Brenda Fricker joins the cast of The Catch tonight, and TV fans will know her well from her beloved role on Casualty.
But many TV viewers may not know the real-life medical battles and heartbreak she has faced off-screen.
These include her battle with depression, life as a recluse, and the tragic way her marriage ended.
So is the actress married now, how old is she, and why did she really leave Casualty?
Here’s everything you need to know about The Catch star Brenda Fricker…
Brenda Fricker plays Phyllis Doyle in The Catch
Brenda Fricker portrays Phyllis Doyle in The Catch in Channel 5.
Phyllis is the mother-in-law of Ed Collier, the family man who sees red when his daughter starts dating a new man.
The Irish actress looks almost unrecognisable in the role.
The Catch is a gripping psychological thriller which promises to keep viewers guessing until the very end.
What else has the actress been in?
Veteran actress Brenda Flicker has been on our screens for nearly six decades.
Casualty fans will recognise her for playing beloved character Megan Roach from 1986 to 2010.
She’s also known for her performance in the acclaimed film My Left Foot, for which she won an Oscar.
In fact, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award.
In 1990, she won the award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic.
Other film roles include Home Alone 2 – yes, she played Pigeon Lady!
Her other best known film roles include Ethel in the 1996 film A Time to Kill and May Mackenzie in I Married in An Axe Murderer.
She played Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan in Omagh in 2004, a drama which focused on the aftermath of the 1998 Real IRA bombing that killed 29 people in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
After a period out of the spotlight, Brenda popped up in the 2021 TV series Cam Boy as Tilda in one episode.
Before that, she hadn’t appeared on the small screen for six years.
She’s also portrayed Mrs Smith in Forgive Me, Grainne McFadden in No Tears, and Joan Jones in I Was a Rat.
In recent years, she’s starred in a couple of popular mini-series.
She joined the cast of Holding last year as Mrs Meany, a mini-series based on the novel of the same name by Graham Norton.
Who did Brenda Fricker play in Casualty?
Brenda Fricker portrayed Megan Roach in Casualty.
She played the State Enrolled Nurse from 1986, when she first joined the cast of the popular BBC One drama.
Megan was one of the most experienced nurses in the ED.
The popular character faced several heartbreaking storylines.
Megan was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent a hysterectomy.
Her marriage broke down and the resulting stress led to her becoming addicted to valium.
Megan even raided medical supplies to get her fix, but was caught by Charlie Fairhead.
Charlie was also involved in her devastating exit storyline.
Why did she leave Casualty?
In 1990, Brenda Fricker left Casualty and her role as Megan behind.
She told the Independent her role “started off with a wonderful sense of humour, but lost it all”.
She added that all Megan “seemed to do was push a trolley around and offer tea and sympathy”.
However, Brenda returned in 2010 for her final appearance as Megan.
Tragically, she returned with terminal cancer and asked her best friend Charlie Fairhead to assist her in ending her own life, which he agreed to.
Has Brenda Fricker battled with depression?
Brenda Fricker has been very open about her battle with depression and her life as a “recluse”.
One of her best-known roles is the “pigeon lady” from Home Alone 2, a homeless loner who comforts Kevin McAllister when he is lost in New York.
Brenda has previously compared herself to the character as she sees herself as a “recluse” in real life too.
Appearing on The Ray D’Arcy Show back in 2020, she opened up about spending Christmas alone with her dog.
She said: “I would be lying if I said that it would be a nice and happy Christmas because… I’m old and I live alone. It can be very dark.”
When host Ray D’Arcy pointed out that it’s “ironic” that so many people enjoy Home Alone 2 at Christmas, Brenda replied: “Well, the pigeon lady was very much on her own.”
Appearing on Sky’s program Living the Life, Brenda admitted she’s tried to take her own life 32 times.
Last year, she appeared on the Tommy Tiernan Show and said she was getting help for her depression.
After living on her own through lockdown, the actress said: “I went to the doctor and he said, ‘We’re going to put you on stronger anti-depressants’ because I am a bit of a recluse.
