Laila Rouass Laila Rouass Laila Abdesselam Rouass (born 22 June 1971) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Amber Gates in "Footballers' Wives" (2004–2006) and Sahira Shah in "Holby City" (2011–12). She has also starred in "Primeval" and "Spooks" and been a contestant on "Strictly Come Dancing", in which she finished fourth. Rouass was born in Stepney, London to a Moroccan father and an Indian mother. Rouass worked as a VJ on Channel V in India in the 1990s. While on Channel V, she appeared in a music video for the band Colour Blind, directed by the
Gareth Gates in Manchester before the finals of "Pop Idol". Gates was the runner-up to Will Young on the first series of "Pop Idol" in February 2002. Gates auditioned with Flying Without Wings and was put through to the next round of the show. Despite not winning the competition, he was soon signed up by Simon Cowell to the BMG label. Gates' first single, a cover of "Unchained Melody", entered the UK Singles Chart at number one. The single went double-platinum in the UK, and was voted 2002's The Record of the Year by ITV viewers. This was followed by another number-one