The star who portrays Nancy Corrigan in Call The Midwife comes from an acting dynasty and one of her relatives is a well-known actress who has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in her long and illustrious career. TV fans can’t get enough of Call The Midwife it seems and filming for the 14th series is now underway. The period drama’s 13th series finale aired in March this year and continued to follow the lives of a group of midwives working in London’s East End during the 1960s.
Trainee nurse Nancy Corrigan arrived at Nonnatus House, which is the home of the nuns and the headquarters for their work in midwifery, back in 2021 during the 10th series. The friendly character was raised by Catholic nuns and has a daughter called Colette. The role of Nancy was one of the first on-screen parts for the actress who plays her, Megan Cusack.
Her name may sound very familiar and that’s because she’s part of an acting dynasty that began with her Irish grandad Cyril Cusack. He started out in the profession when he was just seven years old and passed the bug onto the rest of his family. His daughter Niamh Cusack, who is Megan’s aunt, is a very famous face who you are bound to recognise.
She rose to prominence playing Dr. Kate Rowan in Heartbeat in the 90s. Her character was married to the protagonist Nick, who was a policeman in the period drama set in the 1960s, played by Nick Berry.
Dr Kate died from leukaemia in the fifth series when Niamh decided to leave the series because she was having a baby with husband Finbar Lynch, who is also an actor. Their son Calam has followed his parents into the world of performing arts and he starred as Theo Sharpe in the second series of Bridgerton. Among Niamh’s many other TV roles are Midsummer Murders, A Touch of Frost and Death in Paradise.
But she also has a celebrated career on the stage where she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre in numerous productions, including Othello, Romeo and Juliet and His Dark Materials. Niamh’s actress sister Sinead Cusack is married to legendary actor, Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons. They have two sons, Samuel and Max who are also actors as are Niamh’s other siblings.
Sister Sorcha, is also an actress and starred in the 1973 Jane Eyre series and portrayed Helen Connor in Coronation Street . Their half sister Catherine played Nanny Carmel in Coronation Street in the 1990s. Their brother Padraig Cusack is a theatre producer and is the father of Call the Midwife star Megan.
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