Ami Metcalf is returning to Call the Midwife in the upcoming prequel Sisters in Arms, 14 years after her debut in the BBC drama's first Christmas special.
The three-part series, rumoured to air later in the year, moves the story back to the Second World War and follows the nuns and nurses of Nonnatus House during the London Blitz.
Metcalf's first Call the Midwife role
Metcalf first appeared on 25 December 2012, when the inaugural festive episode introduced viewers to 15-year-old Lynette Duncan. The scene left fans heartbroken as Lynette, pregnant and afraid to tell her family, went through contractions kneeling by her bed before dressing and slipping out of the house in the night.
She gave birth alone in an abandoned house, with no medical help, and struggled to comfort her newborn. She cut the umbilical cord with scissors and tied off the blood supply with twine before leaving the baby at the doors of Nonnatus House and heading home.
The baby boy, blue in the face and barely breathing, was found hours later by nurses Cynthia (Bryony Hannah) and Trixie (Helen George), who managed to fully resuscitate him. The nurses and nun named him Raymond, after Saint Raymond Nonnatus.
Lynette's story ended happily: she wanted to keep her son before his adoption and, with her family's approval, spent Christmas with her newborn.
Her new role in Sisters in Arms
Metcalf returns in the prequel as Betty Buckle, the first wife of Fred Buckle, played by Ciaran Bowling. Call the Midwife has confirmed the cast for Sisters in Arms, including Metcalf in the role.
Other screen credits
Now 32, Metcalf launched her career as a youngster and has appeared in some of television's most popular shows. She played Eunice McCabe in the 2012 Upstairs Downstairs reboot and Sapphire Cox in Doctors in 2010, and most recently took on the recurring role of Peggy Button in Sister Boniface Mysteries from 2022 to 2025.
Her other TV credits include Father Brown, Silent Witness and Bad Education, while her film roles include Sister Thomas in Pan and Alice in Catherine Tate's Nan.
Call the Midwife is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
