BERNIE'S BABY BALLAD (12/02/04)

BILL star Bernie Nolan is to release a heartbreaking record in memory of tragic babies.

Viewers will see Bernie, who was in the Nolan Sisters, singing the Irish folk song Mucushla on TV when her character Sgt. Sheelagh Murphy is at the funeral of her dead baby.

The CD also features the track Kate’s Song, written by Bernie’s husband Steve, in memory of their stillborn daughter.

And Sun columnist Lorraine Kelly talks about the actress...

BERNIE NOLAN is a trouper.

She was the raunchy one in the Nolans who looked like she wanted to be Janis Joplin while her sisters were all being Mary Poppins.

When the band split she became one of the best things about the fag end of Brookside and is now a stalwart on The Bill.

Next week, Bernie’s character Sgt. Murphy has to go to the funeral of her baby daughter.

The scenes are almost unbearably emotional, especially when she sings an Irish lament for her lost girl.

Brave Bernie’s performance is astonishing, and was made even more poignant because she too had a stillborn daughter she named Katie.

Bernie has released the track, the haunting Mucushla, with all the proceeds going to children’s charities.

I wouldn’t have expected anything else from one of the hardest-working women in showbiz.