A Christmas Arrival

The festive edition of Call The Midwife sees the return of an old friend and the appearance of some new faces…

- Jim Maloney

There’s a welcome knock at the door at Nonnatus House in the Christmas Special of Call The Midwife. No, it’s not Santa, but bubbly nurse Trixie Franklin. And everyone is delighted to see her.

“She is very refreshed from her rehab in Portofino, as one would be!” laughs Helen George, who plays her.

“She had a fling with a count, as you do, she’s got her drinking back under control and she’s on the up.

“And what’s nice about the new series (which starts in the New Year) is that she has put her relationships to one side – including Christopher – and she is really just focusing on her career.

“We see her delving into the medical profession a bit deeper and so you get that juxtaposition of the fun, bubbly blonde from the first series and how far she’s come academically.”

But Trixie is still as fashion conscious as ever.

“Her very lovely godmother, who she has been staying within Portofino, takes her shopping on the way back to England via Paris and she gets some lovely couture Givenchy dresses,” says Helen.

“So she turns up at Nonnatus House wearing one of them. However, when a woman starts giving birth in the street, she has to assist in an emergency delivery and the dress gets ruined!”

In real life Helen (34) took time off from the show last year – not in sunny Portofino, but to have her first baby with boyfriend, Jack Ashton, who played vicar Tom Hereward in the show. In tear-jerking scenes at the end of the last series, Tom’s wife Barbara (Charlotte Ritchie) died from meningitis and septicaemia, leaving him heartbroken.

Jack is not in the Christmas Special or the new series and, at present, there are no plans for him to return. But he’s had his hands rather full at home.