Show goes on as Holby actress remains critical

The BBC was still planning to show tonight’s episode of Holby City featuring the actress Laura Sadler who is critically ill after falling 40ft from a balcony.

The 22-year-old, who plays staff nurse Sandy Harper in the BBC1 drama, is in hospital after the fall at the apartment of her boyfriend and co-star George Calil early on Sunday.

A BBC spokesman said: “We are still planning to show the original version of the programme after consultation with the family.”

Sadler appears only briefly in tonight’s episode, being broadcast at 8pm.

The BBC has three options – to screen the original version of tonight’s episode, to show an edited version or replace it with another programme.

The BBC spokesman added: “Our thoughts are with Laura and her family at this difficult time.

“Laura’s family is grateful for everyone’s good wishes and support.

“Laura’s agent has requested that her family is given space and privacy.”

A spokeswoman at Charing Cross Hospital, west London, said that Sadler remained in a critical condition.

Calil, who plays Sadler’s drug-dealer boyfriend Sean Hunt in Holby City, was arrested and questioned about the incident and released on police bail pending further inquiries.

He said he was “absolutely devastated” after the incident at his apartment in Holland Park, west London.

“She is the love of my life. I am so incredibly upset over this – I just cannot believe what has happened,” he said in a statement.

“I have co-operated with the police fully in their investigation, which continues. For this reason, I cannot at the moment talk specifically about the events of Sunday morning.”

In 1999 Sadler played a character, Judi Jeffreys, in cult children’s series Grange Hill, who died after a fall from a window escaping from a burning building.

She has also appeared on TV in Jane Eyre, Inspector Morse, Ruth Rendell Mysteries and Belfry Witches.