Ann Mitchell felt "more nervous" starring in ‘Call the Midwife’ because Heidi Thomas wrote her role for her.
The ‘Widows’ actress plays Elsie Dyer in the BBC period drama, and while she admits every part she takes on has a certain amount of "responsibility" attached to it, she felt more pressure to "get it right" because the show’s creator had penned the character with her in mind.
She said: "Heidi Thomas wrote it for me.
"Each role is a responsibility, but I think what happens when something is written for you is you’re more nervous. Very nervous to get it right.
"Why she felt that I was the actor to play this."
Ann feels "very sad" the ninth series is coming to an end this weekend, because she feels like her co-stars are her "family."
She said: "It’s very sad [the series is nearly over]. For us as actors, we are always saying hello and goodbye.
"We make a family, and it seems for that time a real family, and then we say goodbye."
Ann – who played Cora Cross in ‘EastEnders’ – was born in Stepney, east London, just six miles away from Poplar, where ‘Call the Midwife’ is set, and admits she "lived" some of the plots the show has played out.
Speaking on ‘Lorraine’, she added: "These issues ‘Call the Midwife’ often bring up I lived and lived with my family.
"To have an illegitimate child was absolute stigma, and to have any more children when there was grave poverty, huge poverty, was impossible.
"So women like Elsie were known, and they were sought after, and to some extent revered."
Ann Mitchell’s Call the Midwife ‘nerves’
