BBC Call the Midwife fan favourite leaving after four years as a nurse on hit drama

Exclusive:

Megan Cusack has quit Call the Midwife after four years, confirming what the fans have long suspected after her character, Nancy Corrigan, was absent for most of the current series.

Viewers saw single mother Nancy fall for pharmaceutical rep Roger in the Christmas special and then agree to marry him in the opening episode of series 14 last month. But she and daughter Collette have since been absent from Nonnatus House having moved to Netherditch, Surrey.

Now the nurse and midwife will return to Poplar for one last time for the BBC1 series finale on Sunday, in which Nancy ties the knot with Roger, played by Connor O’Driscoll. Fans have been speculating for weeks over Megan, 28, being missing in action.

Insiders said the actress - who joined the show in 2021 and is part of the renowned Cusack acting dynasty which includes her aunts Niamh and Sinéad - wanted to spread her wings and try out new roles. One insider said: “Megan is a much-loved member of the team and will be very missed but everyone wishes her the best in whatever comes next. Her decision to leave was a real wrench but she is young and keen to try other roles. And for Call the Midwife fans, it is lovely that Nancy gets her happy ending, which is a great way to end the series.”

For the big day she does not have a big white dress instead opting for a 70s ensemble. She leaves Nonnatus House with all her friends and colleagues holding brightly coloured umbrellas in the rain, flanked by her good pal Millicent Higgins, played by Georgie Glen.

In the story, nurse Nancy arrived in London from Ireland in 2021 and kept her young daughter a secret for months, having fallen pregnant as a teenager. Speaking in December ahead of the 14th series, Megan said Nancy was to get the dream ending she’d always secretly hoped for.

“Connor is gorgeous - he’s a dote,” she laughed. “It’s a thing of the time, having a child out of wedlock, those sort of things do seem further away from your grasp. For Nancy, she’s always longed for something that is conventional, even though she hasn’t been, in many people’s eyes, but that’s because she hasn’t had the option to be.

“She’s been very lucky to have so many gorgeous people rally around her. It has allowed her to let someone come into her life. She lets her guard down and thinks maybe she’s worth it, maybe she deserves that kind of happy ending.” Her departure, with a wedding set in November 1970, was also heralded by the show’s writer and creator Heidi Thomas, who said: “Nancy’s life takes a new and dramatic turn.”

Fans will at least find the storyline of Nancy getting married and moving to live in Surrey with her new husband more believable than the one currently in play for Helen George’s character Trixie Aylward, who has also been absent from several episodes this series. Trixie is jetting back and forth between Poplar and New York, which is where her husband Matthew and step-son now live - since the departure of actor Olly Rix from the show last year.

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