Midwife Calling!

Great press day today for the Neal Street Productions OFFICIAL Call the Midwife Tour at The Historic Dockyard Chatham with my writer’s hat on for the Kent Film Office and insideKENT magazine.

Tour guide Irene revealed how the production team created snow in July and avoided smelly fish on set before an exclusive preview of the excellent new exhibition featuring real props and costumes from the show. There’s a recreation of the Nonnatus House dining room set from Series 1, the dispensary room, costumes including Barbara’s wedding dress and of course a bicycle!

The locations and set dressing around the Dockyard range from the stone doorways to tenement buildings made from plywood, children’s chalk games on a brick wall in Ropery Walk, the Victorian Ropery building standing in as Poplar Police Station, the Old Yarn Mill standing in as a derelict building / Chinese laundry / boxing gym and the bench in Commissioner’s House garden where Trixie’s engagement broke off.

At the Q&A session I had the chance to ask the cast what they enjoyed about filming at an historic location versus a studio and invited them to share some anecdotes.

It was lovely to speak to such a friendly cast. I’m all smiles after hearing how Cliff Parisi (Fred Buckle) and Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne) so enjoy filming on location around people living and working at the Dockyard. “And everyone is so nice to us!” Cliff said.

The room giggled at witty comments from Stephen McGann (Dr Turner) and the lovely Victoria Yeates (Sister Winifred) as they shared tales of driving woes on set. Stalling a 1950s car while driving around a tight corner is Stephen’s forte it would seem! “Russell Crowe never had this problem!” he joked.

Incidentally actress Victoria Yeates has THE most gorgeous curly red hair usually hidden under a wimple in the show. Actress Laura Main (Shelagh Turner) talked of the responsibility of playing storylines about raising step children. Annabelle Apsion (Violet Buckle) joined the conversation with Cliff Parisi (Fred Buckle) speaking of the delights of their stepson character Reggie (Daniel Laurie) who has Down’s syndrome.

Cliff and Daniel are great pals and hang out in the trailer between takes playing games. They’re even planning an unofficial Call the Midwife Zombie movie! It would seem good humour and fun is the prescribed medicine on this show!

Some exciting new actors join the cast for the new series, which has just started filming the Christmas special. ‪Miriam Margolyes‬ (Harry Potter fans know her as head of Hufflepuff) is a ‘scream’ according to Stephen McGann. Another newbies is ‪Georgie Glen who will play (a slightly scary) surgery receptionist Miss Higgins.‬

Executive Producer Pippa Harris spoke of some of the themes coming up in Series 8 such as the abolition of the abortion law and joined in conversation with Jenny Agutter about the storylines often addressing political issues that are as relevant today as in the 1960s such as Windrush. Ultimately though, Jenny felt the show ‘gives us hope and that’s what birth should be about.’

I was able to speak to Jenny after the press conference and thanked her for her answers and added that The Railway Children was one of my favourite films as a child and I was so delighted to meet her. She replied by saying it was a wonderful film and played an important part in her life so she is always pleased to hear people speak of it fondly.

She is such a great actress and I felt honoured to meet her. I wasn’t the only one who was star struck as Sara from the BBC admitted to me that she daren’t mention the
The Railway Children for fear of getting teary!

If you’re a Call the Midwife fan head over to my Twitter and Instagram for more photos and video clips and book yourself on a tour, it really is brilliant.