Cathy Shipton has said she would like a role in Doctor Who or a period drama when she hangs up her nurse’s uniform and leaves Casualty.
The veteran actress will depart the series more than three decades after first appearing on screen as Lisa “Duffy” Duffin in the pilot episode in 1986.
She has since been in more than 350 episodes of the BBC medical drama but would like to turn her hand to something completely different.
She told the PA news agency: “You are who you are and perhaps I will play Duffy-type characters for the rest of my professional career but I would love to play more baddies and conflicted characters and go to the dark side a bit.
“Perhaps people who do bad things for good reasons?
“Also, having played most of my professional life in modern clothes, I would love to get into costumes and corsets.
“Another Downton please! But I would love to do the downstairs, I don’t know about being the grand lady, Or I would love to be Mrs Dracula, that kind of stuff.
“Or cover me in latex and let’s do Doctor Who! You’ve got to have Doctor Who on your CV. They have got to find a little strange weird character in there for me.”
Shipton said it has been emotional leaving a show that has been such a big part of her life but added: “Without getting too psychobabble, it’s closure.
“The character has been really honoured in this final storyline so there is a satisfying sense of completion.”
Last year it was revealed that Duffy had been diagnosed with vascular dementia and the illness has presented a new challenge to Shipton, who said: “Every episode she’s like a different character. She’s like a child or she’s lost.
“It’s been very challenging to play but it whets your appetite for all these other parts, so we will just have to see what lies up ahead.”
She added: “The power of Casualty is how invested people are in that character, your telly is in your room, in your house.
“They have gone through all the ups and downs with Duffy so there is a kind of power that comes with the week in and week out drama series, where it does hit home in a different kind of way and I really do feel that.
“I’m also proud of how it’s being handled. The research and the care that was taken over this storyline pays tribute to the character.”
Shipton’s last episode of Casualty will be on February 1 on BBC One.
