Call the Midwife — and the rabbi

YOU might see some familiar faces on television this month in a forthcoming episode of Call the Midwife, BBC One’s Sunday night peak-time drama.

It features a story about a bereaved Jewish family and the community rallying around them.

Playing the chazan is the doyen of cantorial performers, Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld of Western Marble Arch Synagogue (in the hat in the picture). Also appearing is another stalwart of the Shabbaton Choir, Simon Hochhauser, cochairman of circumcision defence group Milah UK (depicted far-right).

It is not Rabbi Rosenfeld’s TV debut; the choir has sung on Songs of Praise and in one of Lord Sacks’s festive broadcasts before. “We could really feel the camaraderie between everyone on set,” he said of Call the Midwife . “Linda Bassett, who plays Nurse Crane, and all the cast made as feel particularly welcome and we felt as if we were part of the whole ensemble.”