Former EastEnders and Waterloo Road star Laurie Brett is about to appear on Casualty – in quite a different role to anything we’ve seen her in before.

Laurie will appear in the upcoming episode ‘Jodie,’ airing on February 15. The special episode will be a flashback to the beginning of nurse Jodie Whyte (Anna Chell)’s career, when she was a student midwife.

While trying to get to grips with her new life, Jodie is dealing with heartache in her personal life and is trying to look for answers in the wrong places.

Laurie Brett will play Maria Mayhew, a stern midwife working with Jodie. Will she be the one Jodie turns to for guidance as she tries to navigate her way through her early days as a midwife?

As this is a one-off flashback episode we probably won’t be seeing Laurie beyond this episode, but her appearance has already got her fans excited with a poster on Reddit saying, ‘Guess who I found making a guest appearance on Casualty!’

It’s not Laurie’s first appearance in Holby ED as she played a character called Gail Donham for one episode in 2021.

She is, of course, most famous as Jane Beale – the ex wife of EastEnders stalwart Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt). She played the character across two decades from 2004 to 2024.

Her last appearance was in the summer of last year when she returned hoping to reconnect with stepson Bobby (Clay Milner Russell). Jane had helped Bobby conceal the murder of his sister Lucy (Hetti Bywater) in one of the soap’s most long-running and dramatic storylines.

Following this appearance, Laurie confirmed that she had left the soap and wouldn’t be returning full-time.

Between 2012 and 2015 Laurie also appeared in the original Waterloo Road – in one of the series that was set in Scotland when the school relocated – as head teacher Christine Mulgrew.

Speaking in Laurie’s own Scottish accent, the character of Christine was chaotic as she struggled to deal with her own alcohol dependence as well as the problems of running the school and dealing with her family.

Laurie’s other TV appearances have included Shetland and The Bill.