Labour Intensive Jenny's Ready To Stand And Deliver

Get to Know the Woman Beneath the Wimple.

- Donna Fleming

Jenny Agutter stars in one of Britain – and New Zealand’s – most popular TV shows, but when she visited these shores a couple of years ago, she was able to get on with her holiday without being recognised.

That might be because unless people directly approach the English actress – who plays Sister Julienne in Call the Midwife – and say, “Aren’t you her from the TV?”, it doesn’t always dawn on her that she’s being stared at because she’s famous.

“I tend to think people are looking at me strangely because I must have something stuck to my face or perhaps my hair looks odd,” admits Jenny (66).

Another reason why she might have been able to fly under the radar during her visit here – which was absolutely wonderful, she says – was because she looks so different in real life to her on-screen character. Sister Julienne is never seen out of her nun’s habit, with her hair hidden underneath the wimple and her face bare of make-up.

“Sometimes I look at the other actresses in their lovely 1960s clothes and I think, ‘Oh, what a shame, can’t I wear something different for once?’ But there is something terrific about going to work in the morning and knowing exactly what I am going to put on.

“I go into make-up and it’s a five-minute powder job. Then the wimple goes on and that helps to totally transform me into a nun.”

The wimple is also responsible for the dreamy look Jenny has.