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Call the FEISTY new mıdwife
New recruit Jennifer Kirby tells how her character Valerie will ruffle feathers among her buttoned-up colleagues in the hit show
Bar the obligatory bit part in Holby City, Jennifer Kirby is making her TV debut – and it just happens to be in the BBC’s most popular drama, Call The Midwife. She first appeared as ex-Army nurse Valerie Dyer in episode two a few weeks ago, when she helped former nun Shelagh Turner tend to the injured after an explosion at the docks near the pub she was working in. And now, with Sister Mary Cynthia in hospital and Nurse Patsy Mount looking after her father in Hong Kong, Valerie’s been drafted in to Nonnatus House as a new midwife recruit.
In the show it’s a significant moment for East End girl Valerie, who was delivered by the midwives and has always admired their work.
It’s a significant moment for Jennifer in real life too, a screen debut that’s being watched by more than six million viewers every week. ‘Valerie and I are going through the same thing,’ she says. ‘I’ve been a fan of the show from the beginning; and Valerie’s a huge fan of the nuns and midwives. She was delivered by Sister Monica Joan, and she grew up thinking the babies came out of the midwives’ medical bags!
‘When I was at drama school
I’d watch Call The Midwife every Sunday night, and when I was offered the audition I thought, “This is amazing even to go for”. I never dreamed I’d actually get the part. But now I feel really at home in the character.’
Jennifer says pinch-me moments happened all the time during filming. ‘My first scene was with Sister Julienne, played by Jenny Agutter. She’s a legend. I gulped and thought, “OK, this is really happening” but I was very nervous. I’ve always loved Linda Bassett, who plays Nurse Crane, too and working with her was scary, but brilliant. It was my first time on the set of a TV show on this scale.
‘When I walked into the explosion scene I couldn’t believe how much work had gone into making it look real. It was incredible – even the pub was full of period pieces – and all I had to do was say my lines. At times I thought , “Have I made this up? Is it a dream?”’
Valerie’s a fiery contrast to the more buttoned- up midwives and she ruffles feathers at NonJennifer before she cut
her hair for the show natus House. Sharing a room with fashionista Trixie, she removes some of her clothes from a shared cupboard to make space for her own. And she’s thrown into the deep end next week when she encounters female genital mutilation, a cultural practice in which young women are circumcised. ‘She’s feisty and sometimes speaks before she thinks,’ says Jennifer. ‘But she’s caring and she loves to look after people.’
Although Jennifer, who’s 28 and lives with her actor boyfriend Robert Gilbert (who played Tazeem in Sky 1’s Sinbad) in west London, enjoys working with babies on the show, she’s not ready to start a family yet. ‘Being surrounded by babies can be emotional,’ she says. ‘It’s enough to make anyone broody but I’m happy to wait. They’re less gorgeous when they’re crying.’
Her parents are thrilled that her first job in TV is on such a popular show, but they were surprised when she announced at the age of 15 that she wanted to be an actress. ‘There was no history of acting in my family,’ she says. Her mother is a teacher and her father a businessman. ‘I was painfully shy so they were shocked at first. It happened by accident. I was doing GCSE music and I was terrible at it, so the teacher suggested I try drama instead. When I walked on stage for the first time I thought, “This is what I
want to do.” A lot of shy people become actors; when you’re working you’re someone else.’ She did a degree in English and Drama at the University of East Anglia before winning a place at the acclaimed theatre school LAMDA. She didn’t finish her course there though, as in her final term in 2013 she won the role of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride And Prejudice at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. She’s worked solidly ever since, mainly for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she was in New York appearing in a series of Shakespeare’s history plays when she was asked to audition for Call The Midwife. A week after the curtain came down she was measured for her midwife’s uniform.
A key element to get right was Valerie’s cockney accent. ‘It was complicated,’ says Jennifer, whose own accent is more RP. ‘The East End accent now is different to how it was in the 60s. I listened to old footage to try and copy the sound.’
Meanwhile her mother found her a girls’ Boyfriend annual from 1962 to help her get her clothes and hair right. The only downside to the job was having to cut off her waistlength brown locks for Valerie’s gamine look. ‘That was a big change,’ she says. ‘I didn’t cry because I wanted the job so much and I’ve often thought I might have to cut off my hair for a role. In the Boyfriend annual almost every girl has the same hair. At first I didn’t recognise myself in the mirror, and it made me realise how much I hid behind my hair. I really like it now. ’
The underwear also took a bit of getting used to. ‘The pointy-boobed bras were a shock,’ she laughs, ‘but the clothes are stunning. Valerie isn’t very girly but her look is inspired by Audrey Hepburn and almost all her clothes are vintage. My favourite is a beautiful blue Givenchy cardigan.
‘In 1962 my grandma was the same age I am now and my mum says I look just like her with the hair and the clothes. My nana was a real bombshell and very stylish. She died a couple of years ago, and I’d love to think she’s watching from somewhere and enjoying seeing me in the show.’
Call The Midwife is on Sundays at 8pm on BBC1.