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Call the Midwife star to return to the show for first time since season six 

Are you looking forward to the Christmas special?

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Emmy Griffiths
TV & Film Editor
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Call the Midwife is set to welcome back a familiar face who we haven't seen since season six - and we can't wait to welcome her back to the show!

MORE: 8 stars who left Call the Midwife and why

Katie Lyons, who played Gloria Venables in season six, will be returning to the show to reunite with Laura Main, who plays Nurse Shelagh Turner. 

WATCH: Call The Midwife Star Gives First Details About Christmas special

The pair grew close when they were both hospitalised while pregnant, with Gloria suffering a miscarriage. Speaking about her return to Radio Times, Laura said: "Shelagh was in a bed alongside this character Gloria, played by brilliant Katie Lyons, who was completely devastating and heartbreaking in that episode, way back four years ago. 

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Laura opened up about Katie's return to the show

"But she’s now pregnant again and their paths cross and Shelagh is very much involved with that storyline." 

She continued: "And what’s I think particularly nice about a long running series is, you know, this woman’s has been through a pretty hellish few years where she keeps miscarrying – which is obviously some women’s reality, so it is a lengthy passage of time… it’s something that you could do on this issue, and revisit. And she is brilliant. I’ve been doing a lot with Katie Lyons this Christmas." 

MORE: See the first look at Call the Midwife Christmas special

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Speaking about how Gloria is doing, Laura explained: "She has never got this far before… seven pregnancies she’s had previously. So, yeah, Shelagh knows, and has had her own fertility issues, and was alongside her. But, you know, she [Shelagh] was the happy ending back in series six." 

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Do you remember Gloria from season six?

The synopsis for the upcoming Christmas special reads: "In Nonnatus House, Christmas 1965 has arrived, and the nuns... are hoping for a quiet Christmas in Poplar, but when one of the nuns receives an unwanted gift, and another is rushed to hospital, nothing goes quite to plan."

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