TV star Jennifer Kirby: ‘Call The Midwife has been a mad, brilliant whirlwind’

THIS time last year Jennifer Kirby was getting ready to settle down, like millions of others, to watch the festive Call The Midwife.

This year, she’ll be viewing with her family again – but this time she’ll see herself in a starring role as midwife Valerie Dyer.

“It was funny last Christmas as I’d joined in the series that followed on at the start of the year,” Jennifer told iN10.

“So I’d filmed all those episodes and was totally immersed in it but I wasn’t in the Christmas special and hadn’t been seen on screen yet.

“I’ll be together with all my family. They’ll be excited while I think I’ll be nervous.”

Ex-Army nurse Valerie is at the heart of the extended episode as she battles the elements to help a young mother.

And there were plenty of elements to battle. Writer Heidi Thomas always tries to incorporate real-life events into the stories and this time it’s the Big Freeze of 1962/63.

“It was supposedly the coldest winter for 300 years,” said Jennifer, 29. “The cold snap lasted quite a while so we had banks of fake snow on set right through to the early episodes of the series.

“We had some really hot days when we were filming but the snow somehow made you feel cold. The sunlight bouncing off of it was quite blinding.

“It was quite an odd experience.”

Call The Midwife has been one of TV’s biggest successes since it launched in 2012 with audiences regularly topping 10 million on Sunday nights.

It is so successful the BBC have commissioned a further two series in addition to the one that starts in January. Plus another two Christmas specials, taking the tales of the Nonnatus House nuns up until 1965.

Jennifer’s only previous TV experience had been a small part in medical drama Holby City.

But she was certainly a star of stage, if not screen, with acclaimed performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In fact, she was on tour with them in New York when the possibility of joining Midwife came up.

She had to film audition tapes and wing them across the Atlantic. But she met the producers the day she landed back in the UK and, to her amazement, got the call to say the part was hers.

“It’s such a huge job and such an amazing opportunity that I couldn’t really let myself think of what might happen if I got it,” she admits.

“I started filming very quickly after that, so it was a mad, brilliant, whirlwind really.”

Jennifer was so keen to land the role that one stipulation from show bosses was accepted in an instant.

They wanted their new nurse to have a short-haired ’60s look.

“I don’t think I quite took the news I’d got the part in when my agent called,” she recalled

“I went a bit quiet and then they said, ‘And they want to cut your hair off. OK?’

“I just said to cut away, take all my hair, shave my head if they wanted!

“I had elbow-length, thick brown hair which I’d obviously been growing for a while.

“But I’ve had all different lengths and styles over the years, so the fact they wanted the character to have short hair really wasn’t a problem.”

Not only did the change of image help with getting to grips with a new character, a charity got a boost, too.

She donated her hair to Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for young cancer patients who have lost their own hair. It felt nice that it was going somewhere useful.”

London-based Jennifer watched the series regularly with her family before starting, but she says the warmth of seasoned veterans such as Jenny Agutter, who plays Sister Julienne, made joining a less daunting experience than it might have been.

“It is surreal on the first day as I grew up watching a lot of these people and suddenly they are there in front of you.

“You go from seeing them on the telly to being their colleague. What was lovely about it was that they all treated me so warmly right away that I didn’t feel intimidated at all.”

Growing up in the Worcestershire countryside, her mum a teacher and her dad a businessman, acting was the last thing on Jennifer’s mind.

Shy as she was, she could never envisage putting herself up in front of an audience until she tried a drama lesson while studying her music GCSE.

She was instantly hooked and a place at drama school was secured.

The original Call The Midwife lead actress Jessica Raine, who played Jenny Lee, left after three series and has since had starring roles in Fortitude, Jericho and BBC’s recent The Last Post.

Initially unsure about the effect being a leading lady in such a big series would have, Jennifer admits being seen by influential producers can only be good for her career.

“I think being on TV like this is bound to change things a bit,” she says. “But I’ve been so caught up filming that I haven’t had a chance to really think about other possibilities.”

What you would think might change is endless recognition from fans. But remarkably she says she’s never once been spotted.

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“I look very different in the show and that’s because the hair is a very different ‘do’,” explained Jennifer.

“When I’m on the show it takes an hour of backcombing, hairspraying and all that kind of stuff every morning.

“My friends often ask if it’s a wig but it is my hair. It’s just they are so good at making it look completely different.

“Not being recognised means I can go my own way just like I always have.”

Jennifer has completed filming for the forthcoming series and says the warm bond the midwives have on screen is more than mirrored among the largely-female cast.

But while she concedes being a real-life midwife isn’t for her, portraying one on screen is a delight.

And although she says being around babies on set hasn’t made her broody, she does relish the show’s trademark birthing scenes.

“I really like getting stuck in,” she adds. “We have a brilliant midwife advisor and I like learning things from her.

“I love those days on set.”

Call The Midwife, BBC1, Christmas Day, 7.40pm.