44 Facts About Sahira Shah

Sahira Shah is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by actress Laila Rouass.

Sahira Shah makes her first appearance in the series thirteen episode "Blue Valentine", first broadcast on 15 February 2011.

Sahira Shah is an old acquaintance of Henrik Hanssen who is the CEO and Director of Surgery at the hospital.

Sahira Shah has been portrayed as an honest character with a "warm heart".

Rouass later decided to leave the show and Sahira Shah departs in the series fourteen episode "Ribbons", first broadcast on 17 April 2012.

Sahira Shah arrives at Holby City Hospital as a registrar on the cardiothoracic surgery ward, Darwin.

Sahira Shah tells Hanssen that she will not be his spy, and does not want special favours from him in return.

Greg feels that Sahira Shah is taking liberties by arranging her childcare schedule on duty and delegating patient care to him.

Sahira Shah suggests that she is incapable of balancing her personal and professional life, but feels guilty when Sahira subsequently struggles in an operation and is berated by Hanssen.

Greg later oversteps Sahira Shah to take the lead on the case of a teenage girl with a rare heart condition.

Sahira Shah offers to remove the warning from her file, and convinces her to join him in an operation she has never performed before, but is forced to call Greg in to assist when she panics in theatre.

The operation is ultimately successful, but an angered Sahira Shah tells Hanssen she is unwilling to be his "special project" any longer.

Sahira Shah comes up with an idea for a mobile cardiac unit, which Jac gives her consultant backing to, but double-crosses her by signing a contract with plastic surgeon Michael Spence, whose department is encroaching on Darwin.

Worried about her future at Holby, Sahira Shah tells Hanssen that she has been offered a job in a Newcastle hospital.

Sahira Shah is furious, and goes against Hanssen's instructions by taking on an emergency patient, who she unsuccessfully attempts to conceal in the basement.

Sweet as cupcakes but with a rod of steel running through her, this twenty first century woman strives for nothing less than perfection in every facet of her life- Sahira Shah is a loyal wife, a loving mother and a brilliant surgeon with a rare gift for surgery.

Sahira Shah was one of several characters introduced during Holby City thirteenth series, at a time when many established characters were written out.

Sahira Shah was created as an old acquaintance of Hanssen's, and their relationship formed a central focus of the series.

Sahira Shah was additionally devised as a love interest for registrar Greg Douglas, and rival to colleague Jac Naylor.

Sahira Shah has the tendency to become emotionally attached to certain patients, which Rouass felt stemmed from her being a working mother.

Sahira Shah admitted that she even did not know what her character's ethnicity was.

Sahira Shah was created as a woman struggling to balance her career with being a mother, something Rouass was able to relate to as a working mother herself.

On 8 November, she stated that she would be filming for several more weeks, and that Sahira Shah would remain on-screen until early spring 2012.

Sahira Shah did not believe her character would be killed off.

Sahira Shah was introduced as a rival for registrar Jac Naylor.

Sahira Shah noted that Jac suspected nepotism on Hanssen's part had been responsible for Sahira's hiring, and commented that her character would not allow "someone like that" to best her.

However, when one of Jac's patients later died in theatre, she was surprised that Sahira Shah stood by her; Marcel called Sahira Shah's loyalty "quite a moment" for Jac.

Sahira Shah was said to have a "dark history" with him.

Sahira Shah agreed that Hanssen is a "big fan" of Sahira's work.

Sahira Shah was reintroduced to the show in the twenty-second series, following Jac's departure from the serial.

Kian is on admin duties and tries to "sweet talk" Sahira Shah into letting him back on clinical duties, but she rejects him.

Sahira Shah then meets an elderly couple with one of them due an operation.

Sahira Shah is "touched by their love and warmth" and becomes determined to save them in theatre.

Sahira Shah is "heartbroken" when they die in the operation.

Hanssen avoids treating him, but Sahira Shah realises this and accuses him of not providing "his usual top-class treatment".

Sahira Shah is not a match for her father's transplant, leaving her "crushed".

Sahira Shah is then glad when Abs visits her and Reyhan at hospital, but Hanssen is "horrified" when he suspects something wrong with Reyhan and Abs.

Sahira Shah intervenes and confesses that he was abused by Reyhan as a teenager.

Hanssen suggests that Sahira Shah asks Abs about his relationship with Reyhan, angering Sahira Shah who slaps Hanssen.

Sahira Shah returns following Reyhan's readmission onto the wards, and brings Abs with her.

However, Sahira Shah is shocked when Abs confesses to killing his grandfather.

Sahira Shah decides to protect Abs and falsely informs Hanssen and the police that she killed Reyhan, devastating both Hanssen and Abs.

Sahira Shah made her final appearance in the show's 1057th episode, broadcast on 4 May 2021.

Sahira Shah said the story features "powerful and hard-hitting scenes".