Holby's Luke wins role in Pirates of the Caribbean

Holby City's Luke Roberts is quitting his role as surgeon Joseph Byrne to sail the high seas in Pirates Of The Caribbean 4.

The soap hunk - who joined the BBC medical drama in 2005 - has landed a role alongside Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane and Geoffrey Rush in Hollywood blockbuster sequel Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Sun reports.

Luke recently revealed he'd love to have more action scenes.

Speaking about a Holby storyline in which his character had to perform surgery during a flash flood, he said: "It's fun for me, because my character's pretty starchy. I mean, I love Joseph dearly, but he's quite suit-wearing and nothing's out of place."

It isn't known what kind of character Luke will play in Pirates 4, but the film is shooting on location in Hawaii for 10 weeks, as well as in Los Angeles and the UK.

The film sees Depp's character Captain Sparrow set out on the hunt for the legendary fountain of youth.