The BBC has today unveiled that Black Mirror actress Leonie Elliott will be joining the cast of popular period drama.
Elliott – who has also had roles in Sir Lenny Henry comedy-drama Danny and the Human Zoo and Holby City – will be portraying Lucille Anderson in the seventh series.
Her character is the show’s first West Indian nurse and according to programme makers, her character will give an insight into the experience of Caribbean nurses who came to the UK in the 1960s to join the NHS workforce.
Images have emerged of the 29-year-old actress on set filming scenes for the forthcoming Christmas special, set to air later this year.
“We can’t wait to introduce the audience to our new midwife Lucille, played by the hugely talented and captivating Leonie Elliott,” said executive producer Pippa Harris.
She went on to say: “From her first audition, Leonie managed to embody the essence of this elegant, intelligent, witty character.
“Lucille is a fantastic addition to the Nonnatus House team and we know she will be warmly welcomed by the nuns and midwives.”
News of the casting comes a month after Call the Midwife’s creator Heidi Thomas announced that the programme would be featuring its first nurse of West Indian origin.
The seventh run of Call the Midwife will be set in 1963 and look at a number of big issues including leprosy and Huntingdon’s Chorea to tokophobia (fear of pregnancy) and unmarried mothers.
As well as contending with changes in social standards as slums are transformed into tower blocks, the Poplar midwives will have to tackle one of the coldest winters in Britain in the history of the nation.
The story will follow the midwives as they battle through plummeting temperatures, snow, power cuts and frozen pipes to care for their patients.
There will also be a burgeoning romance between Trixie Franklin (played by Helen George) and Christopher Dockerill (Jack Hawkins), while Nurse Crane (Linda Bassett) finds her authority unexpectedly challenged.
It has been announced that Anita Dobson will be making an appearance in this year’s festive special.
Fans wil have plenty of Call the Midwife left to watch after it was revealed that the BBC had recommissioned if for three more series.
The Call the Midwife Christmas special will air on BBC One later this year.
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