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Marty Kirkby
Marty Kirkby is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Casualty, portrayed by actor Shaheen Jafargholi. He first appears in the thirteenth episode of the thirty-fourth series, first broadcast on 17 November 2018. Jafargholi's casting was announced on 1 August 2018 and he was invited to read for the role shortly after finishing filming on EastEnders. Marty is characterised as a young and fashionable student nurse with a "razor sharp wit". He is a confident nurse who has a blunt bedside manner and excellent clinical skills.
Marty is introduced alongside fellow student nurse Jade Lovall (Gabriella Leon) and writers paired them as a double act tackling their final university placement in the emergency department (ED). Their "frenemies" relationship was used as light relief from the show's serious stories. Marty's stories include him lying to his boyfriend about being a single father and coming out to his parents. A negative response from his father sent Marty on a lonely "path of self-destruction", where he starts partying and having casual sex with strangers. Writers used the story to challenge his friendship with Jade, which Jafargholi disliked. His casual sex leads to him being the subject of racism and learning he may have contracted HIV.
The character was given a family link to Kian Madani (Ramin Karimloo), a character on the show's spin-off series Holby City. Producers chose to explore their relationship and Marty appears in an episode of the show's twenty-second series. The character departed the serial in the thirty-seventh series episode "The Straw", first broadcast on 18 March 2023. Television critics and viewers alike spoke positively about the character, with Helen Daly from the Radio Times calling him her "favourite nurse". Marty's friendship with Jade received a more mixed response; Sue Haasler of the Metro thought they made "an excellent double act" but disliked them being placed at odds. His partying story garnered an emotive response from critics, but a same-sex kiss featuring the character received 111 complaints.
On 1 August 2018, Sophie Dainty, writing for entertainment website Digital Spy, reported that actor Shaheen Jafargholi had joined the cast of Casualty as new nurse Marty Kirkby. Jafargholi expressed his delight at joining the cast as he had been a fan of the show, and later called it "an honour [...] to become a small part of this legacy". On Jafargholi's casting, Lucy Raffety, the show's series producer, commented, "He is a huge talent with such a warm screen presence and we know he will bring so much to the show."
Jafargholi was invited to read for the part in early 2018, shortly after he concluded filming for his role as Shakil Kazemi at EastEnders. He had planned to have a break but upon reading the script for Casualty, he decided to read for the part. He then went on holiday and upon his return, he learnt he had been offered the role. He then began filming in July 2018. The actor commuted between Cardiff, where the show is filmed, and his home in London for the role. While filming for the show, Jafargholi would stay in a hotel before returning to his home at the weekend. He did not mind doing this as he found the commute easy. The actor is also Welsh and expressed his delight at working in Wales. Jafargholi joined the cast alongside actress Gabriella Leon, who portrays Jade Lovall. She was pleased about this and dubbed him her "partner in crime". He also liked this and thought it would have been scary to start alone, so he was pleased to work with Leon to start with.
Jafargholi was attracted to the role of Marty as it differed to the character of Shakil. He liked that Marty was older and a similar age to himself, but also found that the change in age meant he had to alter "mindset". Jafargholi was employed to the regular cast and hoped that Marty would establish his own "place" on the show. The actor struggled to learn the medical terminology involved with the show and often relied on the medical advisors on-set for help. He also found himself not knowing what the terminology meant when he was saying it. Jafargholi explained that he spends a lot of time researching the terminology to understand it better, and spoke to his mother, who works in a hospital, for advice on how to make the dialogue appear "natural" and "smooth". He received positive feedback from his mother's colleagues about his pronunciation.
Jafargholi previously appeared in Casualty, as a patient in the eighteenth series episode "Inside Out", when he was six years old. He had forgotten about the role until he auditioned for the role of Marty, and joked that he believes that the patient grew up to be Marty. Jafargholi found that he could relate to co-star Maddy Hill, who portrays Ruby Spark, as she appeared on EastEnders before joining Casualty like him. He said that he "[looked] up" to Hill and enjoyed working with her.
Marty has always wanted to be a nurse. It might have been the thought of helping someone that made him daydream of wearing scrubs, but it was most likely the pull of working with other sassy nurses that lived off endless cups of tea and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of trashy telly. In his eyes, this was the holy grail of occupations. Marty was different in school to many of his classmates and had a healthy dose of ambition from a young age. He's always had a delicious sense of humour and a love of all things trendy.
