TV HIGHLIGHTS WE’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY I

T’S 1963, the Big Freeze and it’s not just babies that are keeping the staff of Call The Midwife’s Nonnatus House busy.

The old East End is vanishing as slum clearances make way for bold new tower blocks to accommodate expanding communities and there is everything from leprosy and strokes to cataracts and unmarried mothers to deal with on the health front.

Amid the changing landscape is newcomer Lucille Anderson – the first West Indian midwife to feature as a regular on the popular BBC series.

Leonie Elliott, who plays Lucille, says she enjoys shining a light on women who moved over from the Commonwealth to join the NHS.

The 29-year-old calls them “unsung heroes” and says: “My aunt came over to England from Jamaica in the late Sixties to study nursing, so there were synchronicities there.

“I would speak to her about her experiences, because it’s nice to get someone’s perspective who lived through it.”

Leonie, who has previously appeared on TV in shows such as Black Mirror, says she did not have to go far to research the background of her character.

“My parents and grandparents are Jamaican so I drew upon some of their experiences,” she says.

“Sometimes it’s not very nice, but I feel that we’ve come a long way since the Sixties. I feel that through my storyline I’ve been able to get to know more about my parents’ and my grandparents’ history, and what they had to go through.

“Obviously it’s great that we’ve come a long way since then.”

Call The Midwife has been one of Britain’s most popular drama series since it started in 2012 and the latest Christmas Day special was one of the most watched shows on the day.

So will Lucille find it tough joining the Nonnatus House team?

“Just being in London is an interesting journey for Lucille,” says Leonie. “I don’t think Lucille has ever experienced city life before.