.

"I just started writing with a friend of mine, Phoebe Barron, and we work really well together. We've got three other projects that we're working on. Croydon Cowgirl is doing various BAFTA BIFA (British Independent Film Awards) qualifying festivals, we're developing it into a feature film, which is really exciting!" The actress is also set to play all seven characters in the production, Two, at Greenwich Theatre between August 21 and September 12, with Peter Caulfield playing all the male characters.

Kellie, who is an ambassador for Anthony Nolan, is part of the Omaze Million Pound House draw campaign for the charity. "Ever since I was in EastEnders, I ran the marathon for them in 2008," she said. Kellie added: "I went to see the amazing work that they were doing with stem cell transplants, and I've met so many people along the way, at different events, and really seeing firsthand the work they do.

"They literally give people a second chance at life if you have blood cancer, the proof's in the pudding. And when you hear people's stories, you cannot help but have that connection and want to raise awareness and do as much as you can for the charity, because without them, it'd be really quite frightening.

"I think it's four people every day they help, who have blood cancer and can save their life because of the register." She explained that the trust has five locations, where umbilical cords can be donated to extract stem cells from the blood to offer a stem cell transplant. "There's Kings, where I donated all my children's umbilical cords," she said.

Her son, Louis's cord, was used for somebody who had blood cancer. "For the umbilical cord to be used, otherwise it would have been chucked away at birth, which is scandalous. I think you've got something that is completely pure, rich, and natural, and it can save someone's life.

"To have these umbilical cords harvested, I know they have to pick certain hospitals that have a demographic that is very mixed, which is why it's London, Leicester, and Manchester, but yeah, I find it scandalous. It's brilliant that you give life, you can save a life, anyone who is pregnant, is having their baby at Kings or in Manchester and Leicester, please consider donating your umbilical cord, don't eat it, just donate it."

Kellie Shirley is an Anthony Nolan Ambassador and is backing the charity's partnership with Omaze, which is giving away a luxury contemporary home in Cheshire worth £4 million - along with £250,000 in cash – to raise money for the charity. Draw entries are available now on their website. The Draw closes at midnight Sunday, July 27th.

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