Casualty's Dr Sandhu leaves the show

Elyes Gabel, who plays Casualty's dashing doctor Guppy Sandhu, is leaving the medical drama to start a music career.

He has been writing songs for years and has his own group, who play what he describes as "funky folk".

Elyes has now decided to take a break from acting to concentrate on his music. The band will start recording in the next few weeks.

Elyes said: "It's a very difficult industry to get into and you've got to be very proactive. I always felt a bit precious about my stuff and I didn't want to put it out, but that's the only way to do it.

"I'm going to put my music out, do some gigging and earn my stripes as a musician rather than take advantage of the small name I've developed in the acting industry.

He added: "I'd love to do both music and acting but you know, life isn't always that way. It's very greedy, but if you can do them both, why not impress it on the public!"

Elyes joined the Casualty cast in October 2004.