Call The Midwife star Helen George: ‘Real life is ugly’

Call The Midwife star Helen George has said she believes the show is so popular because it shows that “real life is ugly”.

The hit BBC show, which is taking a break after 15 series, won the best family drama gong for a 10th consecutive year at the TV Choice Awards last year.

The period drama about a group of midwives working in the East End of London does not try to glamourise real life, George told the Radio Times.

George, who has starred in Call The Midwife since series one, said: “We’re afraid to be ugly on the screen and we’re afraid to be ugly in our real lives.

“But sometimes, real life is ugly. It’s ugly and it’s dirty and it’s painful and it’s hard – it’s f***ing hard – and all that is shown on Call The Midwife.

“Not grotesquely glamorised and not sensationalised. Just truthfully.”

A Call The Midwife film and prequel TV series set during the Second World War are being made, according to the BBC.

George added: “It is just a pause, because we know it’s coming back. But it won’t be the same, with different characters leaving and whatever.”

The full interview can be read in the Radio Times.