Call the Midwife star Helen George reveals ADHD diagnosis

Call the Midwife star Helen George has revealed her ADHD diagnosis. Appearing on the podcast, I’m ADHD! No You’re Not, the 41-year-old mum-of-two explained how she was learning to live with the condition in order to “function best so that you can mother best”.

The actress, who is perhaps best known for playing Nurse Trixie in the BBC drama, was diagnosed after the birth of her second daughter, Lark, around three-and-a-half years ago.

Helen recalled the “lightbulb moment” she had during a conversation with a friend with ADHD, who told her about women with the condition who are diagnosed later in life.

“He was telling me all this, and then I suddenly went. ‘Oh [expletive], just like me. It’s like the lightbulb moment that I needed,” said Helen, who shares Lark and her eldest daughter Wren with her ex-partner and former Call the Midwife co-star, Jack Ashton.

Helen hadn’t previously considered that she might have ADHD. “I just thought I’m an actress and everyone’s [expletive] crazy,” the TV star told the podcast, hosted by comedian Paul Whitehouse and neuroscience specialist Dr Mine Conkbayir.

“There’s a reason why there’s a lot of actors who have ADHD, I think because it’s (ADHD) got the skills that you need.”

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The actress revealed that she now takes medication for the condition “to see if that aids me” and is still learning how to live with it. 

“I’ve got to work out how you can function best so that you can mother best, so that their lives can be the best that they can be,” she said. “So it’s a ripple of that without being self-indulgent.”

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The end of Call the Midwife season 15

Helen’s revelation about her diagnosis comes as Call the Midwife prepares to take a break. The series, which has been running since 2012, will be rested to make way for a film and prequel TV series. 

Helen recently told the Radio Times: “It is just a pause, because we know it’s coming back. But it won’t be the same, with different characters leaving and whatever.”

© BBC / Neal Street Productions / Nicky Johnston

The upcoming prequel will be set in Poplar during World War Two, while a film set overseas in 1971 is also in the works. 

The movie will feature characters from the existing series, with current cast members expected to reprise their roles.

In an exclusive chat with HELLO! at the TV Choice Awards earlier this year, actors Stephen McGann and Christopher Harper kept plot details under wraps, though Stephen joked: “He’s terrible in it, I’m fantastic!”

Season five of I’m ADHD! No You’re Not launches on Thursday, with new episodes available on all podcast platforms every Thursday at 6am.