Helen George swaps the pavements of Poplar for the coast of Cornwall to star in a new production of gothic thriller My Cousin Rachel...
Since 2012, Helen George has been keeping Sunday night viewers entertained with her role as nurse Trixie Franklin in the hit BBC drama Call the Midwife.
The show, based on the memoirs of real-life postwar midwife Jennifer Worth, has seen the character of Trixie evolve from a footloose and fancy-free 50s blonde bombshell to a more thoughtful senior member of the Nonnatus team by way of a broken engagement and descent into alcoholism.
And while fans may have come to terms with a slightly more serious Trixie over the years, they will still be in for a surprise when they see the actress who plays her taking on the role of a possible killer in the psychological thriller My Cousin Rachel, which arrives in Richmond this month.
“Oh, she is a brilliant character,” enthuses the 35-year-old mum of one. “She’s fascinating and fierce and basically just doing what she has to in order to survive.”
The play is the latest adaptation of the famed Daphne du Maurier novel about the exotic and unconventional Countess Rachel Sangalletti who arrives in Cornwall following the untimely death of her husband in Florence. Her appearance and manner arouse dark suspicions among many on the estate, while Philip – the heir to her late husband’s fortune – begins to fall under her spell.
Manuel Harlan
“It’s a great whodunit; did she, didn’t she? Would she? Could she?” she says. “For many women, making a decent marriage was their only means of living. Rachel is complex; actually she’s a real feminist trying to make her way in a man’s world.”
Women’s struggles are something Helen has become something of a champion of through her work on CTM, as the programme has used its platform to highlight not only the physical but mental toll some of the previous century’s medical decisions had upon many women.
“People think of Call the Midwife as this heart-warming, cosy, Horlicks-sipping show, but it often has a social message behind the cosiness. We’ve tackled many of society’s ills – abortion, poverty, cancer... As much as it is a lovely Sunday drama, it has a strong social conscience.”
Now in its ninth series, the show takes around nine months of the year to film, which keeps Helen and the Nonnatus team very busy. The classically trained actress enjoys getting back to her roots and treading the boards whenever the opportunity arises.
“I think local theatre is so important,” she says. “For some people, the West End is just not an option whether that is down to location or costs. So it is wonderful to be able to take shows on the road and open them up to new audiences.”
The only downside is that the job takes her away from her partner Jack Ashton who played Trixie’s former fiancée Reverend Tom Hereward and their two-year-old daughter Wren Ivy.
“I miss her terribly when I’m away,” she admits. “But it goes with the trade, my partner and I are both actors and travel is a big part of what we do. Like most mums, life is a juggle, but it’s worth it.”
My Cousin Rachel is at Richmond Theatre from Feb 3 – 8.
Visit: atgtickets.com
