Helen George has been temporarily written out of ‘Call the Midwife’.
The 33-year-old actress – who portrays Trixie Franklin in the drama series – will be missing for part of forthcoming instalment because producers have agreed to give her time off following the birth of her daughter Wren, whom she has with her partner and co-star Jack Ashton – who plays vicar Tom Hereward – in September last year.
Creator Heidi Thomas said at a screening that "Helen was able to graciously retire – she just had a couple of episodes off", but it’s not yet known how she’ll be written out.
Helen previously admitted that her pregnancy was hard to cover up on screen and she had to shoot a lot of her scenes for the festive special sitting down or with huge capes draped over her burgeoning baby bump.
She said at the time: "It was difficult because it wasn’t a correct storyline for the character, it wasn’t right for Trixie to be pregnant.
"So we did our best to cover it up. You just see me walk across the screen with loads of cushions or I’m sat down a lot, or I’m wearing lots of capes. I’ve always found those birth scenes emotional. But I definitely felt more emotional about it this time."
And, although people recognise her for playing loveable Trixie, the blonde beauty’s midwife – who helped her through the birth of Wren – didn’t know who she was.
Jack said: "We had a midwife and she was wonderful. They all were. We have nothing but praise for the NHS.
"But they didn’t know who we were until after. They said: ‘We didn’t know you were famous.’ But that was great. We were treated just like everybody else."
The blonde star was forced to deliver Wren slightly earlier than expected due to health complications and the couple struggled to adapt to the sleepless nights at first.
Jack explained: "When Wren was so young, having no sleep changed my acting.
"It’s a lot easier to act less emotion when you haven’t slept for 48 hours. And the only tip about babies I learned by being on the show was don’t drop them!"
Helen George is temporarily written out of Call the Midwife
