90s Coronation Street and Emmerdale icon looks unrecognisable after quitting UK for new career

She was a popular star in the 90s and 00s (Picture: ITV)

Jacqueline Pirie ventured down an exciting new career path when she left the world soapland.

The star played the role of Tina Dingle in Emmerdale from 1994-1996. Daughter of Zak and Nellie Dingle, Tina departed the Dales after refusing to accept Frank Tate’s proposal and quitting her job.

Elsewhere, Jacqueline, who is now 48, also had a role in ITV’s Coronation Street.

She portrayed Linda Baldwin, the fourth wife of Adam’s (Sam Robertson) dad Mike.

She now works as an author (Picture: X/Jacqueline Chadwick)

In 2001, Linda drove out of Weatherfield in Mike’s car, which was later pulled from a river. It left the residents fearing she had died but a year later, they discovered Linda was living in Dublin.

It’s been a quite a few years since we last saw the soap star on our screens and unsurprisingly, Jacqueline has changed a great deal as she developed a name for herself as an author.

Now going by the name Jacqueline Chadwick, the former actress lives in Victoria Canada, and has written multiple crime novels.

She also played the fourth wife of Mike Baldwin (Picture: ITV)

The books centre around a character called Ali Dalglish, an ex-forensic psychologist turned housewife, who finds herself involved in murder cases. The titles include In the Still, Briefly Maiden and Silent Sisters.

Jacqueline’s former co-star Steve Halliwell, who played Tina’s dad Zak, died in December last year.

The show will soon pay tribute to Steve and his character, with emotional funeral episode set to air.

‘The Dingles have been at the heart of our show for 30 years now and will continue to be so,’ producer Sophie Roper told Metro.co.uk.

‘We lost Steve recently, the very sad passing of Steve, so we’re going to be marking the passing of the iconic Zak Dingle in the coming months with a Dingle funeral.

‘It’s very difficult for a lot of people who work on the show and for many of our viewers who have loved Zak for many, many years, but there’ll be a fitting tribute to such an iconic character coming up.’