Marg Helgenberger - Marg Helgenberger Departs Csi To Season-high Viewer Ratings

Marg Helgenberger's departure from the long-running drama show CSI proved to be a success for its bosses in the short term even if her presence will undoubtedly be sorely missed in the long run. The 53 year-old had been with the show for almost 12 years when she announced her departure on January 18th, with a report on The Press Association stating that she'd always consider a return to her much-loved role as Catherine Williams, stating "one of the reasons why it was a little easier for me to leave the show because the producers said to me practically every day the door is wide open. If I'm available and I'm up for it you betcha."

Until whenever that day may come however, January 24th and 25th saw the last appearances of the Williams character, a special two-part episode drawing a season high attendance for the program. USA Today reports that the second part of the episode, aired on Wednesday the 25th, drew in an audience of 14.3 million viewers despite strong competition from the debut of former '24' star Kiefer Sutherland's new show 'Touch,' which drew in 12 million viewers across on Fox - the network's largest drama debut since 2009.

It's hard to predict what the future holds for Helgenberger who, despite a slew of other credits, will now almost certainly be repeatedly referenced alongside her decade plus stint on CSI; a stint in film may be in the pipeline - the last major silver screen role the actress played being Hera in 2009's 'Wonder Woman' - but we wouldn't be surprised if she returned to CSI, at least as a cameo, at some point down the line.