Laila Rouass to leave Holby City

Actress Laila Rouass has decided to leave Holby City after less than a year.

The actress joined the cast of the Casualty spin-off last November as Dr. Sahira Shah but has decided to leave the BBC One drama. The Mirror reports the actress will remain on-screen until next April or May and that bosses were surprised by her decision to quit. “She has proved popular so it was a surprise when we heard she’d be leaving. But we still have time to devise an exit.” an insider told the tabloid newspaper.

Prior to joining Holby City Rouass had a number of high profile roles. Her role of the glamorous Amber Gates in ITV drama Footballers Wives was arguably her first big role. Amber and Tanya Turner (Zoe Lucker) were locked in a love triangle with bisexual footballer Conrad Gates (Ben Price) during the show’s third season. Rouass left Footballers Wives in the fifth and final series with Amber being sectioned following the death of Conrad.

In 2009 the actress joined the cast of ITV’s Primeval for its third series as Dr. Sarah Page but declined to reprise her role for the fourth series – following its cancellation and later resurrection under a co-production deal. Roauss’ character was killed off during the gap between the third and fourth seasons. The actress then appeared in the ninth season of Spooks as Maya Lahan before joining Holby City in 2009.