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Call The Midwife's Jenny Agutter has admitted the forthcoming festive special is "quite dark" compared to the usual fare from the long running BBC period drama.
With the show now at the end of 1969 Britain is changing and the two part Christmas special sees escaped prisoners hiding out in Poplar, a family thrown out on the streets and influenza and the Hong Kong flu spreading throughout the area. While there are the usual heartwarming moments it has a bleaker feel than the annual episode has in the past.
Asked about this at a recent media event for the show Jenny, who plays the stoic Sister Julienne in the show, exclusively told Express.co.uk and other media it is, "the recognition that we're in difficult times."
"You're right [it is dark]. But when I read it, I was very touched by it. I I think Heidi [Thomas], the writer, draws on that kind of classical way of looking at storytelling. Brings it into the end of the 60s and 70s...but we've just finished the last episode, and there's an awful lot of stuff in between.
"It is quite dark and but there's also a lot of humor and a lot of humanity and that's what lightens it. It's just the recognition that we're in difficult times. We've been in difficult times. We always were in difficult times. It's just recognises that I think," she reflected.
"The homeless story is absolutely soul destroying," Jenny admitted. "Just watching that happen, evicted from their place - as we know that's happening today.
"...life goes on and Christmas doesn't make it easier. It is for some, but not for everybody."
Co-star Laura Main, who plays Shelagh Turner agreed calling the story "apt" for the time of year.
"It's feels really apt as a Christmas story to not just be full of joy and cheer, because life doesn't stop for Christmas.
"Life can be difficult and that's reflected in the story. To take a moment to think of others and see people serving others is is a nice message at Christmas," she opined.
The two part story will air on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and marks the last visit for the show to 1969 as the new series moves into 1970.
Amidst all the darkness there are elements of light relief as the funfair arrives in Poplar much to the delight of the midwives and the children in the area.
The Turner children also come in to their own as they are caught up in the Blue Peter Christmas appeal to collect dinky cars and scrap metal.
And despite leaving for New York at the end of the last series nurse Trixie Aylward (Helen George) is back for Christmas in Nonnatus House.
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