Call The Midwife's 1970s era stars nurses with 'shorter skirts' than ever before

EXCLUSIVE: As beloved drama Call The Midwife's plot enters the 1970s, BBC audiences have been promised "shorter skirts" thanks to the decade's "relaxed" and "jazzy" fashion

Call The Midwife is getting sexier than ever for a new decade.

The show has hit 1970 in the latest series – and that means plenty of new fashion. Expect everything from flares to some very short skirts – a world away from the dowdy looks the show is famed for.

Helen George, 40, who plays nurse Trixie, said: “Going into the 1970s this series, the shirts are getting a bit more jazzy, the collars are getting longer and the flares are getting wider!” Annabelle Apsion, 64, who stars as Poplar’s mayor Violet, added: “The young nurses’ skirts are shorter. They’re going into the mini era, so it’s quite fun to see."

“But it’s more visible in the younger cast members, I would say, than the older cast members.” Nancy actress Megan Cusack, 28, is thrilled about the bold fashions on the new series.

Helen George confessed that the fashion will be getting "jazzier"

She said: “It’s an era full of excitement. There are flares and I have to cut my hair so short every time I come on set. Our amazing costume designers really went for collars with Nancy.”

Even Georgie Glen’s stuffy character Miss Higgins is getting a bit of a new look. She said: “The looks begin to change, and with that comes more relaxed behaviour. For Miss Higgins, there’s a general feeling of not being quite so buttoned up."

The new looks will be a far cry from their conservative uniforms

“She still has her hat on, of course, but there’s definitely a feeling of trying to just relax her a bit." It’s not just the girls who have been having fun with new outfits, the boys have been part of the change too.

Zephryn Taitte, who plays loveable Cyril, said: “They’ve given me the nice little trilby, a sure sign that the 70s are coming in. I also spoke to the head of make-up and asked, ‘Can I grow out my sideburns a bit?’ She said, ‘Oh yeah, let’s thicken them up’. It’s taken a while, most of the season, to get my sideburns a little bit thick, but that’s a big change for me.”

Call The Midwife's 1970s instalment promises "shorter skirts"

Cliff Parisi, 64, was 10 years old in 1970 so he remembers the decade well. The Fred star reckons the show has captured the time perfectly.

He said: “Although the 60s looked like they were swinging and colourful, they weren’t really. The 70s were really when it went mad. Fashion was crazy. I remember those big flares getting caught up in the chain of your bike and making you fall off. Platform shoes and skinheads were also starting to arrive."

“The show’s art department capture all of that. You see it in the shop windows, and you see it in the people – and you go, ‘Oh my God, I remember that’.” The new series continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One.

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