Call the Midwife Helen George's life – health battle, co-star romance and troll row

Best known for her on-screen persona Nurse Trixie Franklin, Call the Midwife star Helen George has certainly made her mark on the BBC period drama.

She made her debut all the way back in 2012, and as of 2022 still stars in the programme, with her character Trixie best known as a glam nurse keen on gossiping.

Speaking about her character, Helen said she is “the fun loving, party going midwife who’s always up for a drink and a fag and to go out with the boys and have a good dance. She relishes trying to set up her fellow midwives with other guys and push them into relationships and get them married off but with a twinkle in her eye.

“Fundamentally though she’s a midwife and that’s what she’s there to do.”

But what about Helen’s life away from the cameras?

Co-star romance

As so much of Helen’s life has been dedicated to her tenure on Call the Midwife, it’s hardly surprising that she would eventually find romance on that very set.

Though she was previously married to Oliver Boot from 2011 until 2015, the pair went on to divorce.

And it was during the 2016 Christmas special of the programme that Helen met her soulmate Jack Ashton, best know for playing Reverend Tom Hereward in the period drama.

The pair regularly share updates on their romance, with Helen admitting during an interview on This Morning that Jack was “furious” with her for not getting enough bed rest during her pregnancy.

Speaking on the show, she explained that she doesn’t get much time to relax, telling the hosts: “Not really. Jack gets furious with me because I can’t keep still.

“He will literally just order me to lie down. I’m not very good at it.”

She further told The Mirror: “It’s not always easy for women to stay working when they’re pregnant.

“I think sometimes there is a prejudice that pregnant women shouldn’t work, especially in our industry. It was important to me to carry on.”

Health battle

Helen and Jack share two children – Wren Ivy, born September 2017, and Lark, born November 2021.

However, it wasn’t plain sailing for the couple, as Helen has been diagnosed with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), which can lead to both premature labour and increased risk of a baby being stillborn – along with added discomfort for the mother.

Helen opened up about her battle with the condition on social media, posting a picture of herself in a London hospital room with the caption: “This was me just over a year ago, gowned up and showing off my bump in Big Ben’s gaze.

“The day before we had been out walking the dog when I had the feeling of my blood literally boiling, and an itchiness all over my body even in my ears and in my eyes. I had scratched myself so much that my shellac nail varnish had chipped and I was black and blue from bruising.”

ICP runs in Helen’s family, and she had a 50/50 chance of inheriting the condition.

She went on to add: “I knew that ICP ran in my family, I knew I had a 50/50 chance of having it during my pregnancy. Luckily I was able to call @icpsupport on a Sunday and the magnificent Jenny Chambers talked me through exactly what I should do, ‘go to the hospital NOW and get your bloods checked’.

“I tried to brush her off, we had a roast chicken in the oven which I REALLY wanted to eat first. But I went, she was right, and within 24 hours Wren was delivered.

“It wasn’t my ‘perfect birth’. My nail varnish was chipped in all of the photos, my overnight bag was lacking in everything I needed, but Wren was safe, 3 weeks early.

“Without Jenny’s help our story may have been different.”

Slamming trolls

When social media trolls came out in full force to cruelly criticise Helen for working while she was pregnant, the actress didn’t hesitate in clapping back.

The star was able to carry on with filming as camera tricks and various props helped to hide her baby bump.

But it didn’t deter some cruel trolls from hitting out on Twitter, as one told her: “It’s very unprofessional in my opinion, it’s not as if it’s filmed all year round. It’s a short window.

“She should quit if she wants to be pregnant during filming. It ruins continuity and the aesthetics of the show.”

But Helen didn’t hesitate to write back: “I’ve seen too many ridiculous comments about my pregnancy while filming Call The Midwife (also thank you for the lovely comments!) Women get pregnant, our bodies change.

“But we have the right to work if we choose to do so. How about just supporting it, and don’t question it?”

Her co-star Olly Rix, better known as Matthew Aylward, backed up his on-screen pal as he told the user to “take a bow” for “the dumbest tweet of the night”.

Strictly stint

Of course, Call the Midwife isn’t the only show on telly Helen has made her mark on. As well as acting stints in everything from BBC medical drama Doctors to space sitcom Red Dwarf, she took to the Strictly ballroom back in 2015.

Partnered with Aljaž Škorjanec, Helen continuously impressed the judges – but finished in sixth place after being eliminated in Week 11.

And she hasn’t kept quiet amid the ‘fix’ claims hitting the show, either, as she confessed the show is “controlled”.

She said after being eliminated during a dance-off with Corrie star Georgia May Foote: “It is a dance show and a television show so there has to be drama and it has to be somewhat controlled for it to fit the format. I don’t know what happened and I wasn’t privy to it.

“It is TV and it is a show and I enjoyed my time on it. I was quite tired as well. It was quite nice to go home and sit on the sofa for a couple of days.

“Georgia did a lovely dance and they asked me to do certain things in the final in the dance off and I felt I did those and I felt it just didn’t go my way on the night.”

Secret singing career

Helen hasn’t always been an actor – she even appeared as Elton John’s backing singer and dancer before landing her role in the Sunday night drama.

She was just 21 when she took to the stage alongside Sir Elton, but now admits she was “arrogant” at the time as she was distracted instead by his iconic costumes.

She told The Mirror: “I was so arrogant then. I knew his music but I didn’t really know it.

“I was singing along to all of the songs. But at the time I was just like, ‘what’s he going to wear tonight?’ because he’s all about the costumes.

“Now I listen to his music and realise he’s a genius. The lyrics are just incredible too.”

Back in 2005, Helen was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, and once sang for Elton who sat on the board – which inspired him to take a few of the students on tour with him.

Afterwards, Helen admits she “did a few little jobs and then nothing”, and ended up working as a shop girl at Harrods and struggling to pay her bills.

She says she repeatedly tried out for the role of Sophie in Mamma Mia, but “never got it”.

However, that wasn’t the end of Helen’s music career, as she went on to wow audiences with a rendition of The White Cliffs of Dover at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk