Judy Parfitt on the power of female friendship

Actress and dog lover Judy Parfitt, Sister Monica Joan in Call The Midwife, chats about the secret to the show’s success

It has great characters, gritty, compassionate storylines, gorgeous newborns, spot-on period detail and a warm nostalgic feel that keeps millions of us glued to our television screens on Sunday evenings. But as far as Judy Parfitt is concerned there’s another reason why Call the Midwife is such a smash hit.

“The fact there’s a large female presence, on screen and off, also has something to do with it,” she tells us. “I have a very special friendship with Jenny Agutter who plays Sister Julienne. I love her, even if I am constantly telling her to put her phone away! I’m close to Linda Bassett who plays Nurse Phyllis Crane, too, but we older ones also have a good relationship with the younger members of the cast. We’re all so different and yet we all get on. Then there’s the fantastic Heidi Thomas. The show is brilliantly conceived and written by Heidi, who’s covered difficult subjects, such as incest, in a way that’s not titillating or offensive. Oh, and there’s our producer Pippa Harris. She’s patient, kind, always around, and she works her socks off. You can go to her about anything. We all admire and help each other, and that comes through

‘When we started it was for six episodes. None of us thought for a second that we’d still be here eight years later’

on screen.” Series eight is now more than halfway through its run, and Judy can’t believe how quickly the time has passed since filming started in 2011. “When we started it was for six episodes,” she says. “None of us thought we’d still be here eight years later. In this day and age, I think people want to watch something with the family and not be afraid of what might happen; they’ve had enough of sex and violence. People also love watching the miracle of a baby being born. No matter how many times you see it, it’s as though it’s the first time. It really is the most extraordinary thing.”

Is Judy anything like her character, the eccentric Sister Monica Joan?

“No,” she smiles. “I don’t share the quality of patience with my character. She is highly intelligent, well read, kind and caring, but she’s not with the programme a lot of the time. She loses the plot every now and then.”

Glamorous and stylish in real life, Judy doesn’t look like Monica Joan, either.

Amazing then that she’s constantly recognised as her character. “I think it proves how much people have invested in Call the Midwife,” she says. “I get little girls coming up to me and asking if their mum can take a photo of us together. Men (men!) ask me when it’s coming back on because they love it so much. And when I go into a food shop

checkout; I was presented with a bouquet of flowers by a member of staff to thank me for the hours of joy I, and the show, had given everyone there.

“I’ve been acting since I was 16, and I’ve never known anything like it. The public seem to have taken over. They love it, and we love making it.”

Filming on series nine kicks off in the spring and, as she always does, Judy (83) will be taking her muchloved dog, Freddie, on set.

“I’ve always loved dogs, and after my husband Tony passed away in 2001, my son David said, ‘You should get a dog, ma‘,” Judy reveals.

“I said, who would look after the dog when I was filming? But David, who lives near me and also loves dogs, said he would, and that he’d take it to work.

“I couldn’t see how that would work, but then, in 2011, I started on Call the Midwife and discovered everyone brought their dogs to set. That’s when I decided to get Freddie.

“He’s quite a character. He thinks he owns the world and strides about the set like John Wayne. He has apricot-coloured curls, or rather he did. His fur keeps falling out but there doesn’t appear to be any reason why. He’s had every test going and they have all come back clear. He even has the Royal Veterinary College stumped. He’s still cute, though, even if he does resemble a cross between a poodle and a Chinese crested dog at the moment.”

■ Call the midwife is on bbC1 on sunday evenings

Good friends: Some of the cast having fun on location; right Linda Bassett as Nurse Phyllis and Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne

I’m often directed over towards the cakes because Sister Monica Joan is famous for her sweet tooth! I recall walking into a store when she was going through a lightfingered period, and the manager jokingly instructed his staff to lock everything away. Then there was the GP who stopped me when I was shopping in Selfridges to tell me they all watched the show in her practice and couldn’t fault the medical research that had clearly gone into it.“The most touching thing was when I was queuing at a supermarket Judy with her beloved pooch Freddie, who she takes on set