One of Call the Midwife’s feistiest nuns is making a return to Poplar.
Tonight’s episode, the sixth in season eight, will see actress Miriam Margolyes once again don her habit and wimple to portray formidable nun Mother Mildred.
We’ll see midwife Phyllis laid up with back trouble as Mildred returns to help out and fill the breach. What’s more, she’s set to cause a stir by recruiting Fred, handyman of Nonnatus House, as her chauffeur.
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Miriam Margolyes made her debut in Call the Midwife’s emotional Christmas special, when she turned up at Nonnatus with a group of Chinese child refugees.
She had arrived in London from Hong Kong, on a mission to see the four children adopted in the UK as part of the World Refugee Project.
Call the Midwife’s official Twitter page teased news of Mildred’s return and fans, who had a sneaking suspicion of the identity of the “unexpected visitor”, were ecstatic.
One tweeted: “Can’t wait. Marvellous Miriam” and someone else wrote simply: “I love this show so so much!”
Someone else replied: “I love Miriam! She makes this show even better!”, while another echoed the sentiment, commenting: “Love Miriam, fab actress.”
“Oh dear… can sense trouble,” wrote another fan alongside a laughing emoji.
Miriam Margolyes is known for dozens of roles outside Call the Midwife, including Hogwarts Herbology expert Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, and the bumbling Nurse in director Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
These days, she’s among the famous faces exploring retirement overseas in the latest series of BBC reality show The Real Marigold On Tour.
Alongside darts legend Bobby George,Three Degrees singer Sheila Ferguson and environmentalist Stanley Johnson, father of former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, Miriam this week explored Russia to see how the country treats its 40 million senior citizens.
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The first episode, aired on Wednesday (February 13), had the group journey St Petersburg, where they tasted Russian cuisine, took part in exercise classes and spoke with locals.
Miriam is known for her sharp wit and ‘calling a spade a spade’ as the saying goes, and she used her time on Marigold to remind us all of that.
At one point, she told viewers: “I don’t know much about Stanley. But Boris Johnson is a pillock.”
Are you glad to see Miriam back on Call the Midwife? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think.