Frieda Petrenko

Frieda Petrenko
Holby City character
Olga Fedori as Frieda Petrenko
First appearance	"Together Alone" 17 February 2010
Last appearance	"At First I Was Afraid" 22 September 2015
Portrayed by	Olga Fedori
Duration	2010–12, 2015
Information
Occupation	Ward Sister (2010–11) Foundation Training Year 1 (2011–12) Foundation Training Year 2 (2012)

Frieda Petrenko is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by Olga Fedori. She made her first appearance during the twelfth series episode "Together Alone", which was broadcast on 17 February 2010. She departed on 15 May 2012, during the fourteenth series episode "Wolf's Clothing". Petrenko made a guest appearance in series 17 as a patient, diagnosed with tuberculosis, in scenes which aired on 22 September 2015.

Introduced as the cardiothoracic surgery ward's night shift sister, Frieda transfers to day shifts on the Acute Assessment Unit to cover the maternity leave of sister Chrissie Williams (Tina Hobley). Frieda has an initially antagonistic relationship with F2 doctor Penny Valentine (Emma Catherwood). When Penny learns that Frieda was a qualified doctor in her home country, Ukraine, she encourages her to retrain in the UK. Frieda resists the suggestion, but after being made redundant and having her diagnostic ability challenged by registrar Antoine Malick (Jimmy Akingbola), decides to apply for an F1 position, which she achieves early in 2011.

Frieda faced many difficulties in her F1 year, including the death of her father, which saw her return to Ukraine in the episode "Damage Control". When Frieda returned to Holby in series 13 episode 43 Walk the Line, she bonded with new colleague, senior nurse Eddi McKee, over their dislike of new F1 Lulu Hutchison, a Daddy's girl who was determined to prove she was a better doctor than Frieda. Frieda overcame this competition when Lulu was transferred to another hospital; but again left Holby to return to Ukraine in series 14 episode 3 "Under the Skin". In a special episode based in Ukraine, "Wise Men", it was revealed that she returned to Ukraine as her former mentor, Lev Teresenko, was ill with a serious heart condition. Whilst there, she was working as waitress at a cafe. Frieda teamed up with consultants Elliot Hope and Michael Spence in order to save Lev. Afterwards Elliot persuaded her to return to Holby.