“The thing about staying inside by choice is fine.
“But the moment you’re told to stay inside you want to go out.”
Is Brenda Fricker married? What happened to her husband?
Brenda Fricker married director Barry Davies in 1979, but the pair later divorced in 1988.
Tragically, Brenda blamed her husband’s alcohol-dependency on their marriage breakdown.
On the Irish chat show, Sunday with Miriam, she opened up about their relationship.
She shared that, although they were “madly in love”, Barry’s struggle with alcoholism forced her to end the marriage.
She said: “He became an alcoholic and I thought, ‘I will divorce him and see if that frightens him’ but it didn’t.
“We kept seeing each other. We were madly in love.”
The continued relationship was sadly cut short when Barry fell down the stairs and died in 1991.
Brenda was filming a series in Australia at the time, and was unable to attend his funeral.
She said: “They wouldn’t let me home for the funeral as I was his ex-wife and the contract was binding.
“I don’t know where he is buried and I don’t want to know where he is.”
Brenda has not been married since and the pair did not have any children.
Brenda Fricker on her abusive childhood
The actress also endured an horribly abusive childhood.
She has previously opened up about the physical abuse she suffered as a child from her mother, Bina.
In a radio interview, she detailed the abuse she and her sister Nora suffered from their mother.
She said: “We were always bleeding.
“She would do it below the knees so that my father wouldn’t see it when we wore knee socks.”
Brenda said her mother was “extremely violent” and neighbours recalled “seeing our mother beating with us with broken orange box bits and us bleeding”.
Without child protection laws in Ireland at the time, nothing was done to remove Brenda from the abusive household.
She said that she does visit her mother’s gravestone, which took her 20 years to erect, because “my shrink tells me to”.
Brenda also suffered sexual abuse in childhood by a family friend. She shared: “You name it, it happened to me. Someone went down to his house and scared the bejesus out of him and that was enough for me.
“That was my revenge.”
The Catch star Brenda Fricker on awful loneliness
In 2014, Brenda wrote a piece for the Belfast Telegraph in which she opened up about the “loneliness” of losing her “husband, father, best friend and sister”.
Brenda wrote: “Yes, I am lonely. I meant every word of that. It happens when you reach my age.
“My sister died and that was the end of my family.
“I was now an orphan and that does bring an awful loneliness.”
How old is Brenda Fricker and where is she from?
Brenda Fricker was born on February 17 1945 in Dublin, Ireland.
She is currently 77 years old.
Brenda now lives in The Liberties area of Dublin, where she has “turned three cottages into one home”.
Brenda Fricker on The Catch: What did she win an Oscar for?
Ireland is currently celebrating several Irish nominations in the 2023 Oscars ceremony.
But it was actress Brenda Fricker who became the first Irish woman to win an Oscar back in 1990.
She won the award for Best Supporting Actress in My Left Foot.
Brenda played Bridget Brown, the mother of the main character Christy Brown (played by Daniel Day-Lewis).
My Left Foot is a biopic based on the life and memoir of Christy Brown, an Irish man who was born with cerebral palsy and could only control his left foot.
Brenda wrote in The Belfast Telegraph: “I’m very proud of being the first Irish actress to win an Oscar.
“I’m very proud of the fact that it puts me into encyclopaedias and history books.”
Read more: Aneurin Barnard in The Catch: What else has actor been in and how do you pronounce his name?
What is Brenda Fricker’s net worth?
Brenda Fricker’s net worth is estimated to be between £767,000 and £3.8 million, but this is very much speculation.
She wrote in The Belfast Telegraph: “As of now, I’m not broke.
“I’ve a lot more money than a lot of people.”
She added: “I actually gave most of my money away.
“I’m fine, what do I need? Pay my electricity bill, buy some food, pay for the dog, petrol for the car, that’s it.”
The Catch begins Wednesday, January 25, 2023 at 9pm on Channel 5 and My5.
What’s your favourite Brenda Fricker role? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think.