Yahoo News Leslie Ash to reprise Holby City role on Casualty after 11 years away
Holby City star Leslie Ash is to reprise her role on Casualty after nearly 11 years away.
Previously, Leslie played Vanessa Lytton on Holby between 2009 and 2010. After an extended break from acting for personal reasons, the actress is now returning in a guest appearance scheduled to air this summer.
"I'm thrilled to be joining the Casualty team for this episode and stepping back into Vanessa Lytton's shoes," she said in a statement. "It's been a few years since she graced the wards of Holby City hospital and I'm excited for viewers to see what's in store for her."
Speaking to OK! Magazine, Leslie explained more about Vanessa's past and how she didn't think she'd ever come back to the soap.
Related: 7 huge Holby City spoilers for next week
"I played a wonderful character called Vanessa Lytton, who was the CEO of Holby City. She brought quite a bit of trouble to the hospital and ended up having to leave. I thought I’d seen the back of her until I was recently asked to come back for an episode," Leslie explained.
"She’s returning as a patient. It’s a great little storyline and it’s given me the chance to be back on set again."
Leslie also said that it was "lovely" to see Derek Thompson again on the set of Casualty.
"My first TV job ever was The Gentle Touch and that was the last time we saw each other. It was over 40 years ago! In an ordinary world we’d be hugging one another, so it was strange not to have any of that," Leslie said.
Related: Casualty star George Rainsford reveals Fenisha's reaction to Ethan's life-changing bombshell
Casualty isn't the only role Leslie's landed recently either as she teased that she got a one-off part in Doctors coming up as well. Explaining how she landed the role, Leslie said: "Weird, isn’t it? You don’t work for years and then suddenly two jobs come along.
"I was sitting in my dressing room, going through my lines, and my agent called to say I’d got an offer for Doctors."
Leslie described her Doctors character as "totally opposite to Vanessa". "She’s almost like a comedy character, I had so much fun with her," she added.
Casualty and Doctors air on BBC One.
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