LAURA SADLERActress Laura Sadler, who died aged 22 was best known for her role as nurse Sandy Harper in the BBC hospital drama Holby City.Besides Holby City, the actress also appeared in popular children’s television series Grange Hill and alongside Julie Walters in the feature film Intimate Relations.Laura Ruth Sadler was born on Christmas Day, 1980, in Berkshire, England. Raised in London, she took up acting as a young girl and, at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, was spotted as a future talent by Hollywood icon, Dustin Hoffman.Her film debut came at the age of 14, playing Julie Walters’ daughter in the Intimate Relations. However, it was the popular children’s series Grange Hill which really brought her to the public attention and also helped her secure a leading role in TV fantasy Belfrey Witches.On stage, she received plaudits for roles in productions such as Lift Off at London’s Royal Court and Jump Mr Malinoff, Jump at the Soho Theatre.In 2000, she joined the cast of Holby City, a spin-off series from the long-running BBC medical drama Casualty. It marked Ms Sadler’s first major adult role and, as unlucky-in-love nurse Sandy Harper, she soon became a firm audience favourite.“Who could ask for a better job?” she remarked in an interview at the time. “We just go around playing doctors and nurses.”In the early hours of 15 June, 2003, she fell 40ft from the rear window of a block of flats in west London.With severe head injuries, she lay in a coma for four days at Charing Cross Hospital until, on 19 June, 2003, her family agreed to have her life support system turned off. The tragic incident was later rules to have been an accident.The actress continued to appear in pre-recorded episodes of Holby City weeks after her death. Her character, Sandy, was then said to have won the lottery and emigrated to Australia, a storyline Miss Sadler’s mother reportedly helped to write.
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