'I think playing Shelagh has had an effect on me'

Call The Midwife star Laura Main on spending the festive period with her family, sharing a love of Chris Rea with her mum, and just what her character Shelagh means to her

- JO BERRY

After filming another emotional series as Call The Midwife's Nurse Shelagh Turner, actress Laura Main is looking forward to spending Christmas in her home town of Aberdeen.

Filming on the new series finished in late November and was marked with a cast and crew Christmas lunch, so Laura is already in the mood to pack her bags and head up to Scotland to spend the festive season with her family.

"I live in London but I'll go up and spend Christmas with my mum in Aberdeen. It's just my mum now, as my dad sadly passed away about three years ago, so I'll be with her," says single Laura, 43. "I've got two sisters up there, and I've got two nephews and a niece, so there will be lots of time with the family and lots of time with my mum. It'll be really lovely, I love nothing more than going home."

Laura's mum Lorna still lives in the house Laura grew up in, and the actress has happy memories of family Christmases spent there - and an early recollection of a year in which she panicked because her parents decided to spend the holidays at a cottage instead.