'Roger and Nancy are so easy together'
Conor O'Donnell plays Roger Noble
Neal Street Productions/Olly Courtney
- Gareth McLean
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Conor O’Donnell would like to make it clear that his Call the Midwife character Roger is just “a pharmaceutical salesman who is so innocent that he falls instantly in love with Nancy”.
Shy and sentimental — one thing Roger is not is a member of the IRA, as some fans and tabloid newspapers have rumoured. Although as Roger is protestant, Northern Irish and Belfast-born, O’Donnell can see how such rumours might take root.
Call the Midwife has always been unafraid of engaging with challenging subjects. This series is set in 1970; the Troubles began in 1968 and — not so long ago — a character with an accent like O’Donnell’s in a British TV drama would have been cast as a terrorist.
“With [BBC1’s] Blue Lights and the short film The Irish Goodbye winning an Oscar, representation has increased,” O’Donnell comments. “And there’s a plethora of new work and talent coming through that, during the Troubles, wouldn’t have been there to the same extent. So it’s only positive from here.
“But that speculation about Roger suggests, to me, dedication to the show. Because the audience has been watching for so long, they’re their own storytellers, creating back stories for characters coming in.”
O’Donnell describes his introduction as Nancy’s love interest as “in at the deep end” — not least because his scenes were the first to be shot for the 2024 Christmas special. “That first day was all about not looking petrified. But everyone, particularly Megan, was brilliant. When we met, she just gave me a big hug, and I was like, ‘Right, that’s sorted.’”
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Assuming Roger and Nancy’s 1970 nuptials go without a hitch, 2025 will be their 55th anniversary. How does he think they have got on? “Do you know a couple that you look at with envy and admiration and think, ‘How do you have it so good?’ That couple is Roger and Nancy. They are just so easy with each other. They each found their ‘one’.”
Authors
Gareth McLean
Gareth McLean has been writing about television for nearly 30 years. As a critic, he's reviewed thousands of programmes. As a feature writer, he's interviewed hundreds of people, from Liza Minnelli to Jimmy Savile. He has also written for TV.
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