Call The Midwife is like a mini history lesson for me
Laura Main, who plays Shelagh Turner in the BBC drama, talks to SOPHIE DONNELLY about being single, watching childbirth videos on YouTube and playing an ogre
ACTRESS Laura Main is looking a little green around the edges. It isn’t because she has tucked into one too many slices of Victoria sponge around the dinner table at the home of the nuns of St Raymond of Nonnatus but because she has swapped midwives for monsters.
For the past few weeks Laura, who rose to fame playing Shelagh Turner in the BBC’s Call The Midwife, has been treading the boards as bright green ogre Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical. “The time I spend in make-up has significantly increased since taking on the part,” laughs Laura.
“Shelagh always looks very natural but playing an ogre requires a lot of green face paint. There are usually several people working on me at once.”
For viewers who are used to seeing Laura, 36, as the organised wife of Dr Patrick Turner played by Stephen McGann this move from screen to stage may come as a surprise. But the truth is she is returning to her roots.
Call The Midwife may have made the Scottish star a household name but Laura’s career started in musical theatre when she landed the role of Annie at the age of 14. Stints in the stage version of The Sound Of Music followed as did appearances in several productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
But it was only in 2011 when she was cast as Sister Bernadette in the hit BBC series about a group of nuns and midwives working in London’s poverty-stricken East End that her career really took off.
Despite being in its seventh season, viewers can’t get enough of the nuns of Nonnatus House. More than nine million people tuned in to watch the 2017 Christmas special.
The show is famous for focusing on one particular year and tackling the issues of that time, including child neglect, homosexuality, stillbirth and the Thalidomide scandal.
THIS series centres on the year 1963, a time when Britain saw a great wave of women from the Caribbean arrive to work as nurses in a bid to fill the post-war shortage of nursing staff. Unfortunately they didn’t always get the welcome they deserved and this season will reveal some of the uncomfortable truths about life as a black midwife in 1960s Britain through the eyes of new nurse Lucille Anderson, played by Leonie Elliott.
So how much did Laura know about that time? “Not a lot really,” she admits. “Every season is a learning curve. I had heard about the Thalidomide scandal. The same for homosexuality being illegal. But every new series is a mini history lesson.
“I think it is brilliant that we have had such a great range of guest characters who have reflected the troubles of times gone by but this season is the first time we have had a full-time character introduced to tackle those issues.”
And with that, talk turns to Shelagh’s own storyline. Throughout the series fans have followed her on her journey from overcoming tuberculosis and questioning her vocation as a nun to falling in love, marrying Dr Turner and adopting baby Angela. But the one storyline that seems to have hit home with fans is her struggle to have a baby of her own.
So protective of Shelagh are her fans that when she fell pregnant with Teddy in season six they threatened to boycott the show if anything happened to her in childbirth. “It was so lovely to hear that,” says Laura, who trained at the Webber Douglas Academy in London. “When I discovered that was the storyline for Shelagh I was so moved.”
But after five series of watching other women give birth she says she felt a pressure to get the delivery spot-on. “I must have witnessed hundreds of births on the show and we have had some amazing actresses doing a wonderful job of going into labour.
“I’ve always been at the business end watching in awe as they deliver such realistic performances so to be finally in that position myself was a lot of pressure.
“I’m not sure what is harder, coming in as a new actor and having to give birth in front of a crew of strangers or having worked on the show for six series and having to push in front of your friends. We shot those scenes during the last day of filming series six so I had been building up to it for a while.”
One piece of advice that she was given was to watch videos of natural childbirth, which she says was eye-opening. “I searched for it on YouTube and I had to laugh because one only Googles something like that for a role.”
One rumour that Laura, who was born in Aberdeen but now lives in London, is eager to dispel is that she banished her on-screen husband from being on set during her birthing scenes. “It was reported that I had banned Stephen but that wasn’t the case at all,” she explains. “He wasn’t written into those scenes. Like the majority of husbands in that period he was busy pacing the hospital halls while I did all the work.”
WHILE Laura loves being a part of her on-screen family she does miss her original family: the nuns at St Raymond of Nonnatus and the famous cake scenes.
“I do miss all the cake,” laughs Laura but she does admit the lack of it has done wonders for her waistline. During one scene she almost worked her way through an entire cake due to the number of takes they had to do.
And how does she find acting with the children? “It is wonderful working with little Alice who plays my adopted daughter because you get to see the world through her eyes such as when there is fake snow everywhere during a Christmas special or when we had a carousel on set for Tom and Barbara’s wedding. She was so excited.”
But Laura will get a break from the little darlings as the next series of the show is not due to start filming until later this year. She will be living life on the road as Princess Fiona for the next few months, which she says she is looking forward to because it means she gets to go home to Aberdeen.
“As well as seeing my family I can’t wait to put my walking boots on and go for a stroll in the beautiful countryside. I get recognised more often when I’m at home. A few years ago I didn’t get recognised at all but now you see people’s faces light up when they make the connection.”
So will city-hopping have an impact on her love life? Laura separated from her partner of five years, actor Stephen McGlynn, in May last year. While she won’t comment on her relationship status she will say that she has taken some big steps this year. “It feels far too soon to be discussing that but I have enjoyed being single for several months.
“I’m not embarrassed or shy about that. There is a lot of pressure on people to have everything and that isn’t always the case.
“I’ve been doing things for myself. I ran a marathon and went on a yoga holiday to Italy by myself, which was incredible. Being on your own can be a scary thought and I’m incredibly proud of myself for embracing it.”