Gemma Oaten joins Holby City

Emmerdale fans may have seen the last of Rachel Breckle (for the time being, anyway), but actress Gemma Oaten has lined up a top-secret role in Holby City.

Oaten confirmed that she will be guest-starring on the BBC One medical drama next year in an Instagram post – though she refused to reveal any more details.

"Feeling one of the luckiest and loving every minute!" she captioned a picture showing a redacted script. "Can't say anything more."

And she seemed to be having the time of her life on set.

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Gemma Oaten ✔ @gemmaoaten
Really wonderful first day @BBCHolbyCity can't wait for more. Thank you for all your kind words. Sorry not replied to all! Love you! 🙌😙xx
11:08 PM - 12 Dec 2016 · London, England
3 3 Retweets 42 42 likes
Oaten hasn't been shy in hoping for an Emmerdale comeback at some point down the line.

"I'd love, love to go back to Emmerdale," she said back in September.

"I need to go back and beat up Jai."

"Emmerdale was such a massive part of my life," Oaten shared a few months earlier in May. "It is such a treat of a job. So I don't think you can ever put limitations on going back.

"Some people have got theories that if you play a soap role for long enough, then you get typecast. But I believe you can do what you do with a talent – then you'll get somewhere."

Digital Spy

Emmerdale star Gemma Oaten was such a hit in her first appearance on Holby City that she's been invited back.

Gemma made a few appearances on the BBC One medical soap in the spring of 2017 as Nurse Sydney Somers, a firebrand who secretly wanted to get her hands on an inheritance that Adrian Fletcher had come by.

A year later, Gemma Oaten will be reprising her role as the cagey Sydney for a special one-off guest appearance to air on Holby City soon.


"Yes! It's out! Can finally say... #holbycity Has nurse Sydney Somers back," she wrote on Instagram. "And she's been upgraded... She's been poured (literally) into a dress! Loved my first day back on set. Loved!

"So grateful to be asked back. You can't ever take this job for granted. It's hard and it's tough but my God, when you're on that set or on that stage again, it feels like home. One of the luckiest and don't take a moment for granted."

At the time of her original casting in Holby City, Gemma had also beamed on social media that she was "one of the luckiest" and that she was "loving every minute" of working on the show.


Gemma is best known for her four years in ITV soap Emmerdale as the troubled Rachel Breckle, having departed the show in 2015 at the culmination of an abuse storyline.