Leslie Ash to join Holby City

Actress Leslie Ash will join the cast of BBC drama series Holby City later this year. The role with the medical-drama is the actress’ first since contracting a hospital infection, five years ago, which has left her partially paralysed.

Actress Leslie Ash will join the cast of BBC drama series Holby City later this year. The role will be Ash’ first acting job since contracting the super-bug MSSA five years ago while in hospital. The infection left her partially paralysed and the actress uses a walking stick. Ash will play scheming new executive Vanessa Lyton in the BBC One series. Her scenes will be filmed shortly but will no air until October. Her character will also use a walking stick highlighting disability.

“I can’t wait to be back on set. It’s the last piece of the jigsaw in my recovery. Disability is misrepresented on television and it’s really fantastic that it did not worry the production team I was disabled. I could have sat myself down in a wheelchair and just gone through life, but there was this defining moment when you say to yourself: ‘I am going to get up, I am going to work hard’, and you put one foot in front of the other.” – Leslie Ash

Last year Ash was awarded £5 million pounds in compensation from the hospital trust in which she contracted the superbug. Before contracting the bug the actress was a familiar face on television thanks to her roles in the popular 1990’s comedy Men Behaving Badly and the ITV drama series Where The Heart Is. Ash also had a role in the BBC One, Liverpool based cop drama Mersey Beat.