Sophie Powles

Career

Powles has guest-starred in dramas such as Holby City and Dalziel and Pascoe before landing a role in the ITV drama series Britannia High. Her character Ronnie was the only one of the main cast who was not a student at the fictional school of performing arts. Ronnie was created especially for Powles, as all the main cast were already in place. On the 22 May 2009, it was announced that Powles was to join soap opera Emmerdale as Holly Barton. Powles dyed her natural blonde hair brown for the role. On 15 January 2012, Susan Hill of the Daily Star announced Powles had quit her role as Holly and would be departing Emmerdale later in the year. On 5 February 2016, new series producer Iain MacLeod announced that Powles had reprised her role and would be returning to Emmerdale the following month. However, just under seven months later in August 2016, Powles once again quit the soap, with a source stating that she "never saw her return as a long one". The actress had already filmed her final scenes at this point, and the character is now expected to depart towards the end of 2016. She departed the show on the 29 September 2016 when her character died. She then later took part in a theatre play called 'Rehearsal For Murder', which toured the UK.