Adele Effanga

Adele Effanga
Holby City character
Petra Letang as Adele Effanga
First appearance	"Intuition" 14 January 2014
Last appearance	"A Friend in Need" 29 March 2016
Portrayed by	Petra Letang
Information
Occupation	Healthcare Assistant Student Nurse
Family	Ina Effanga (mother) Celia Effanga (sister) Mo Effanga (cousin)

Adele Effanga is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by actress Petra Letang. She first appeared in the series fifteen episode "Intuition", broadcast on 14 January 2014. Adele arrives at Holby City hospital to start her role as an Healthcare Assistant on the hospital's AAU ward and is introduced as the sister of established character Mo Effanga (Chizzy Akudolu). Adele is characterised as a "outgoing and friendly" person who plays up to the "good-time girl" stereotype. Though she is hard working and striving towards forging a respected career in the medical profession. The character has a unique dress sense which is "girly and quirky". According to Letang, Adele often wears individual unmatched pieces which can be "outrageous" but often excites actress. She later transfers to the Darwin ward alongside Mo and her presence undermines an insecure Mo. Writers soon introduced more members of the Effenga family including their mother and sister. Following the discovery that Mo is actually Adele's cousin the pair begin to feud.

Adele's other storylines have focused around her relationship with Jesse Law (Don Gilet). She has a pregnancy scare but is later diagnosed with ovarian cysts which have to be removed. Adele also decides to end her relationship with Jesse on their wedding day. She changes her mind because he plans various aspects of their future without her involvement. One of Adele's most high-profile stories has been her attempted murder. This resulted her fighting for her life, having brain and heart surgery and a subsequent coma. Adele has generally been well received by critics of the show.

On 17 September 2013, it was announced that actress Petra Letang had been cast as Adele, the sister of established character Mo Effanga (Chizzy Akudolu). Adele's is the show's first regular Healthcare Assistant and she previously worked as a holiday rep. Of her casting Letang stated "Holby here I come! I can't wait! I'm really excited about causing a bit of mischief and bringing some fun to the wards. I'll be playing Mo Effanga's sister so viewers can expect to see some sisterly love and maybe some sibling rivalry!". Letang previously had experience playing a nurse Naomi Julien in BBC soap opera EastEnders. The character was not well received and Letang worried about being typecast to her previous role and hoped viewers would like Adele better.