Curl the midwife

Helen George pops the rollers in to look her best for 10 million fans who love curling up on the sofa to watch Call The Midwife.

The popular actress made sure her hair was just right as she and co-stars were pictured during a break from filming their Christmas special in South Africa.

She then touched up her lipstick, whipped the curlers out and, voila, there she was looking her impeccable best as TV’s Nurse Trixie Franklin.

Our exclusive pictures show Helen, 31, larking around with co-stars Charlotte Ritchie and Laura Main.

The actress, who wowed Strictly fans with her dancing on last year’s show, also held hay for a horse, strolled past a cow and played with a local dog that wandered on to the set.

The Sunday Mirror revealed two weeks ago how Helen and Jack Ashton, who plays a vicar in the BBC1 drama, had fallen for each other in real life and enjoyed a romantic trip to a game reserve lodge while in South Africa.

Helen has also taken time out to visit a deprived rural community.

She travelled two hours from Cape Town to meet farm workers who face a 10-mile walk to their nearest hospital.

Helen spent five hours with the villagers and is said to have pledged to help raise £36,000 for a midwifery clinic.

Charity staff said Helen also vowed to return with co-stars to help build the life-saving service.

The mission would bear similarities to the Christmas episode Helen has been filming, in which residents of fictional Nonnatus House convent help out a struggling mission hospital called Hope Clinic.

Ingrid Lestrade, head of the community programme Path out of Poverty, said: “Helen was desperate to help.

“She spent hours with the pre-school children and asked a lot of questions about our health programme, which starts with pregnant mothers, trying to reduce newborns with foetal alcohol syndrome and malnutrition.

“It then supports the children to the age of 25, so helping one generation through the cycles of poverty.

“Helen pledged to come back and teach them drama skills so they can become more confident.

“It was incredible that a famous, busy woman like that should spend so much time with a tiny project like ours and commit to returning and devoting her time and energy to us.

“We all felt we had been touched by an angel.”