Meet Lucille - New Call the Midwife star Leonie Elliott: I want to do justice to the story of the real-life Commonwealth nurses who came to Britain

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Meet Lucille - New Call the Midwife star Leonie Elliott: I want to do justice to the story of the real-life Commonwealth nurses who came to Britain
(Image credit: Sophie Mutevelian)

Leonie Elliott 'excited' to be joining Call the Midwife

The midwives and nuns have always welcomed newcomers with open arms and this series Nonnatus House become home to young Jamaican nurse Lucille Anderson (played by Danny and the Human Zoo star Leonie Elliott).

The former librarian arrives in episode one and while snow delays her journey to Poplar, she’s also troubled by a bladder infection. However she’s soon assisting Trixie [played by Helen George, who's chatted to us about the new series] with a breech birth.

"It so exciting to join because I’m a fan," revealed Leonie, 29. "Lucille is an amazing character. She’s brave and always wants to do her best for the expectant mothers."

Leonie’s proud to reflect the experiences of real-life Commonwealth nurses who came to Britain in the 1960s to work for the NHS.

"A lot of women like Lucille emigrated to Britain then and they’re unsung heroes," says Leonie. "I wanted to do their story justice because I know they’ll be watching."

Call the Midwife returns on Sunday 21st January at 8pm on BBC1.

Caren Clark
Caren Clark

Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times, TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.

Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.

Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot.

In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.