Call the Midwife star Stephen McGann has teased that this year's Christmas special will be "passionate" — though maybe not in the way you'd expect.
Digital Spy caught up with the Dr Patrick Turner actor on the red carpet at the National Television Awards on Wednesday (September 11) to chat about what lies ahead at Nonnatus House.
McGann surprised us by revealing that the passion he'd mentioned comes from Dr Turner finding himself in unique circumstances.
"The Christmas special coming up, the only spoiler I can give you is I go to the fun fair," he teased. "You see Dr Turner on a high slide.
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"It's beautiful. It's brilliant. It's passionate. It's romantic… It was great!"
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McGann went on: "I took the kids – I'm 5 years old anyway at the best of times. It was great. It's going to be brilliant."
The actor shed some light on some of the promotional photos released for the festive episode, where the nurses were shown chopping up huge amounts of Brussels sprouts.
"There's something wrong about the amount of Brussels sprouts that we have," he joked. "There's something ominous. You know something bad's going to happen. It's all about sprouts and babies. What can I tell you? Christmas is basically sprouts and babies."
Related: Call the Midwife confirms new cast member for Christmas special
The festive special will pick up after a shocking season 13 finale, where Nurse Trixie left Nonnatus House to reunite with Matthew Aylward in New York City. Don't worry, Trixie will be back this Christmas!
Elsewhere, Helen George dismissed rumours that co-star Miriam Margolyes had stepped down from her Call the Midwife role as Mother Mildred.
"I don't know if that's the truth," she said. "I just think she's not been in it for a while … I think some of the tabloids might've got the wrong end of the stick."
Call the Midwife airs on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.
Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
