Sacha Levy
| Sacha Levy | |
|---|---|
| Holby City character | |
|
Bob Barrett as Sacha Levy | |
| First appearance |
"Talk to Me"[1] 5 January 2010 |
| Portrayed by | Bob Barrett |
| Information | |
| Occupation |
Consultant, general surgery Clinical Skills tutor (prev. specialist registrar, registrar (locum) |
| Family | Esther Levy (mother) |
| Spouse(s) | Chrissie Williams (2012–14) |
| Children |
Rachel Levy Rebecca Levy Daniel Levy-Williams |
Sacha Levy is a fictional character from the BBC One medical drama, Holby City, played by Bob Barrett. He made his first appearance in the twelfth series episode "Talk to Me", broadcast on 5 January 2010. Sacha joined the Keller ward staff as a specialist registrar in general surgery. Sacha is the father of long-serving character Chrissie Williams's infant son, Daniel, as a result of a one-night stand, and has since held unreciprocated feelings for her. Since Chrissie's departure in 2013, Sacha's storylines have seen a relationship with Essie Harrison (Kaye Wragg), drama with his daughter Rachel and fun relationships with his mentees: Zosia March (Camilla Arfwedson), Arthur Digby (Rob Ostlere), and Dominic Copeland (David Ames).
Storylines
Sacha has a one-night stand with Chrissie Williams (Tina Hobley). He then appears briefly in a locum registrar capacity, before, much to Chrissie's surprise, returning several months later on a six-month contract as a locum registrar on the hospital's general surgical ward, Keller, working alongside permanent registrar Jac Naylor (Rosie Marcel) and under consultant general surgeons Ric Griffin (Hugh Quarshie) and Michael Spence (Hari Dhillon). Sacha's post later became permanent, though he transferred to head up the hospital's Acute Assessment Unit (AAU) by director of surgery Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry), after clinical lead Michael Spence became engaged working on the plastic surgery unit on Darwin ward with Sunil Bhatti.
Sacha continues to work on AAU alongside Chrissie, and he tries to win her over several times. Despite this, she enters into a relationship with Dan Hamilton (Adam Astill), and they become engaged to be married. However, when Dan is revealed to be gay, Chrissie becomes closer to Sacha and realizes that he is the man for her as he is so nice. She then goes on holiday to Australia with him, and they later become engaged as well. When Sacha is stabbed by an unstable patient, Chrissie and Michael just manage to save him, despite a lot of blood loss, and it later causes conflict between Chrissie and student doctor Ella Henderson, who left Sacha to bleed out of fear. However, Sacha convinces Chrissie to lay easy on her. They marry, despite Chrissie's original concerns, and return to work on AAU. Sacha tries to help fellow doctor Luc Hemmingway (Joseph Millson), who is having problems, and invites him for a turbulent Christmas dinner. Luc soon departs Holby after receiving advice from Sacha. Sacha befriends new doctor Gemma Wilde (Ty Glaser).
After a family holiday, Sacha's daughter Rachel is taken ill, and he is devastated to learn she has leukaemia. As her treatment begins, he shaves his head to show support to her. When he learns that Daniel is a bone marrow match and is potentially the only one that can save Rachel's life, he authorises the procedure without Chrissie's permission, creating problems between them. After a rocky few months, Chrissie takes Daniel and visits her father in Australia. When she returns, he learns through Daniel's nursery that she is back and suspects Chrissie of having an affair with Michael. However, it conspires she has breast cancer, which devastates Sacha. He later moves back in with Chrissie to support Daniel, but their separation continues.
Development
Casting and characterisation
| “ | A lovable bear of a man, Sacha Levy's capacity to enjoy life is equalled only by his compassion, he works to live and lives to help people, not to climb the greasy pole. But don't let the laid back jocular exterior fool you! Underneath this larger-than-life facade beats a lion's heart, deftly protecting all that he holds dear.[2] | ” | |
| — An excerpt from Sacha's profile on the official Holby City website. | |||
To compensate for the departing characters, several new characters joined the show during the course of the twelfth series. After appearing briefly as Chrissie's one-night stand, Bob Barrett became a main cast member playing Locum General surgical registrar Sacha Levy at Holby City Hospital.[3]
Barrett was initially contracted for eight months as part of the main cast.[4] In May 2012, Barrett stated "I love it here and that's always been the case – since day one, I've had a ball. I love the cast, the crew and the people who run the show - it's a great team. I love being part of a programme that people hold dearly – and I feel the responsibility of that, too.[5] He told Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy that he wanted to remain a part of the cast as long as his character had "a journey".[5]
Reception
A reporter from the Evening Chronicle branded him "the permanently disorganised Sacha".[6] A writer of the Teesside Gazette said that they would never consider Sacha as a "dark horse" type of character.[7] A Daily Mirror critic jested "Bumbling doctor Sacha has never been lucky in love himself, so it's no surprise that he thinks the worst when he sees Essie becoming friendly with a colleague."[8]
References
- ↑ "Talk To Me". BBC Online. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
- ↑ "Sacha Levy played by Bob Barrett". BBC Online. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
- ↑ "Bob Barrett - Artist Information and Profile". The Richard Stone Partnership. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
- ↑ Griffin, Cheryl (31 October 2010). "Bob Barrett Interview". holby.tv. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
- 1 2 Kilkelly, Daniel (11 May 2012). "'Holby City' star Bob Barrett teases dramatic Sacha plot – interview". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
- ↑ "We love drama". Evening Chronicle. (Trinity Mirror). 14 July 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ↑ "3to see, Tuesday April 14". Teesside Gazette. (Trinity Mirror). 11 April 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ↑ "3 to see; August 12 Tuesday". Daily Mirror. (Trinity Mirror). 9 August 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2015.