![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Call-the-Midwifes-Helen-George-unveils-makeover-after-splitting-with-partner.jpg\")
Helen worries that the country is being engulfed with toxic masculinity(Image: instagram\/@helenrgeorge)<\/p>\nIn the BBC drama, Call the Midwife, the action takes place in 1971, and the nurses of Nonnatus House will be seen protesting and burning their bras<\/p>\n
17:07, 30 Dec 2025Updated 17:07, 30 Dec 2025<\/p>\n
Helen worries that the country is being engulfed with toxic masculinity(Image: instagram\/@helenrgeorge)<\/p>\n
Call The Midwife star Helen George<\/a> has warned that feminism and women\u2019s rights are facing their biggest-ever threat following the rise of nationalism, Nigel Farage<\/a> and Andrew Tate.<\/p>\n Next month, the long-running BBC1<\/a> drama returns with the nurses of Nonnatus House getting involved with the Women\u2019s Liberation movement and burning their bras. The show is famous for having strong female characters at its core and championing women\u2019s rights with its historical storylines stretching from the 1950s to the 1970s.<\/p>\n But Helen fears that the increase in St George\u2019s flag-wavers, the surge of support for Reform UK leader Farage and the popularity of self-proclaimed misogynist and social media influencer Andrew Tate are encouraging an \u201canti-feminist mood\u201d which poses a serious risk to women in modern-day Britain.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Dawn French ‘didn’t want another sitcom’ before taking on new BBC role<\/a>READ MORE: Claudia Winkleman secures huge BBC show after The Traitors success<\/a> She is worried that the rise in toxic masculinity means that the country could end up like the fictional world<\/a> of Gilead in the novel The Handmaid\u2019s Tale, where powerless females are stuck in a patriarchal society with no control over their individuality or reproductive rights.<\/p>\n The actress, 41, who plays midwife Trixie Aylward in Call the Midwife<\/a>, is dating businessman Dan Innes following her split in 2023 from her former Call the Midwife co-star Jack Ashton, with whom she shares two daughters.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWe’re seeing the patriarchy get stronger and stronger, and I find that really terrifying. I think what comes with nationalism that we’re seeing with the St George’s flags, you know, and I don’t want to get too political, but what comes with that as well is an anti feminist mood. The Andrew Tate<\/a> movement.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I feel like we’re being hoodwinked into it and, I say this to my partner all the time, I feel like we could turn around in a few years time and it’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Do you know what I mean?<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we’re not as far away from that as we think we are. We think that we have all this power as women but it’s coming for us. The anti abortion laws and things. I feel like they will probably be debated in Parliament, especially if Nigel Farage has his way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s like it’s coming for us and we’re sort of sleepwalking our way into it.\u201d Helen also claims one of the most controversial topics covered on Call The Midwife \u2013 abortion – which was made legal in 1967 in the UK is still a huge issue even today.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cIt is insane that now it’s illegal in some states in America. And you know, we’ve seen what that does, we’ve seen the backstreet abortions, the slaughters that happen because of that, because it’s not being monitored. You know it’s what is going to happen. There’s always going to be a case for abortion. But the trouble is, if you don’t allow it, it’s going to do more harm, right? People will die.\u201d<\/p>\n The new series of Call The Midwife starring Helen alongside co-stars Jenny Agutte<\/a>r and Judy Parfitt<\/a> is back on our screens on Sunday January 11 but this will be the last viewers see of the Nonnatus House regulars in for a while, as the show is taking a break.<\/p>\n In its place next year, there will be a prequel series to Call The Midwife with a brand new cast playing some of the nuns in their younger years, set during the Blitz.<\/p>\n Meanwhile the main cast will be busy filming a movie version of the BBC<\/a> show later in 2026. Helen claims it was a good time to put Call The Midwife on a pause.<\/p>\n She told the Walking The Dog podcast (MUST): \u201cIt’s our first year not filming Midwife. Series 15 will be shown in January but we are not doing a series next year. We need to reset things because we’ve been doing it for a long time so there needs to be fresh breath of air into it and the film will give us a really good chance to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok <\/a>, Snapchat <\/a>, Instagram <\/a>, Twitter <\/a>, Facebook <\/a>, YouTube <\/a>and Threads <\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1_EMB-547888TITLECall-the-Midwife-s15.jpg\")
In the new series, Trixie can be seen getting stuck into the bra burning in Poplar(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC \/ Neal Street Productions \/ Olly Courtney)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3_The-Handmaids-Tale-grab.jpg\")
Helen fears that women could become like the characters in novel and TV show The Handmaid’s Tale(Image: Hulu)<\/p>\n