‘I was shocked!'

Leslie Ash on her taking her fearsome Holby City character to Casualty

- ELAINE REILLY

CASUALTY SATURDAY / BBC1 / 9.30PM / DRAMA

Watch out, Holby City Hospital! There’s a blast from the past on the wards this week as actor Leslie Ash reprises her role as Chief Executive Officer Vanessa Lytton after an 11-year hiatus.

The Men Behaving Badly star made her debut as the character in BBC1’s Holby City in October 2009, where a six-month-long storyline saw Vanessa cause chaos for her colleagues. This time she will appear in its Saturday-night sister series, Casualty.

Vanessa is admitted to the ED with a suspected fracture after falling downstairs, and the other medics nominate Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) to treat her – something he’s less than thrilled about!

To everyone’s surprise, Vanessa seems to be a changed woman – but can they trust her?

Here, in an exclusive interview, Leslie, 61, tells TV Times more…

How did you feel when you got the call to come back?