Laila Rouass explains Holby City exit

Laila Rouass has explained why she has decided to quit BBC One’s long-running medical drama Holby City.

Last month it was revealed that Rouass was quitting the drama after just a year in the role of Dr. Sahira Shah – surprising Holby City bosses by deciding to quit despite her character’s popularity. Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine the actress revealed she had decided to leave the series to spend more time with her daughter. Rouass said ‘I love Holby. I’ve been a fan for many years. The crew and the cast are fantastic, so it was a big decision to make. But I’ve got a daughter and you end up not spending much time – missing all the parents evenings and all that. So it was a tough decision.”

The actress confirmed she will film her final scenes on Holby City in a few weeks time but will remain on-screen for some time because the drama films several months in advance adding ‘I don’t think I’m being killed off. Not that I know of!’ Prior to joining the cast of Holby in November 2010 the actress was best known as the glamorous Amber Gates in ITV drama Footballers Wives – 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.

Rouass’ other notable roles include Dr. Sarah Page in the third season of Primeval and Maya Lahan in the ninth season of Spooks.