Call the Midwife’s Leonie Elliott reveals tough times ahead for Poplar’s first West Indian nurse

When Call The Midwife returns for its eagerly anticipated seventh series this week, there will be a new member of the Nonnatus House family – Jamaican nurse Lucille Anderson.

Up-and-coming actress Leonie Elliott couldn’t be more admiring of the character she plays, who viewers will meet when Lucille battles through the Big Freeze of 1963 to reach Poplar.

“Lucille’s resilient,” says Leonie, 29.

“She’s hardworking and has a great sense of humour but she faces some challenges.

"It’s a difficult time to come over to England as a young Jamaican woman. In episode two she deals with the difficult mother of an expectant mum who has her prejudices against Lucille. But she always remains positive.”

When she auditioned for the coveted role, Leonie, who has appeared in Black Mirror and Holby City, was delighted to realise she already had a shared family history with her character.

“I was told that Lucille had emigrated from Jamaica to study midwifery in England as part of the Ministry of Health, Labour & Welfare campaigns in the Sixties to recruit medical staff from the Caribbean,” says London-born Leonie.

“The parish of Jamaica that Lucille is from – Manchester – is next to the parish that my family are originally from. So I felt like I had a good idea of who Lucille was.

"Once I got the part I’d run things about my character past my grandad. As he lived through that time it was nice to have his perspective.”

There were two skills that Leonie had to master to earn her stripes on the award-winning show and follow in the footsteps of co-stars Charlotte Ritchie, Helen George and Jennifer Kirby – riding a rickety bike and delivering babies.

“For my second audition I had to do a birth scene,” smiles Leonie, “which was interesting. I had to imagine there was a baby there.

"I don’t get to deliver my first baby until episode seven, though.

“And I brushed up on my bike skills. They’re pretty heavy and you’re on cobblestones trying to manoeuvre around cameras. Just riding my bike sometimes feels like a stunt in itself!”

Call The Midwife, Sunday, 8pm BBC One

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