The best family films to watch in the BT TV Player
Jul 21 | 2 min readIt’s one of TV’s most beloved dramas which has launched the careers of new talent as well as featuring some of our most celebrated actors.
With eight series to boot – and a ninth planned for early 2020 along with a 2019 Christmas special – the show has retained many of its original cast, including Jenny Agutter, Helen George, and Stephen McGann.
But what became of the original stars who have bid farewell to the BBC period drama?
Jessica Raine
Cast as Jenny Lee, the main character and narrator of the story, it came as a shock to viewers when Jessica decided to leave at the end of series three.
Luckily, Call the Midwife has managed to overcome the departure of its leading lady and Raine has gone on to star in a wide range of TV projects.
She featured in the second series of police thriller Line of Duty, played Jane Rochford in the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, was one half of Agatha Christie’s husband-and-wife crime-fighting duo alongside David Walliams in Partners in Crime, and was the star of recent military period drama The Last Post.
Raine has also appeared in psychological thriller Fortitude, ITV’s 19th century railway construction drama Jericho and hit BBC drama, Baptiste.
Pam Ferris
Established acting legend Pam Ferris was a big signing for the series when it began, and completed five seasons as Sister Evangelina at Nonnatus House.
Since hanging up her wimple, she has completed a couple of voiceover projects and can be seen in films Tolkien, a biopic of the Lord of the Rings author; and Holmes and Watson, a new take on Sherlock Holmes where she plays Queen Victoria.
Ferris is known for playing Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds of May, Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme, and Trunchbull in the 1996 film of Roald Dahl's Matilda.
Bryony Hannah
The actress who played Cynthia Miller was still with the Call the Midwife crew until the end of series six, so she hasn’t had much time yet to move on from the period drama.
Hannah - who was nominated for an Olivier award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role after playing opposite Kiera Knightley and Elisabeth Moss in The Children's Hour in 2012 - is looking to return to theatre in the posthumous premiere of Kevin Elyot’s final play, Twilight Song, alongside Adam Garcia and Paul Higgins.
Those who spend a lot of time with small children may also recognise Hannah’s voice as that of Padget in CBeebies series Bing.
Miranda Hart
Comedian Miranda Hart showed fans a totally different side to her talents when she arrived on screen as the loveable Chummy.
The star is best known for her work on her self-titled sitcom, which ended at the same time as her Midwife run, but watch out for Hart making it big in Hollywood with a role in the new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, alongside Bill Nighy, Gemma Whelan and Rupert Graves.
More recently Hart played Dew Drop Fairy in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms alongside Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Macfadyen, Jack Whitehall, Richard E. Grant, Omid Djalili and Meera Syal.
Emerald Fennell
A later addition to the cast was Emerald Fennell, who played Patsy Mount from series three until the end of the last series, when she announced that she would not be returning for number seven.
Since leaving her role as a midwife, we've seen Emerald in an episode of Victoria and she also appeared in Vita and Virginia, about the love affair between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West.
Emerald is an author too, publishing two children's thrillers and a number of TV scripts, the most high profile being the second series of Killing Eve.
Kate Lamb
Playing midwife Delia Busby, Kate Lamb starred in series five and six as Patsy's (Emerald Fennell) love interest.
Like Fennell, she will not be back for series seven and so far has not confirmed any new projects.
Kate's previous work includes roles on TV series such as Silk, Endeavour, and Siblings.
