Call The Midwife star Helen George has said newcomer Miriam Margolyes shocked the crew of the hit show with her “blue mouth”.
The veteran actress joins the cast of the BBC drama in the Christmas special and George said she had the whole cast in hysterics.
She told ITV’s This Morning: “She plays a fantastic nun and she really, on and off set, just lit up, as you can imagine.
“She said to us, ‘I can’t believe I’ve been cast as nun. Who would have thought it?’ Because she does have quite a blue mouth, so it was a bit of a surprise.
“She is absolutely filthy and we are all quite prim and proper, so she shocked the crew and these are burly men and they were leaving the room in hysterics.”
George, who plays Trixie in the hit show, said the Christmas special would be a “cry-fest” but added: “It is cheery, it’s a really lovely festive episode.
“I come back from my rehab in Portofino, because that is where one goes to stop drinking, apparently, and she comes back with a fabulous wardrobe of designer dresses because she has a really rich godmother who buys her all these dresses, it’s brilliant.”
The show will return for its eighth series in the new year, when the nurses at Nonnatus House will be grappling with the issues of the 1960s.
George said: “You really see a lot of attention to the female form.
“Trixie spearheads a campaign to have the first smear tests in Poplar, so you see all of that happening with a modern eye, you don’t really realise when that happened but it was the 60s.
“We have a continuous story about abortion, so what is great about the writers is they often shine a mirror to society, so we have the abortion situation in Ireland and we shine a light on abortion here, from backstreet abortions in Call The Midwife in the 60s, and whether that was right, the religious aspect of it, the legal aspect as well, so that is a fascinating thread.”
Call The Midwife is on Christmas Day at 7.45pm on BBC One.