{{short description|English actress (1980–2003)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}} {{Use British English|date=July 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = Laura Sadler | image = Sadler Judi Jeffreys.jpg | caption = Sadler as Judi Jeffreys in ''Grange Hill'' | birth_name = Laura Ruth Sadler | birth_date = {{Birth date|1980|12|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Ascot, Berkshire, United Kingdom | death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|6|19|1980|12|25|df=y}} | death_place = London, United Kingdom | years_active = 1987–2003 | occupation = Actress | television = Judi Jeffreys in ''Grange Hill''<br>Sandy Harper in ''Holby City'' }} '''Laura Ruth Sadler''' (25 December 1980 – 19 June 2003) was an English actress. She played pupil Judi Jeffreys in the children's school drama series ''Grange Hill'', and nurse Sandy Harper in the BBC One hospital drama series ''Holby City'' for three years from 2000 until her death in 2003.
== Life and career == Sadler was born in Ascot, Berkshire, and grew up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.<ref name="Laura Sadler : Biography">{{cite web |url=http://www.freewebs.com/laurasadlertribute/bio.html |title=Laura Sadler : Biography |publisher=freewebs.com |access-date=6 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130706160146/http://www.freewebs.com/laurasadlertribute/bio.html |archive-date=6 July 2013 }}</ref> As a young girl she enrolled at the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe, before joining the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.<ref name=bbcbio>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2994486.stm |title=Entertainment | Obituary: Laura Sadler |work=BBC News |date=20 June 2003 |access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref> She was spotted as a future talent at the age of six by Dustin Hoffman, who had seen her in a play and asked to meet her.<ref name=bbcbio/> Before joining the cast of ''Holby City'', she had played Judi Jeffreys in the children's television series ''Grange Hill'' from 1997 to 1999. Her ''Grange Hill'' character died after slipping and falling out of a burning building.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/actress-dies-after-fall-1655829|title=Actress dies after fall|date=19 June 2003|website=chroniclelive.co.uk|access-date=21 September 2019}}</ref> She also played the part of Skirty Marm in a BBC1 children's comedy, ''Belfry Witches''. Skirty Marm and her friend Old Noshie (Lucy Davis) were teenage witches banished to Earth from Witch Island, settling in a sleepy village where they caused mischief.
In 1996, she starred in the feature film ''Intimate Relations'' alongside Julie Walters, where she played a girl with a crush on her mother's adulterous lover. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'', a spin-off series from the long-running BBC medical drama series ''Casualty'', in the show's third series, playing the nurse Sandy Harper up until her death.
Eight further ''Holby City'' episodes featuring Sadler as Sandy had already been filmed, and were aired as scheduled posthumously. BBC scriptwriters consulted Sadler's mother, Sonja Sadler, when devising the character's exit storyline. Mal Young said: "I went there thinking we were all going to be in tears and it turned into an unofficial storyline conference. I said we would find a way of explaining Laura's absence and her mum came up with an idea we all liked."<ref name="laura5">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3200311.stm|title=Holby bids farewell to Sadler|work=BBC News|date=3 September 2003|access-date=20 November 2007}}</ref> Sandy's farewell episode, "A Friend in Need", revealed that the character had won £150,000 in the lottery, and left for Australia to follow former love interest Danny Shaughnessy. After discovering various amounts of money she had left behind for her friends at Holby City Hospital, the characters gathered together in the hospital bar at the end of the episode, and raised a toast "To the one and only Sandy!"<ref name="sandy">{{cite episode |title=A Friend in Need |episode-link=Holby City (series 5)|series=Holby City|series-link=Holby City| season= 5| number= 49|network=BBC|station=BBC One|airdate= 9 September 2003}}</ref>
== Death == In the early hours of 15 June 2003, Sadler fell {{Convert|40|ft|abbr=off}} from the second-floor balcony of the Holland Park flat of her boyfriend and ''Holby City'' colleague George Calil.<ref name=death>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3001562.stm |title=Entertainment | Holby City star Laura Sadler dies |work=BBC News |date=20 June 2003 | access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref> She had consumed a large quantity of alcohol and was later found to have had traces of diazepam and cocaine derivatives in her blood.<ref name=inquest>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3080766.stm |title=Entertainment | Sadler death 'ruled accidental' |work=BBC News | date=4 September 2003 | access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref> She suffered severe head injuries and never regained consciousness. Her family decided to take her off life support on 18 June 2003, and she died at Charing Cross Hospital a day later. Her funeral was held at St. Mary's and All Saints' Church in Beaconsfield, and she was cremated at Chilterns Crematorium, Amersham.<ref name="death"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/389400.final-farewell-to-tragic-laura/|title=Final farewell to tragic Laura|date= 4 July 2003|access-date=23 July 2021|website=bucksfreepress.co.uk}}</ref> Calil was questioned by police, but later released on bail and never charged.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3023706.stm |title=UK | England | No charges over Sadler death |work=BBC News |date=26 June 2003 | access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref> Sadler's death was ruled as an accident.<ref name=inquest/>
Sadler's character, Sandy Harper, continued to appear in eight pre-recorded episodes of ''Holby City'' after her death. Her mother aided the show's writers in conceiving an exit storyline for the character. In the episode, which was broadcast in September 2003, Sandy was revealed to have won the lottery and subsequently emigrated to Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3200311.stm |title=Entertainment | Holby bids farewell to Sadler |work=BBC News |date=3 September 2003 |access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref>
== Filmography == {| class="wikitable" |- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;" ! Year ! Title ! Note(s) |- | 1989 | ''Inspector Morse'' | Sabena<br>1 episodes |- | 1989 | ''Magic Moments'' | Girl<br>TV film |- | 1993 | ''The Sahara Project'' | Laura<br>4 episodes |- | 1995 | ''Goggle Watch/Simply The Best: CITV 40 Years'' | Gaby Goggle <br> |-
| 1996 | ''Intimate Relations'' | Joyce<br>Feature film |- | 1997–1999 | ''Grange Hill'' | Judi Jeffreys<br>30 episodes |- | 1999 | ''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'' | Brenda<br>1 episodes |- | 1999–2000 | ''Belfry Witches'' | Skirty Marm<br>13 Episodes |- | 2000–2003 | ''Holby City'' | Sandy Harper<br>99 Episodes |- |}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0755548}} * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/2994992.stm BBC News — Holby actor speaks of shock]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadler, Laura}} Category:1980 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Accidental deaths from falls in the United Kingdom Category:Accidental deaths in London Category:English child actresses Category:English film actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:English television actresses Category:English voice actresses Category:Actors from Ascot, Berkshire Category:Actresses from Berkshire Category:Actresses from High Wycombe Category:Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School