BEHIND THE SCENES WITH best ‘This show can change lives’

Holby City is celebrating its 20th anniversary by bringing back some of its most memorable cast members throughout the year.

Rosie Marcel has been back for a while now, and her character Jac Naylor is famed for remaining cool and collected at all times but, last May, the actress revealed she had a nervous breakdown three years ago and needed a short break.

‘It’s very important to talk about mental health,’ she admitted. ‘So I needed a break from Jac to get healthy,’ she explained.

‘I give everything to my job but when I find myself giving too much, I pull back. Nothing requires 100 per cent of your time and that’s an important lesson that I’ve learned the hard way.’

Rosie, 41, is married to gym owner Ben Stacey and they have a three-year-old daughter, Beau.

Happy Anniversary Holby!

How does it feel to celebrate Holby’s 20th birthday?

We’re really excited. We’re having a year of treats: returning characters, new characters, crossovers with Casualty, special episodes…

What do you love most about working on Holby?

Playing my character. I love turning up to work and seeing my friends, but Jac is such fun. I never get bored of reading the quips. Everybody should have a bit of Jac Naylor in them. She says all the things we wish we could say.

Does that make people wary of you in real life?

Absolutely. The amount of people who don’t talk to me because they think I’m going to be just like her. It’s quite amusing!

Do you hear from fans whose lives have been changed by Holby?

I do – especially when I talked about my nervous breakdown. It’s good to be

able to give people hope and tell them they’re not on their own. We’re all susceptible. And I get lots of letters from young women inspired to go into medicine because of Jac.

Viewers love the ‘will they? won’t they?’ between Jac and nursing director Fletch (Alex Walkinshaw). Do you think they should be together?

I really don’t! I want to fight against pairing women off with men. I want Jac to be powerful, strong and the best in her field and not have to rely on a man for that. She loves Fletch and will always be friends with him, but I’ll leave if they end up together! Holby City continues on Tuesday on BBC One.

‘It’sgoodto beabletogive peoplehope andtellthem they’renoton theirown,’ RosieMarcel