Sunetra Sarker

In 2017, she played DCI Jane Burr in the second series of ITV's Safe House. Since 2017, Sarker has starred in the Channel 4 drama series Ackley Bridge, for which she received the award for Best TV Character at the Asian Media Awards.

On 23 February 2017, Sarker and her ancestors were the subject of an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? shown on BBC One in which she traced them to Bengal. She learned about her family's involvement in the struggle for independence in India and one of her ancestor's connection to Gandhi. Travelling next to Bangladesh, she visits her great-grandmother's ancestral village where she discovers the story of how her family were caught up in Bangladesh's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

In autumn 2014, Sarker competed in the twelfth series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with New Zealand professional dancer Brendan Cole. In the first week, the couple danced a Tango to "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" by Robert Palmer and scored 24. In the second week they danced a Cha-cha-cha to "Million Dollar Bill" by Whitney Houston and scored 26. In the third week the couple danced the American Smooth to "The Way You Look Tonight" from the film Swing Time and scored 40, including a 9 from head judge Len Goodman. Because of Sunetra's filming schedule, the routine had to be learned in a single day.

Sarker was born in Liverpool into a Indian family. Her father is a retired doctor, and her mother Bisakha taught Indian classical dance, for which she was awarded an MBE in December 2013. Sarker has a degree in Information Systems for Business in Europe from Brunel University London. Her great-grandfather was the lawyer, novelist and political activist Nares Sen-Gupta. She is of Bengali origin.

Sarker's next notable role was portraying the part of Clare Burns in the BBC drama The Chase, until the show was pulled after its second series. In 2007, Sarker was a contestant on the celebrity cooking series Celebrity MasterChef. Subsequently, Sarker played the role of Dr Zoe Hanna in the BBC medical drama Casualty from December 2007 until May 2016. After her departure was announced, Sarker made a promise to co-star Jamie Davis that she would return for one episode when he decided to leave the programme, a promise she honoured in 2018, appearing in an episode broadcast on 13 January.

Sarker married Nick Corfield in 2003, and together they have a son, born in 2005. Sarker and Corfield divorced in 2009. In 2018, Sarker married Scott Carey.

Sarker has played a wide variety of roles in her career. Her initial success came when she was cast as Nisha Batra in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside from 1988 to 1990 and then returned in 2000 until 2003. Sarker also starred in the regional soap opera London Bridge. This was followed by her portrayal of Anji Mittel in No Angels from 2004 to 2006.

Sunetra Sarker (born 25 June 1973) is an English actress, known for her roles as Nisha Batra in Brookside, Anji Mittel in No Angels, Zoe Hanna in Casualty and Kaneez Paracha in Ackley Bridge. In 2014, she took part in the twelfth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with Brendan Cole.