Spurred on by the painful death of her dad, Natalie Cassidy trains as a carer

Natalie Cassidy looks wistful arsenic she thinks backmost to caring for her dying begetter successful his last days.

"The last moments were breathtakingly hard but rather unthinkable really," says the soap star.

"I conscionable retrieve holding his manus and stroking his arm, and saying, 'It's OK, you tin spell now, we're each good, you've done your job.'"

Cassidy says she was truthful inspired by her clip spent looking aft her dada that she's traded her time occupation to acquisition beingness arsenic a carer for caller BBC amusement Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together.

The amusement hopes to "shine a light" connected Britain's struggling attraction system, which is facing terrible fiscal pressures, staffing shortages and expanding closures.

Cassidy's travel to bid arsenic a carer sees her returning to the schoolroom to get a Level 3 BTEC successful wellness and societal attraction - her archetypal clip successful acquisition since leaving schoolhouse astatine 16. Over the year-long course, she studies topics including autism, archetypal assistance and dementia and has placements astatine a puerility diabetes unit, St John Ambulance and successful a attraction home.

"Caring for Dad close up until the extremity of his life, and losing him, was 1 of the astir achy things I've ever had to do," Cassidy says. "But the radical I met person changed my beingness and are truthful inspirational. That's what spurred maine connected to bash this."

Cassidy is champion known for portraying Sonia Fowler successful EastEnders, a relation she began playing erstwhile she was 10.

"I've lone ever had 1 job, but I've ever wondered what I would person done if I wasn't an actress," she says.

Cassidy says she grew up surrounded by care. Her mum cared for her nan, who lived with her erstwhile she was younger. "Caring has truly been a thread done my beingness from very, precise young," she says.

When her dada grew older and became unwell, Cassidy and her household moved into a location with an annexe truthful her begetter could unrecorded arsenic independently arsenic imaginable portion being cared for by some her and his carer, Linda.

"She made it imaginable for maine to spell to work," Cassidy says. "And Linda was determination astatine the precise end, the extremity moments of Dad's life. I couldn't person done it without her, due to the fact that it's a very, precise scary happening to do."

Her begetter died successful April 2021.

At college, Cassidy is surrounded by teenagers who privation to go carers and paramedics. She says she is amazed by the "empathy of these 17- and 18-year-olds".

One pupil who stood retired is Tilly. Her parent has aggregate sclerosis and is paralysed from the cervix down, and Tilly has cared for her mum from a young age.

"There are millions of unsung carers conscionable doing their concern and going astir it and they don't speech astir it," Cassidy says.

The UK attraction assemblage has struggled with recruiting and retaining unit owed to agelong hours and debased pay. Historically it's relied connected overseas workers but has been deed by caller changes to migration policies, portion the UK's ageing colonisation is lone going to summation unit connected the sector.

As Cassidy discovers, some unpaid carers and volunteers prop up societal care.

The astir caller Census information recovered determination were astir 5.8 cardinal unpaid carers successful the UK. Of these, astir a 3rd said they provided 50 oregon much hours of attraction per week.

Hundreds of unpaid carers person told the BBC they are nether strain oregon overwhelmed. More than 600 responded to a BBC Radio 5 Live questionnaire, distributed by carer enactment web Mobilise, with much than a 3rd saying that idiosyncratic successful their household had fixed up enactment to care.

Some described the loneliness, exhaustion and isolation which comes from their caring duties.

Though she was astir funny successful palliative and aged care, and had already been volunteering astatine a dementia home, Cassidy was amazed however overmuch different topics funny her.

While studying at-home care, she met Lisa, who has superior progressive aggregate sclerosis, and her spouse Gary, who cares for her. Meeting them was "very emotional", Cassidy says. "They are smiling, happy, successful love. Making the champion of what they've got."

But Cassidy's idiosyncratic item was helping radical with dementia, she says, including a erstwhile caregiver who has Alzheimer's.

"Monica was specified a beauteous lady," Cassidy says. "I really, really, truly enjoyed the dementia home."

"I genuinely came distant from them and thought, I'm truly going to miss them, I privation to beryllium with them again," she says. "I privation to walk much clip with them."

The motorboat of the bid marks Caring Matters, a week of BBC contented highlighting the relation of unpaid carers. Episodes of Songs of Praise, Morning Live and Bargain Hunt, arsenic good arsenic broadcasts crossed BBC radio, volition spotlight the relation of carers.

Cassidy recovered immoderate elements of her grooming precise emotional.

"Of people it made maine miss my dad," she says."Grief ne'er stops - you don't grieve for idiosyncratic and past it's over. It conscionable changes.

"You alteration arsenic a idiosyncratic - it shapes who you are, it shapes however you look astatine the world. You conscionable get amended astatine coping with it."

Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together starts connected Monday 25 May 2026 connected BBC One and BBC iPlayer astatine 13:30.