Call the glamorous blonde nurse from midwife Trixie for stuff up her sleeve in real life.
Actress Helen George started out as a singer and dancer long before landing the BBC Sunday night dramatic role that won her fame.
Her talents even caught the eye of one of the world’s biggest pop stars who recruited the singer with wide eyes.
But today, the much-loved midwife of Nonnatus House admits that Elton John has failed to deliver for her when it comes to her own talent.
“I was so arrogant at the time,” says Helen, now 35. “I knew his music but I didn’t really know it.
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“I sang on all the songs. But at the time, I was like, “What is he going to wear tonight?” Because it’s all about the costumes.
“Now I listen to his music and realize that he is a genius. The lyrics are just as incredible. “
Today, born in Birmingham, Helen recounts her ups and downs and how she almost said goodbye to her own Yellow Brick Road.
As a child, she studied ballet – but it was her talent as a singer and her love of musical theater that earned her a place at the Royal Academy of Music.
“When I was there in 2005, Elton was on the board and I once sang for him,” she says.
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“He took some of us on tour that year, so I was a chorister.
“We have been to places like the Royal Albert Hall, Wembley, really amazing places.
“It was a magical moment, we spent time with him and David Furnish in the bar. They were lovely, David is so nice. It was incredible. “
But this brush with fame was only fleeting and after Helen’s dreams fell to the ground with a bump.
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Speaking on Instagram Live, the actress admits that she ended up as a store girl at Harrods, struggling to pay the bills and only being kept afloat by her parents Neil and Margareth.
“I did a few small jobs, then nothing,” she says.
“I was spraying perfume in Harrods in three inch heels, getting onions. It’s hard, the life of an artist. Someone said on the radio the other day that you are a superstar if you make money with the industry. There were a few years when I said to myself, “Can I survive?” I was supported by my parents and I auditioned for everything. I remember going so many times for Mamma Mia to be Sophie, but I never had her. “
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Her luck changed when she met an arrogant agent.
“She believed in me and became my hero, harassing the casting directors saying,” You have to see her “.” In 2012, Helen hit the jackpot and won an audition for Trixie.
“I thought if I didn’t understand, I would probably give up. So I was very lucky to have gotten the part. “
After becoming a television regular, Helen landed a spot at Strictly in 2015 in partnership with the 30-year-old show piece Aljaz Skorjanec – but despite continued high ratings, she was eliminated in week 11. She thinks that ‘she seemed too arrogant.
She says, “I can be noisy, a great personality, but basically, I was a shy child, so I always have that to fall back on.
“Without a script, I said to myself,” I have no right to swear, what if I say something wrong? “I don’t want to be in trouble with the BBC.
“I would be so stifled that I could not speak and if you step back and become reserved, you can appear as snobbish or even rude.
“I had a hard time being myself with a huge group of new people I didn’t know. It was so scary. “Now Helen is finding new challenges – like taking care of her two-year-old daughter Wren Ivy in confinement with her partner Jack Ashton, her co-star in Call The Midwife, who plays Vicar Tom Hereward.
“Wren keeps talking,” says Helen. “And she has so much energy. Jack and I started working three-hour shifts with her.
“She’s also a redhead, so she has a fiery personality.
“She is so smart but it has to be channeled in the right direction because she is so strong.
“I have the impression that, especially with the Me Too movement, we grew up in another era.
“For young women these days, it’s a different life for them, which is fantastic.”
