Pauline Quirke’s Son Runs London Marathon for Dementia

Pauline Quirke's son Charlie said he only wants to make his mother proud while running his first London marathon to raise money after her dementia diagnosis.

Charlie and the rest of of 'Team Quirke' - which includes his fiance Chloe Thornton and his friend - are running in aid of  Research UK.

The actress, 66, stepped away from the spotlight after being diagnosed with dementia in 2021, a condition which steals sufferers of their memories.

Around one million people in the UK have the condition and her son Charlie, 31, is determined to help the cause to find a cure for the cruel disease. 

His latest attempt to raise money will be taking part in the London marathon, which is a 26.2 mile race around the capital. So far the team have raised £11,000.

Charlie and his father Steve Sheen announced Pauline's diagnosis last year, at which time she had already been dealing with her diagnosis for four years.

Charlie's friend Jack met Pauline on the E4 teen drama Skins, where she played DS Blunt, and he has since gone on to ready the heady heights of Hollywood.

Revealing how he is feeling ahead of the run, he told the Mirror: 'I'd only feel comfortable running if Chloe and James could do it with me, as the two people closest to me.

'When they said yes, we came up with the idea of forming Team Quirke and offered the opportunity to some of my best friends. When I said why we'd be running, they all agreed instantly.'

He added: 'I just want to make my mum proud.' 

Charlie smashed their 'incredible' target of 10,000 so early that they have now upped it to 15,000 in the hopes of raising even more for the charity. 

Generous support so far has come from James Corden, who gave £2,000, and Dominic Cooper, who donated £500.

The team also includes Luke Roskell, who worked with Pauline during his first job on Emmerdale, and Waterloo Road's Adam Long, Gavin & Stacey's Andrew Knott and sports broadcaster James Sharman.

Pauline and Steve will be watching from home according to Charlie, who says his mother will be in his thoughts during the mammoth run.

During his last challenge to raise money and awareness, walked 140km over five days to raise vital funds for Alzheimer Research UK.

He successfully completed the achievement and by the end, he had also helped raise around £175,000 for dementia research.

Pauline's ex-castmate surprised her son Charlie during day two of the 'Trek For A Cure' challenge.

Actors Mathew Baynton, Tom Glynn-Carney and Perry Benson joined Charlie Quirke on a soggy start to the second day of his challenge.

Charlie trekked down memory lane, retracing the Birds Of A Feather star's footsteps by visiting places that are significant to her on his fundraising journey.

Wandering through the streets of Stoke Newington towards the Hackney Empire - where Pauline starred in her first panto with - Mathew shared stories of his time spent working with Pauline.

'Pauline was so wonderful to work with. She played my adoptive mum and we faced the end of the world together,' he said.

'The filming was all very 'Hollywood', but Pauline was a little bit of home for me. We really connected. It was so nice to have her protective, maternal presence on that set because it was quite an intimidating job in many ways.

'I really admire what Charlie is doing. I hope it raises as much money and awareness as possible. Dementia affects so many people. Research is happening and there's so much good that can be done – everything we can do to progress that helps.'

Leaving the historic music hall, Charlie was joined by fellow actor and good friend Tom Glynn-Carney, star of Dunkirk and more recently House of the Dragon.

Tom braved the windy weather to join Charlie for a stretch of today's 28km route, and spoke touchingly of his friend. 

'The filming was all very 'Hollywood', but Pauline was a little bit of home for me. We really connected. It was so nice to have her protective, maternal presence on that set because it was quite an intimidating job in many ways.

'I really admire what Charlie is doing. I hope it raises as much money and awareness as possible. Dementia affects so many people. Research is happening and there's so much good that can be done – everything we can do to progress that helps.'

Leaving the historic music hall, Charlie was joined by fellow actor and good friend Tom Glynn-Carney, star of Dunkirk and more recently House of the Dragon.

Tom braved the windy weather to join Charlie for a stretch of today's 28km route, and spoke touchingly of his friend. 

'I wanted to be here today to support Charlie on this walk for Alzheimer's Research UK, because it's a cause very close to my heart as well as his,' he said.

'The man has such a huge heart. He's taken this awful situation and created a complete paradigm shift by making a positive situation out of something so negative.

'When you're going through something like this, it's important that you have people around you that love and support you. I'm just one of many friends that want to do that for Charlie as he takes on this challenge.

'It's a great honour to be here supporting, championing, spreading the word.' 

Later on Tuesday, Charlie headed to Islington to the Anna Scher Theatre, the performing arts school where Pauline and her Birds Of A Feather co-star Linda Robson trained. 

Later on Tuesday, Charlie headed to Islington to the Anna Scher Theatre, the performing arts school where Pauline and her Birds Of A Feather co-star Linda Robson trained.