Finally, Helen George has broken free of Call the Midwife
A lead role in a successful, long-running television series is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing for the obvious reasons: name-making fame and financial security. But also an iron-fist-in-velvet-gloves sort of curse, as the performer in question becomes ever more associated with one role only, thus limiting potential future career progression.
Helen George, known to millions as Nurse Trixie Franklin (later Lady Aylward) in Call the Midwife, is the epitome of this elegant dilemma, given that she has starred in the show ever since its inception in January 2012. George originally trained in musical theatre, at the Royal Academy of Music no less, but could anyone take her seriously outside the confines of 50s/60s/70s Poplar?
The answer, thanks to a spirited new production of the Cole Porter musical High Society at the Barbican Centre in London, is a resounding yes. As the romantically muddled American heiress Tracy Lord (a role played in the 1956 film by none other than Grace Kelly in her final professional outing) George is allowed to let loose at last and it is a pleasure to behold.
As the years have progressed, the characters in Call the Midwife have become more established and beloved, leading to them operating in ever decreasing emotional circles. This means that George and her colleagues have been consigned to narrow tracks of expression, which must lead to various feelings of frustration. What fun it is, therefore, to watch Tracy swig champagne the night before her wedding (in one of CTM’s less convincing plot developments, Trixie is a recovering alcoholic) as she frolics in the pool with a stranger.
We already know from George’s 2015 season on Strictly that she is a nifty dancer, a great boon for a musical. As her previous musical outing in The King and I demonstrated, she sings beautifully, as well as managing here the tricky task of maintaining her American accent in song. Her voice blends gloriously with the suave and mellifluous Julian Ovenden as Tracy’s ex-husband Dexter as they glide into that hauntingly beautiful number “True Love”, a song that always makes me sniffle quietly. A further delight of the show is Freddie Fox, making a jolly musical theatre debut and having great fun with Ovenden in the ebullient “Well Did You Evah?”
As someone who has watched every single episode of Call the Midwife, I am delighted to see George’s loyalty rewarded with this second chance to shine. It is, after all, salutary to remind oneself of the career arcs of some of the show’s lengthy rollcall of alumnae. Jessica Raine, the original central character, exited after three seasons to move into a wide range of dramatic roles, currently the BBC’s compelling Two Weeks in August. Charlotte Ritchie went from dying of meningococcal sepsis as Nurse Barbara to starring in hit comedy Ghosts. And let’s not forget than none other than Oscar-winner Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn, Wuthering Heights) was a midwife on call between 2014 and 2017.
There is, it seems, life after Nonnatus House and Helen George is currently having a “swell-legant, elegant” time of it.
‘High Society’ is at the Barbican Centre, London until 11 July and then goes on a major national tour (HighSocietyMusical.com)