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Marty Kirkby
Marty Kirkby is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Casualty, portrayed by actor Shaheen Jafargholi. He first appears in the thirteenth episode of the thirty-fourth series, first broadcast on 17 November 2018. Jafargholi's casting was announced on 1 August 2018 and he was invited to read for the role shortly after finishing filming on EastEnders. Marty is characterised as a young and fashionable student nurse with a "razor sharp wit". He is a confident nurse who has a blunt bedside manner and excellent clinical skills.
Marty is introduced alongside fellow student nurse Jade Lovall (Gabriella Leon) and writers paired them as a double act tackling their final university placement in the emergency department (ED). Their "frenemies" relationship was used as light relief from the show's serious stories. Marty's stories include him lying to his boyfriend about being a single father and coming out to his parents. A negative response from his father sent Marty on a lonely "path of self-destruction", where he starts partying and having casual sex with strangers. Writers used the story to challenge his friendship with Jade, which Jafargholi disliked. His casual sex leads to him being the subject of racism and learning he may have contracted HIV.
The character was given a family link to Kian Madani (Ramin Karimloo), a character on the show's spin-off series Holby City. Producers chose to explore their relationship and Marty appears in an episode of the show's twenty-second series. The character departed the serial in the thirty-seventh series episode "The Straw", first broadcast on 18 March 2023. Television critics and viewers alike spoke positively about the character, with Helen Daly from the Radio Times calling him her "favourite nurse". Marty's friendship with Jade received a more mixed response; Sue Haasler of the Metro thought they made "an excellent double act" but disliked them being placed at odds. His partying story garnered an emotive response from critics, but a same-sex kiss featuring the character received 111 complaints.
On 1 August 2018, Sophie Dainty, writing for entertainment website Digital Spy, reported that actor Shaheen Jafargholi had joined the cast of Casualty as new nurse Marty Kirkby. Jafargholi expressed his delight at joining the cast as he had been a fan of the show, and later called it "an honour [...] to become a small part of this legacy". On Jafargholi's casting, Lucy Raffety, the show's series producer, commented, "He is a huge talent with such a warm screen presence and we know he will bring so much to the show."
Jafargholi was invited to read for the part in early 2018, shortly after he concluded filming for his role as Shakil Kazemi at EastEnders. He had planned to have a break but upon reading the script for Casualty, he decided to read for the part. He then went on holiday and upon his return, he learnt he had been offered the role. He then began filming in July 2018. The actor commuted between Cardiff, where the show is filmed, and his home in London for the role. While filming for the show, Jafargholi would stay in a hotel before returning to his home at the weekend. He did not mind doing this as he found the commute easy. The actor is also Welsh and expressed his delight at working in Wales. Jafargholi joined the cast alongside actress Gabriella Leon, who portrays Jade Lovall. She was pleased about this and dubbed him her "partner in crime". He also liked this and thought it would have been scary to start alone, so he was pleased to work with Leon to start with.
Jafargholi was attracted to the role of Marty as it differed to the character of Shakil. He liked that Marty was older and a similar age to himself, but also found that the change in age meant he had to alter "mindset". Jafargholi was employed to the regular cast and hoped that Marty would establish his own "place" on the show. The actor struggled to learn the medical terminology involved with the show and often relied on the medical advisors on-set for help. He also found himself not knowing what the terminology meant when he was saying it. Jafargholi explained that he spends a lot of time researching the terminology to understand it better, and spoke to his mother, who works in a hospital, for advice on how to make the dialogue appear "natural" and "smooth". He received positive feedback from his mother's colleagues about his pronunciation.
Jafargholi previously appeared in Casualty, as a patient in the eighteenth series episode "Inside Out", when he was six years old. He had forgotten about the role until he auditioned for the role of Marty, and joked that he believes that the patient grew up to be Marty. Jafargholi found that he could relate to co-star Maddy Hill, who portrays Ruby Spark, as she appeared on EastEnders before joining Casualty like him. He said that he "[looked] up" to Hill and enjoyed working with her.
Marty has always wanted to be a nurse. It might have been the thought of helping someone that made him daydream of wearing scrubs, but it was most likely the pull of working with other sassy nurses that lived off endless cups of tea and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of trashy telly. In his eyes, this was the holy grail of occupations. Marty was different in school to many of his classmates and had a healthy dose of ambition from a young age. He's always had a delicious sense of humour and a love of all things trendy.