Call the Midwife 2025 Christmas preview as Trixie's marriage gets a major update

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Ahead of this year's Call the Midwife Christmas special, Helen George sat down with Radio Times to discuss what's going on with Trixie and Matthew, her love of the festive season, and her upcoming stint as the Fairy Godmother in the Richmond Theatre's Cinderella pantomime.

How is Trixie this festive season?

Even though there’s a huge distance between Trixie and her husband, things feel more stable than they possibly ever have. For once, she feels settled, strong even, and in a space, psychologically and literally, where she feels at home. But you do wonder how Trixie would react if her whole world were to change, if Nonnatus House faced a fresh threat to its very existence.

Trixie deserves stability after all the tumult but, as an actor, do you wonder where the drama is going to come from if she’s content?

It’s quite a relief, actually. I’ve spent so much time enduring, going through things and being desperately heartbroken all the time, it’s really fun that now she’s fighting other people’s battles and not her own.

Given this is the 14th Yuletide edition of Call the Midwife, there must be a great feeling of camaraderie!

It’s a family and I absolutely adore them all. It’s Judy Parfitt’s (Sister Monica Joan) birthday today; it’s lovely that she’s here so we’re celebrating together and have filled her trailer with balloons and flowers. I had a Halloween party – I went as a banshee and my daughters [she has two, aged eight and four, whom she shares with her ex-partner Jack Ashton] were clowns so were terrifying – and Hilda, a focus puller on the crew, came with her husband and her son, and Victoria Yeates who played Sister Winifred came along, too. It’s just so nice to be in each other’s lives, and for so long.

If you go big on Halloween, I’m assuming that you absolutely love Christmas?

It’s like a festive bomb goes off in my home! I just moved and the reason we chose this house was that it’s just the perfect place for Christmas Day – it’s really obvious where the tree will go. I’ve always loved this time of year. All the family would go to my aunt’s house – she also had this brilliant house – and we’d all wear festive jumpers and play games. I have such fond memories of it and I really want to re-create them for my kids.

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So when do things get under way in the George household?

When I start making the cake – I’ve had my fruit soaking since Bonfire Night so that it’s really boozy.

What do the holidays mean to you?

Family. And charades. And cheese!

Do you stay traditional with Stilton?

I have all of them. But with my cake, I like to have a slice of wensleydale.

You’re also in panto this year, playing the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella opposite Basil Brush at London’s Richmond Theatre. Is that fun?

It’s two shows a day for four weeks. I’ve got a show on Christmas Eve, off Christmas Day, back in on Boxing Day – and there’s only a week’s rehearsal. I’m taking my kids to Lapland afterwards to make up for the fact that I’m going to miss their school shows because I’ll be in one of my own!

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