A DROITWICH actress had a dream start to her professional career when she made her debut on Sunday in the final episode of hit BBC drama Call the Midwife.
Poppy Barrett played Jane, Reggie’s girlfriend, and featured in the final scenes of the show.
The 23-year-old, who has mosaic down syndrome, has always had a passion for acting and singing and performs with the Droitwich Rock Choir.
After attending mainstream school she went to the specialist Queen Alexandra College in Harborne.
She also enlisted with VisABLE – an acting agency for people with all disabilities.
Fiona was contacted about a part in a BBC series available which could suit Poppy but they were not told it was.
They were asked to send a video and within days were called back and Poppy was offered the part.
Fiona said: “It was a dream come true for Poppy.
“She has always been into acting and singing and we were both massive fans of Call the Midwife.
“She is so professional when she is acting and takes it so seriously – I can’t talk to her when she’s in the zone – nothing distracts her.”
Fiona added what was equally as fantastic was the way the other actors, writers and backstage team were.
“They were all absolutely lovely.
“When you watch them on-screen you imagine them to be like a real family and it was just like that when we went for filming.
“Seeing it all happen was an incredible experience.”
The last episode of the series had the highest rating of any TV show over the weekend.
And it was announced on Monday that the award-winning Call the Midwife would be getting two more series with eight episodes and Christmas specials in each one, keeping it on our screens until at least 2022.
Fiona said she hoped Poppy would be asked to be in the next series so she could continue where she left off on Sunday.
She has also been busy with more filming this week – in popular series Doctors which is shot in Birmingham.
