Vanessa Redgrave to appear on Call The Midwife

Filming is underway in the UK of a new season of Call The Midwife for 2015 and a Christmas special for 2014.

Vanessa Redgrave will appear as the mature Jennifer Worth on screen for the first time during the Christmas special episode.

Joining the regular cast are Linda Bassett (East Is East, Lark Rise To Candleford) as Nurse Phyllis Crane and Charlotte Ritchie (Life Of Riley, Fresh Meat) as Nurse Barbara Gilbert.

Series four sees the community of nuns and nurses in 1960, on the cusp of much change in London’s East End. The BBC notes, “A new decade dawns, and with it come different and exciting challenges for the team at Nonnatus House. Can the nuns and midwives hold onto their traditional values in a rapidly changing world?”

Pippa Harris, Executive Producer for Neal Street Productions, says: “We’re all delighted to be welcoming Vanessa Redgrave on screen, having hugely enjoyed her narration of the series to date. It’s also terrific that Heidi Thomas has created two wonderful new characters for the series, and that we’re fortunate enough to have Linda Bassett and Charlotte Ritchie joining our regular and much-loved team at Nonnatus House”.

Heidi Thomas, creator, writer and executive producer, says: “The medical, social, and emotional stories at the heart of Call The Midwife continue to inspire and compel me. The Nonnatus House nurses and midwives feel like my best-loved friends.”

Season Three currently airs on ABC1.