Helen George: Spirituality was my dirty little secret – now I’m ready to share it

“I’ve definitely experienced things I can’t explain – particularly from tarot,” Helen George tells me during our conversation about spirituality and mysticism, the subject of a new podcast, Mystic Mates, she co-hosts with best friend and fellow West End actor, Yvette Robinson. “Because I’m in the public eye, I’m always very wary, but I’ve had experiences with mediums where I’ve been given very compelling and intricate readings about my life and heritage, and where people I have known have come and described themselves. It’s fascinating.” George is best known to many as nurse Trixie Franklin in the Bafta-winning BBC series Call the Midwife, but it was during an early stage performance of The Woman in White at London’s Palace Theatre – where she first met Robinson – when her interest in all things mystical crystallised. “She’d just arrived from Australia and was very different to anyone I’d met,” says George. “I thought she was amazing – I really looked up to her.” Robinson, who has performed in some of the West End’s most popular shows, including Evita and Mamma Mia!, had a bag of runes on her dressing room table that caught George’s eye, along with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s most revered texts. “When I told her that I’d read it, she was like ‘What?’ because she assumed I was just some blonde dolly,” she recalls. “But we bonded after that. I would always go into her dressing room and pull a rune – that’s where our friendship began.” Yvette Robinson and Helen George are hosting ‘Mystic Mates’ Now, after 20 years of keeping their “dirty little secret” to themselves, the pair are exploring every corner of the spiritual world in their new podcast. “We’ve always discussed it privately because people always thought it was a bit weird or silly,” says George. “But the older we’ve got, the more we’ve started to see the worth in it. And we’ve had some incredible experiences we now want to share with a bigger audience. We want to find a community of other people to share and learn with.” Born in Birmingham and raised in Hampshire in an atheist household, George always had an interest in alternative ways of living and thinking. “I was really interested in the paranormal and spiritual things growing up and was always looking for something, I think,” she says. While at school, she was inspired by a “fantastic” religious studies teacher who introduced her to Hinduism and the Hare Krishna movement. As well as being a junior associate at the Birmingham Royal Ballet, she also attended the Royal Academy of Music, where she secured her first major theatrical role within just two weeks of graduating. In addition to a successful career, George is also a parent to two daughters she shares with fellow Call the Midwife star Jack Ashton, who she was in a relationship with from 2016 to 2023. Like many of us, she’s also struggled with heartbreak and loss, referencing the death of a former boyfriend from leukaemia during a recent episode of the podcast. Has spirituality helped her through challenging times? “Definitely,” she says. “Those are the times when I think, “Oh, I need a tarot read’. Before therapy was a thing, I think I probably used my tarot readings in that way – just for someone to say: ‘It’s going to be OK’.” She continues: “That’s why I find the mediumship helpful. We’ve all experienced loss and when you feel that maybe there is a different energy or intelligence or life that hasn’t ended that is still around but which we can’t quite quantify, knowing that this is potentially present and that those people are still watching over you is very comforting. I feel very supported spiritually.” Helen has always been interested in spirituality And with a 2025 YouGov poll revealing that 38 per cent of Britons believe ghosts could exist, while 20 per cent are open to the idea of communication with the dead, it seems the UK is receptive to such ideas. George believes there is a “thirst” for all things esoteric right now. “I think it’s because the world is so turbulent,” she says when asked why spiritualism is enjoying such a resurgence. “But there’s also a collective search for light – a sort of collective consciousness – and a search for the other,” she says. “People knowing that ultimately they will be OK” is an aspect of spirituality and belief that can make people feel happier. “I think anything that brings hope [is positive].” Friendship is a major source of support for George and something that she believes becomes more important as we move through life. “I’ve made some really bad decisions in my life – and I don’t always trust my intuition – but a lot of my friends have been there since the beginning,” she says. “Yvette and I are so important to each other – we’ve been there through the good, the bad and the ugly.” Another constant in George’s life is her Call the Midwife character, a role she’s inhabited for nearly 15 years. Playing a character who is “very strong, but also fragile” has enabled George to feel more comfortable showing her vulnerability in real life, citing her appearance in ITV’s show Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters last year as an example, a reality TV series that saw George and a host of celebrities face their fear of open water. “I allowed myself to be really vulnerable in a way I’d never done before on screen,” she said. “It was a really empowering thing to let people in because I think a lot of people think I’m quite snobby or closed-up. And when I did Strictly all those years ago [2015], I retreated and shut down when I got nervous. Doing the shark programme was a real lesson in meeting my fears.” Helen and Freddie Fox are starring in ‘High Society’ (Photo: Grant Buchanan/Dave Benett/Getty) And Trixie is a character that George is “not quite ready to let go”. She says: “I’m really excited about potentially revisiting Trixie because she’s so dear to me and has been such a massive part of my life,” she reveals. “But at the same time, I feel like there’s a world of possibilities at the moment. I’m really in a place where I’m saying yes to anything that comes along and interested to see where that takes me.”This includes her current role as glamorous socialite Tracy Lord in Cole Porter’s High Society, which opened at London’s Barbican in May and is now on a nationwide tour until November. The acclaimed production sees George perform alongside Felicity Kendal and Freddie Fox and is a source of “uncomplicated joy” for her. “With High Society, it’s like I’ve drunk half a bottle of tequila on stage,” she says. “I’m playing in a way that I’ve never had the confidence to do before – it’s been so much fun. For the first time, I feel a real sense of freedom and that these new experiences are going to take me to different places. That’s exciting.” I ask if being in the public eye has made George more interested in finding an inner life that’s separate from work. “I suppose it has – what I do can be all-encompassing,” she replies. “I love my work – I’m so dedicated to it – and what it affords me when things aren’t so great in my personal life.” Her comments follow recent media speculation that George has recently separated from her partner, property marketing executive Dan Innes, after 15 months together. It’s a subject that is out of bounds during our chat, but George does make reference to life after love. “I’ve never had so much love for the stage as I do in this job – and it’s the most amazing medicine,” she says. “I’m really excited for the future – there are so many other things I want to do.” And as for the insights she has gleaned as a result of her interest in all things spiritual, what does she think constitutes a meaningful life? “Peace, calm and being surrounded by love,” she replies. “That might sound a little thin, but it’s true. We all have different battles going on, whether we’re in the public eye or not. And I think if we can find some sort of equilibrium among all of that, it’s a good place to be.” ‘Mystic Mates’ is available on all major podcast platforms