'I spent 15 years as silent nurse on BBC's Doctors'

"If there's any budding writers that need a little blonde nurse to make the background look busy, give me a shout," laughs Maria Pike.

For almost 15 years, she has been the quiet star of the popular BBC daytime drama Doctors.

Thursday will be the last ever episode aired on TV after the BBC decided to stop making the show in October last year.

Maria, from Derbyshire, says her role as Nurse Tash, often referred to by fans as "the silent nurse" has been a "huge" part of her life and her last day of filming was "tough".

Maria is a supporting artist, better known as an extra, and for a short while was one of five nurses that appeared in the background of many scenes.

"They just rotated us," she said.

"But then to my advantage, one by one, they all drifted away which then left me, then they gave me a character name and that's how it all started.

"I was known for a long time as 'the silent nurse' and then when she got a line it was a big thing."

She added: "They are always just a quick one-liner, nothing very complicated.

"This is where it's really quite nice to be a supporting artist, because I've got the beauty of being part of the cast and crew but I've not got the pressure of learning lots of lines."

The programme typically achieves more than a million viewers per episode and a Nurse Tash appearance can vary from once a fortnight to three times a week.

Maria even has her own sub-group of fans who have a Facebook page dedicated to spotting her on screen.

"They love Tash spotting, they often say 'there's been a flash of Tash'," she said.

Maria, from Heanor in Derbyshire, has also appeared in Doctor Who, Crossroads and EastEnders.

"Doctors has always been my regular gig though," she said.

"It sounds like a twee thing to say, but it really is like being part of a family - it's just been amazing."

The BBC One soap, which has been on air for 24 years, wrapped up filming on 1 March.

The drama started in 2000 and was a launchpad for many big-name actors like Eddie Redmayne, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Claire Foy, who have all featured in episodes.

Maria's favourite day on-set, however, was being part of the 3,000th episode, which was filmed in Birmingham city centre and involved Bhangra dancing and "lots of action".

She will watch the final episode with her family and said the only downside of the show coming to an end was that she was not able to take her nurse Tash name badge home.

"I need to hound them in the wardrobe department to see if I can have that," she added.

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