Inside Holby City’s real-life tragedies – from 40ft horror plunge to heartbreaking cancer battles and festival overdose
HOLBY City is closing its doors for the last time, tonight, after 23 years.
Over that time, the staff at the fictional hospital have seen their fair share of births, deaths and life-threatening condition.
But it seems the lives of the cast have often been just as dramatic offscreen and dogged with terrible tragedies and crippling illnesses.
From a horrific drug overdose to a shocking death plunge that mirrored the death of the actor’s screen character, we look back at the tragic and heartbreaking real life stories behind the beloved hospital soap.
Breast cancer death
Rebekah Gibbs played paramedic Nina Farr in both Casualty and spin-off Holby City but left in 2006 after having daughter Gigi.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and was given the all clear in April 2013 after having a double mastectomy.
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But less than a year later she was told the cancer had spread to her brain and lungs after suffering a seizure.
She died in a Kent hospital, at the age of 41, in November 2014.
Talent agency Belfield and Ward confirmed the news, tweeting: “Darling Rebekah Gibbs, a true inspiration and dazzling light, never to be forgotten.”
Tragedy at festival
John Michie, who played hospital CEO Guy Self, suffered every parent’s nightmare when his daughter, Louella Fletcher-Michie, was found dead at Bestival in 2017.
The 24-year-old died after taking an illegal drug, 2C-P, and her body was found in woods on the edge of the festival site in Lulworth Castle, Dorset.
During her ordeal her 28-year-old boyfriend, Ceon Broughton videoed her over a period of six hours hallucinating and begging for help but failed to take her to the festival hospital tent only 400 metres away.
She repeatedly shouted for him to call mum Carole and when he eventually called the sound of their daughter overdosing was so harrowing, the couple drove 130-miles from London - arriving too late to save her.
Broughton was convicted of supplying a class A drug and manslaughter, in 2019 and was sentenced to eight and a half years.
The manslaughter conviction was quashed a year later.
On the fourth anniversary of her death in September, John paid tribute to his daughter, tweeting: “ 'Loulou’s love can never die, it’s with us all, always present within us all.”
Suicide after mental health struggle
Moses Mahgoub, who had appeared in several episodes of the hospital drama, plunged to his death from his apartment block after a long battle with depression.
He had previously tried to take his own life by jumping to his death but succeeded only in fracturing his pelvis, an inquest heard.
Moses took an overdose of paracetamol and blindfolded himself before his leap in the early hours of February 2, 2018.
An episode of the soap was dedicated to his memory and co-star Chizzy Akudolu paid tribute to him, tweeting: “Thank you Holby City for the dedication to our beautiful Moses. Rest in perfect peace buddy."
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Death plunge
Laura Sadler played staff nurse Sandy Harper for three years, from 2000.
But In the early hours of 15 June 2003, Sadler fell 40 feet from the balcony of the Holland Park flat owned by her boyfriend and Holby City colleague George Calil, after a drink and drugs binge.
She suffered severe head injuries and never regained consciousness, and died five days later at London’s Charing Cross hospital.
Mum Sonya kept a vigil beside her daughter after the fall and was with her when she died.
Her death was later ruled as an accident.
In a tragic twist, her previous role was Grange Hill’s Judi Jeffreys, who died after a fall from a window trying to escape a burning building.
Crippling health battles
Rosie Marcel, 45, has played consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Jac Naylor for over 15 years.
But the long soap stint has been punctuated with health battles that have dogged her entire adult life.
The actress was diagnosed with endometriosis and a rare blood clotting disorder at 20 after a dramatic hospital dash of her own.
"I was bleeding for about four months then I passed out in the shower and had to be rushed to hospital for an emergency blood transfusion,” she has said.
"The doctors told me I'd almost bled to death and further tests revealed I had a blood clotting problem, the female form of haemophilia."
Six years later, she developed the rare condition Behcet's disease, an inflammatory disease in which the white blood cells attack healthy cells.
Bed bound for almost two years the star, who is married to gym manager Ben Stacey and has a daughter, Beau, was left unable to walk for 12 months.
She was finally diagnosed by an immunologist and given immuno-suppressants.
In 2008, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which had advanced to her pelvis and she had laser therapy to destroy the cancerous cells while continuing to film Holby City.
'Career-ending' move
Angela Griffin played ward sister Jasmine Hopkins and previously starred in Coronation Street.
But after taking on presenting work, she says she was left “petrified” she had killed her own soap career.
She previously told The Sun: “I did Angela and Friends, I did Emergency with Angela Griffin, I presented on the red carpet at the Oscars and the Golden Globes.
“I did not think it would have an impact on my career as I thought, ‘Why? What difference does it make?’
“But it did make a difference and I was out of work for 15 months. I was petrified and terrified.”
She has since got her acting career back on track, starring in Waterloo Road and most recently The Suspect.
Racial abuse
Laila Rouass played Sahira Shah for a year, from 2011, and returned last year after a nine year break.
She has revealed she has been the victim of horrific racism throughout her life.
The actress, who is of Moroccan and Indian descent, told The Mirror she was racially abused growing up and still faced vile comments to this day.
"I got p*** thrown at me every single day," she said. "Just a couple of months ago some guy cut me up in his car and shouted: 'F* off, you fg P.'
"It’s terrible. If you tell people they don’t believe it happens so often."
Death at 76
Michael Angelis played Gordon McCauley, who formed a vigilante group of residents to seek revenge after his elderly father was attacked by thugs.
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The Liverpudlian actor - who was married to Coronation Street's Helen Worth for ten years until 2001 and later married Jennifer Khalastchi - was best known for Boys From The Black Stuff.
He passed away suddenly, from a heart attack, at his home in May 2020 at the age of 76.