Annabelle Gold (Nina Wadia)

Former EastEnders star Nina Wadia has landed a guest role on Holby City.

The actress, best known to soap fans as Walford's Zainab Masood, will play a neurosurgeon called Annabelle Gold on the BBC medical drama.
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Nina Wadia on This Morning
© Rex Features / Steve Meddle/ITV
Nina Wadia on This Morning

Wadia announced the news on ITV's This Morning today (February 4), confirming that she has just started filming with the programme.

Admitting that she is struggling with the medical jargon, she laughed: "It's like another language. It literally is like learning Japanese. I had to do this take, walking down the corridor with Corrie legend John Michie - who by the way is the naughtiest guy, as is Camilla who plays his daughter!

"We had to do this long, trekking walk and I had to say this stuff about astrocytomas and monoclonal antibodies. I got all the way to the end and just missed the last phrase of the sentence and said, 'No, I have to do it again!'

"It's hugely difficult. I keep saying, 'Why did they cast me for a neurosurgeon?'"

A Holby City spokesperson told Digital Spy that Wadia's first scenes will air in April and she will appear in five episodes.

Wadia left EastEnders in early 2013 and is now part of the cast of Still Open All Hours. The actress is also due to soon start shooting for a new movie Strangeways, Here We Come, which is being produced by her own film company.

Former EastEnders star Nina Wadia makes her first appearance as a new neurosurgeon in Holby City next week.

The actress has joined the BBC One medical drama for a guest stint, taking on the role of Annabelle Cooper.
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Annabelle Cooper arrives at the hospital
© BBC
Annabelle Cooper arrives at the hospital
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Annabelle makes her introductions
© BBC
Annabelle makes her introductions

Holby's CEO Guy Self (John Michie) has high hopes when he introduces Annabelle to the team, confident that she will fit in perfectly with his plans for the new neurocentre.

However, following Annabelle's arrival, it becomes clear that Guy may have underestimated her as she immediately starts to show her own initiative - not willing to just watch on from the sidelines as his right-hand woman.

Annabelle soon takes Guy's daughter Zosia (Camilla Arfwedson) under her wing and helps her to impress during surgery. Pleased with the support and embracing her chance to escape from her father's shadow, Zosia decides to align herself with Keller's strong-minded new recruit...
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Annabelle starts to prove her independence
© BBC
Annabelle starts to prove her independence

Wadia, best known for her role as Zainab Masood on EastEnders, will be starring in Holby for five episodes.

Holby City airs these scenes on Tuesday, April 21 at 8pm on BBC One.

Former EastEnders star Nina Wadia has insisted that she would never rule out a possible return to the BBC soap.

Wadia will make her first appearance as new neurosurgeon Annabelle Cooper in Holby City next week after it was announced that she is joining for a guest stint.

However, the actress admitted that there is still a chance she could reprise her role as Zainab Masood in EastEnders one day.

Speaking to Inside Soap, she said: "I never know if I am going to be asked but I'll never say never. Zainab was broken when she left. Hopefully she will have gone away and sorted her head out.

"The attractive thing about Zainab was always that she was painfully annoying. If she ever did go back, there is no way she will have mellowed."

Wadia also revealed that there was a lot of confusion when she was filming her Holby City scenes, as fans believed that she was back in Elstree to tie in with the EastEnders anniversary.

"It was odd being back there and not doing EastEnders," she said. "I swear there is some kind of weird vortex that drags me there because the week after I'd finished Holby, I was back in Elstree again to film the new Goodness Gracious Me special.

"The EastEnders cast were doing their live week for the 30th anniversary, so people would spot me and say, 'You're back!' I had to keep replying, 'I'm not!' It was very strange."

Holby City will air Wadia's first scenes on Tuesday, April 21 at 8pm on BBC One.