DRESS ENVY
Sister te Julienne has an unwelcome approach when she has a call from the Mother House. The Order’s Mother Superior has been taken ill and a new spiritual leader needs to be elected. Julienne and some of the other nuns head over, but she is worried when she discovers that she is the favoured candidate to take her place.
“She loves her office at Nonnatus House. She’s been ousted once before and she wants to stay,” says Jenny Agutter, who plays her. “But nuns take a vow of obedience and they can’t just do as they like. So it puts her in a difficult situation.”
Jenny, who became famous in the classic 1968 film adaptation of TheRailwayChildren, is happy that her own life, during the ’60s, was far less restricted than that of Sister Julienne’s.
“My enjoyment of the ’60s was without any of the baggage of having come from the Second World War,” she says. “Julienne would share that but whereas she has to conform to the rules and behaviour of being a nun, my world was about The Beatles and Bob Dylan, pop-art and those wonderful little miniskirts. I used to get most of my clothes in C&A. Walking down the King’s Road in London was terribly exciting.
“The ’60s left a big impression on me.
“I must admit that I get quite envious during filming CallTheMidwife when I see Helen George wearing these gorgeous ’60s dresses and I’m stuck in a nun’s habit!”