'Time has come to focus on my health': Actor Jim Bartley leaving Fair City after 34 years
Aisling O'Neill as Carol, Jim Bartley and Bela and Ciara O'Callaghan as Yvonne in Fair City
Carrigstown is preparing to say farewell to one of its most beloved residents.
Bela Doyle will exit Fair City as actor Jim Bartley has announced his retirement.
For the past 34 years, Bartley has been a stable cast member and is one of the long-running soap's most recognisable faces.
Many people will know him from the storyline a few years ago when his character married his friend, Cass, in order to avoid a huge tax bill when gifting him some property.
The plotline became a hot topic among viewers and the wider public as people debated the surprising turn of events.
Announcing his retirement, Bartley said he was bidding farewell to Fair City with a tinge of sadness.
"The time has come to focus on my health," he said. "I'd like to wish the whole team the very best of luck.
"To the cast and crew, in particular those who I have spent years working with, it was a joy going to work each day."
Bartley's been acting on RTÉ for over 60 years, having previously been on Tolka Row, the network's first ever soap.
He said that over the course of his career he had made many lifelong friends and made a lot of special memories.
Since joining the cast of Fair City in 1990, Bela Doyle has been through his fair share of dramas - and women.
Doyle had a reputation as Carrigstown's resident Casanova.
Despite being married to another long-time character, Rita, with whom Doyle had six children, the mischievous man left a string of broken hearts in his wake.
There were dalliances and affairs and, in a memorable storyline for Doyle, a secret love child.
Doyle got Barry O'Hanlon's girlfriend, Linda, pregnant. When the child passed away, Doyle could not openly grieve as no one knew he was the father.
A difficult storyline, Bartley gave an honest and poignant performance of a man struggling with his grief and his choices.
The turmoil of losing a child didn't reform Doyle, however, and he went on to get involved in a love triangle with Pauline, Leo Dowling's love interest and eventual wife.
His heartbreak was short-lived, however, and Carrigstown's love rat got involved with Pauline's bridesmaid, Nicola.
You would need to keep a detailed timeline to keep up with this character's trysts.
Over the past three decades, Bartley has seen his alter-ego through deaths, drama and heartbreak - the death of his daughter, Helen, being the most difficult of them all.
Paying tribute to Bartley as he starts the next chapter of his life, Fair City's executive producer Brigie de Courcy said: "Jim Bartley was already an iconic figure in Irish soap when he joined us, and his unforgettable performance as Bela Doyle has been a central part of Fair City for over 30 years.
"As the last remaining member of the Doyle clan, his exit marks a huge shift for Carrigstown.
"His presence will long be felt, both as a performer and as a kind and good-humoured mentor to many younger cast members through the years."
