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Call the Midwife favourite reveals truth behind new role's link to Queen Elizabeth II – and how it compares to beloved BBC drama
By Royal Appointment is touring across the UK this winter.
BBC/Neal Street Productions/Emma Barrott
- Olivia Garrett
Published: Monday, 2 November 2026 at 12:33 pm
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Call the Midwife may be on pause but fan-favourite Laura Main has showed no signs of slowing down.
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The actress, best known for playing Shelagh Turner in the beloved BBC drama, has been on what she calls "the most civilised theatre tour schedule" she's ever known – appearing in the UK tour of By Royal Appointment.
The play follows the relationship between the late Queen Elizabeth II and her dresser as they work together to create the monarch's public image in the later years of her life. Main stars as the titular dresser – who is a loose amalgamation of the Queen's real-life dressers such as Angela Kelly – alongside actress Jane Asher as the monarch.
Speaking about where we find the Queen in the production, Asher said: "She is about 46, and I think she's in a good place – horrible expression, but you know what I mean. She's doing her job and she's doing it incredibly well.
"We see her very confident in the first few scenes, and discovering perhaps at this time the fact that she can speak to her people through her clothes.
"As we know, she was incredibly discreet. She never let on what she felt about world matters. She was very clever about all that. She kept it to herself, but she found ways of, as she puts it often during the play, of talking to her people through her clothes.
By Royal Appointment.
"Certain bright colours she felt were representing certain moods. There are times when things were very tough in the country or in her life, when she would wear either black or muted colours, and it's very much about that clever woman, supported with some very clever designers."
Main continued: "And it's very much a play about the closeness of these two women from such different backgrounds. They were chums, and they had a laugh together and yet she also shared her terror with the dresser.
"There are certain times in the play where she is absolutely terrified, we have scenes where she is scared and pulls herself together, which you never got to see in real life.
"We see her in a completely different way than we, as the general public, will have seen her because in the play it is written by a woman who went through all that, and knew her personally, so we sort of see her backstage, as it were."
The production is the debut play from Daisy Goodwin, creator of hit ITV drama Victoria, and is touring venues across the UK from now until 6 February. The show completed its first, short tour in summer 2025 starring Anne Reid as Queen Elizabeth II and Caroline Quentin as The Dresser.
Despite a successful first run, both actresses have felt the pressure of bringing Goodwin's script to life, as the late Queen's legacy still looms large. As Main puts it: "What Jane's got to do is is humongous. It's absolutely humongous because she is the centre of everybody's world. She's the sun and we're all orbiting around her."
By Royal Appointment.
However, Main also admits she's found herself understanding the figure of the Queen on a much more human level.
She said: "It's ridiculous to say I can relate to the Queen, but when you see the work that goes into the image, you realise she's like an actor, she's like a character.
"Having been on Call the Midwife for 15 years and having got to go to so many lovely things, I know how it feels to put on an outfit and suddenly feel different. You feel confident, and you do your job. And that's what the dresser did for the Queen."
With no Christmas special in the works this year, Main reflected on how it has felt to be away from the structure of Call the Midwife.
"You know, theatre is what I imagined I would do when I was younger. So all the TV, and in particular, Call the Midwife was an unexpected gift.
"I grew up watching Sunday night period dramas on BBC, so now getting to be in one, it was and still is a dream.
By Royal Appointment.
"But in between series, I've been fortunate enough to fit in quite a lot jobs. I really love turning my hand to different styles and I absolutely love that connection you have with an audience on the stage.
"I'm not afraid of the audience, not as I once was. So if I could do it all, that sounds a bit greedy, doesn't it? But that's the dream, to get to work in all those different ways and to go between TV and theatre as much as I can."
By Royal Appointment is showing next at York Theatre Royal (10–14 November), His Majesty’s Theatre Aberdeen (12–16 January 2027), Chichester Festival Theatre (19–23 January), Edinburgh Kings Theatre (26–30 January) and Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (2–6 February).
You can find tickets at the respective venue websites.
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For more recommendations check out the Theatre section or listen to our new podcast In the Interval. Plus, our Jesus Christ Superstar review and Beetlejuice review. We also have events like the best kids theatre shows and best West End shows.
Authors
Olivia Garrett
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