Actress Pauline Quirke to join Emmerdale

[Perdita]

Pauline Quirke has claimed that she would be open to returning to Emmerdale for another stint.

The actress played Hazel Rhodes on the ITV soap from 2010 to 2012, before leaving to pursue other projects.

Speaking to Digital Spy about whether she would return, Quirke said: "I really did love it. The whole feel of the thing, I can't describe it.

"I had such a nice time and I made such good friends, but at the end of the day it was a 400-mile round trip every weekend. I did it every other weekend and my husband or kids would come up to see me, but I was very, very happy on it, so if they ever do ask me back... "

Long-term viewers will remember that Hazel was the devoted mother of Jackson Walsh, and she was involved in a high-profile assisted suicide storyline after he asked her and his boyfriend Aaron Livesy to help him die.

When Aaron visits Hazel she finally plucks up the courage to ask him to go with her. Aaron leaves in a rush and takes out his anguish by hurting himself

Quirke said: "I mean, Danny [Miller], who played Aaron, he's back in it now. So who knows? If I was asked, I would love to pop in again, yeah.

"When I'm watching it and I see Bob - that was always the thing, with Hazel and Bob. So you never know. There could be a little something there and I could burst into the Woolpack after three years and go, 'So! What's been happening?'

"I'm good friends with Lucy [Pargeter] and Charley Webb and Zoe [Henry]. So yeah, if they'd have me back I'd definitely go."

Quirke's new show You, Me and the Apocalypse airs on Wednesdays at 9pm on Sky 1.

digitalspy

[Telly Watcher]

I really don't see any point in Pauline Quirke coming back to Emmerdale as Hazel Jackson.

Hazel was an outsider from the start, with Pauline Quirke even being a Londoner-type (a former Birds of a Feather and East Enders actress) who maybe got her Emmerdale part as Jackson Walsh's mother by knowing the Series Producer or somebody else "high-up" on Emmerdale? Her southern accent was never right for the Yorkshire-based Emmerdale show and the Hazel character left Emmerdale during 2012 after a very odd storyline involving son Jackson's assisted suicide. Pauline Quirke presently lives in Buckinghamshire.

Maybe Pauline Quirke is just short of a paid acting role for now and just fancies a role in Emmerdale as part of some sort of personal nostalgia trip and because of Emmerdale's presently increasing trend in TV viewer numbers? I for one would not want Pauline Quirke as Hazel to reappear on Emmerdale, ever. My impression is that Hazel left Emmerdale in complete disgrace. For Hazel to re-appear on Emmerdale soon/ever seems completely ridiculous to me, it sounds as even a very desperate wish for an otherwise well-respected actress. I really don't think Aaron needs this Hazel character and any daily reminders about Jackson ever again.

Sources:

Pauline Quirke would be open to Emmerdale return: 'I would love to pop back again'
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s1...ack-again.html

Jackson Walsh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Walsh

Pauline Quirke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Quirke