Casualty star Sunetra Sarker reveals the tragic death of her ex-husband Nick Corfield aged 53 and says 'I still haven't processed it'

Casualty star Sunetra Sarker has revealed her ex-husband Nick Corfield, the father of her only child, has died aged 53 - describing the tragedy as 'a massive bombshell' she is struggling to process.

The award-winning actress and panellist, 53, who played Dr Zoe Hanna in the One medical drama for nearly a decade, said Nick died two years ago but his death has never been made public until now.

Sunetra, who has a son, Noah, 25, with her late ex-husband, did not disclose the cause of his death.

'We had really sad news two years ago of Noah's dad passing away, which was a really big, massive bombshell in our lives.'

Sunetra told The Mid Point with Gabby Logan podcast. 'I don't even think I've still processed Nick's passing.'

The former Come Dancing star, who was married to Nick from 2003 until their divorce in 2013, added: 'Nick passed away at 53 - very young.'

She said she has spent the last two years grieving privately and helping their son Noah - a university student - adjust to losing his father, as well as on the role her second husband, Scott Carey, has taken on in filling the gap left behind.

She said: 'We focused a lot on Noah having this new dynamic because he gets on amazingly with Scott and always has. 

'But he is his stepdad and he's always seen him as that. Now, all of a sudden, there was this big gap where there was no dad role for Noah anymore.'

She added: 'I think Scott has really thought more about that than I would have thought of. He's made our home very much a memory to all the things that Nick may have done and made sure we've got pictures.

'He's just been really mindful - he plays darts with him all the time. He just does a lot of things that don't even come past my mind because I'm focusing maybe more on the emotional stuff.'

Sunetra also said that she keeps Nick 'very present' for Noah, who is throwing himself into his degree in international relations. 

'I think he's worried about forgetting his dad and so I keep him very present. I talk as if he's still here,' she said.

'I say, "Well, me and dad will be really... well, what me and dad would want is this." I think I'm doing it to try and pretend to myself he's also still here.'

Sunetra admitted she worries about the moments in Noah's future that Nick will miss, having watched Nick's daughter, Brodie, from a previous relationship grow up.

'Nick's witnessed how wonderful she became. I do think, ah, what's going to happen when there's these epic moments in Noah's life, and his dad won't be there?

'But I suppose in another sense, I also freeze time and know that Noah's memories of his dad are all so wonderfully intact, that nothing can change it.'

Sunetra, who divorced Nick when Noah was 12, admitted she 'procrastinated' the split because it felt like failure. 

'The word divorce is saying you're divorcing yourself from something you promised you'd try and do,' she reflected. 

'And I don't give up and I really didn't want to admit at times that it had, it had failed.

'Our marriage hadn't worked. We were reasonably incompatible in many places, but to actually say it's over, takes a lot.'

She married her second husband Scott in November 2018 - but the pair have a history stretching back to their days at Brunel University, where they met in 1991.

The couple dated on and off as students before losing contact and reuniting 14 years ago.

'We were Ross and Rachel,' Sunetra said, referencing Friends' famous couple. 'We were on and off, and we were always friends, and then we lost contact for 18 years. And then out of the blue...

'When you laugh again like you did when you were 18, time stands still and you're just back there and it was so nice to remember myself like that.'

Sunetra admitted she had ended things with Scott the first time round - and had regretted the way she did it. 

'I was terrible to him. I just didn't think it through properly and ended it and we were in quite a happy place,' she said. 'I just thought, you don't end up with your second boyfriend. Come on, guys. No one wants to marry their second boyfriend. You've got to go off and find your people and do your thing.'

She added: 'In truth, we both say, had we stayed together, then we might not be where we are now.'

Despite getting married in 2018, Scott - who has children of his own - only moved in with Sunetra in September last year. 

He previously lived with his kids in Kent while she was based in Bristol. The couple had agreed not to disrupt their children's lives until they had all left home.

'It's really new,' she said of their new cohabitation. 'He's in charge of the garden and most of the cooking. I'm in charge of - I can't tell you yet, I'm still working out what I'm in charge of! But it's been really eye-opening how independent I am.'

The couple considered having a baby together when they reunited, but eventually decided against it.

'I was 38, when there was this small window,' she said. 'I think because we'd both been through a divorce each, and we knew how excited we were to be with each other, I think we got quite indulgent in wanting to enjoy what we had.

'Because bringing a fourth child into a family would be quite unusual. But we do wish we knew what that would have looked like. But we discussed it and made the decision quite soon.'

Before they married, Sunetra said she and Scott secretly engineered a meeting between their children at Center Parcs to make sure they got on.

'I said to Scott, without our kids getting on, nothing's going to happen. So we constructed a fake meetup,' she said. 

'He didn't know me, I didn't know him. The kids became friends on the rapids. We engineered for them to queue up behind each other.'

She added: 'At the wedding, they were like, we thought we were the reason! They thought they became friends who then asked us to keep meeting up.'