Natalie Cassidy Trains as Carer for New Series

has revealed that she's training to be a carer, after being inspired by experience looking after her father up until his death in 2021.

The actress, 43, left for good last year, after 32 years playing Sonia Fowler on the BBC soap, having arrived on Albert Square in 1993 when she was just 10 years old.

And she's now embarked on a completely new career path, having returned to education to train as a carer, while being filmed for a new BBC docuseries.

Natalie moved her father Charles into an annexe at her family home to take care of him, with the help of a professional carer, until he passed away at the age of 84. 

Recalling their last moments together, she told the BBC: 'The final moments were breathtakingly hard but quite incredible really. 

'I just remember holding his hand and stroking his arm, and saying, 'It's OK, you can go now, we're all good, you've done your job'.'

The experience inspired her to take up the profession and her journey towards becoming a carer has been documented in Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together, which aims to 'shine a light' on Britain's struggling care system amid financial pressures and staff shortages.

Speaking about her decision to leave her glamorous showbiz job behind to take on a new and challenging career, Natalie told the BBC: 'Caring for Dad right up until the end of his life, and losing him, was one of the most painful things I've ever had to do. 

'But the people I met have changed my life and are so inspirational. That's what spurred me on to do this.

'I've only ever had one job, but I've always wondered what I would have done if I wasn't an actress.' 

While she added that 'caring has really been a thread through my life from very, very young', as she explained how her nan lived with her when she was a child, while being cared for by her mum.

Opening up about the documentary on The One Show on Thursday, she explained it had been 'a real important passion project' and was a reminder that 'there are good people around'.

She said: 'Everybody within that care system - volunteers, charity workers, nurses - has so much empathy. Everybody is caring, so you just have the best time.' 

The doc sees Natalie returning to the classroom for the first time in almost three decades - after leaving school at the age of 16 - to get a Level 3 BTEC in health and social care.

The year-long course saw her studying autism, first aid and dementia, as well as getting hands on experience with placements at a care home, a childhood diabetes unit and with St John Ambulance.

While she insisted she had 'the best time' filming the eight-part series, she admitted being nervous about going back to school in her 40s.

'It was very daunting because I thought, 'I'm going into a classroom here with a load of students. I'm 42. What are they going to make of me?',' she recalled. 

'But they took me under their wing, I became part of the team - it was wonderful getting to learn again.

'I haven't been at school since I was 16, EastEnders all the way, so it was lovely to get back into a bit of education as well. It became a bit of a running joke, we'd finish a day and we'd say 'wasn't that the most special day?''

Natalie said she was awed by the empathy of the teenagers that she trained alongside as she stressed: 'There are millions of unsung carers just doing their business and going about it and they don't talk about it.'

She found herself most drawn to palliative and elderly care, and said her highlight of the whole experience had been her time volunteering at a dementia home, where she bonded with a former nurse who has Alzheimer's.

She gushed: 'Monica was such a lovely lady. I really, really, really enjoyed the dementia home. I genuinely came away from them and thought, I'm really going to miss them, I want to be with them again. I want to spend more time with them.'

However, Natalie admitted that parts of her training journey were very emotional as they brought up painful memories of caring for her dad, declaring that 'grief changes you as a person'.

'Of course it made me miss my dad,' she said. 'Grief never stops - you don't grieve for someone and then it's over. It just changes.

'You change as a person - it shapes who you are, it shapes how you look at the world. You just get better at coping with it.'

Natalie shared the sad news of her father's death in May 2021 with a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, that began 'I lost my precious daddy three weeks ago today.'

Sharing a photo of herself cuddled up to Charles, she hailed her late dad as being her 'whole world' and said, although she's 'not sure what I'm going to do without him,' her family and friends have been 'making it easier'. 

She penned: 'I've been very quiet the last few weeks. I lost my precious daddy three weeks ago today. I wasn't really going to do this post, but I felt I can't come on here and be a knob without letting everyone know that my life has changed.

'He was my whole world and I'm not sure what I'm going to do without him. All I know is my family, friends and work will make it easier. I cannot believe how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life.

'It really is at these times you realise how important relationships are and company and friendship and love is so important. Losing anyone is hard. The NEVER seeing someone again is cruel.

'But it's part of life. And we go on and have our memories. Charles William Cassidy 1937-2021. The best dad and grandad in the world. We miss you so much but we have each other because of you.' 

Natalie bid goodbye to Albert Square in April last year, saying she was 'extremely sad' to be going and would 'never forget' the show.

In a statement, she penned: 'I feel extremely sad to be writing this, but also very excited. After another 11 solid years back on The Square, I have decided it's time to move on to pastures new.

'EastEnders is in my bones so I will never forget where I started my career and I will continue to love the show.

'Thank you to Chris Clenshaw for the opportunity to be such a big part of the 40th anniversary – it's an honour. See ya, Sonia, going but never forgotten.'

However, she acknowledged that the door has not been permanently closed for Sonia, with the writers allowing the possibility of her making a return.

Reflecting on her long association with the soap, she said: 'Sonia's been around since 1993. People have grown up with her. It's nice to have a rest.'

But referencing her previous eight-year break from the show, she then teased: 'Who knows, maybe another eight years now'.

She also spoke about life in the public eye, saying fame was never something she actively pursued, but has become her normal after landing the role of Sonia at 10.

Natalie said: 'I've never known any different. Can't remember really not being recognised or being chatted to – it just sort of is what it is'.