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Call the Midwife icon Max Macmill

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Call the Midwife icon Max Macmillan delighted viewers when he returned as Timothy Turner for the Christmas specials.

The 23-year-old actor first appeared on the much-loved BBC period drama in 2012 when his character was introduced during the first-ever festive episode as Doctor Patrick Turner’s (Stephen McGann) mischievous, though kind-hearted, son.

During his Call the Midwife debut, Timothy is a young schoolboy who waits for his dad in a car whilst he attends to an older lady in dire need of medical attention.

He was also a Boy Scout who got involved in Nurse Chummy’s (Miranda Hart) Christmas nativity, giving his dad a look of pride as he performed the violin in a memorable heart-warming moment.

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Timothy, who was first seen during the 2012 festive episode but he disappeared off-screen for season 14, which aired last year. It was here that Dr Turner made no secret of his missing eldest son, Timothy, who was away working as a junior doctor in Edinburgh.

However, during the recent festive specials, which aired on Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2025, Timothy returned to Poplar and reunited with his family. The tense episodes included an explosive plot abroad as the nuns and nurses embark on a rescue mission.

Set in 1971, the plot kicked off with Fred (Cliff Parisi) and Violet Buckle (Annabelle Apsion) leaving Poplar, East London, and travelling to Hong Kong to spend Christmas with her son, Derek (Nicholas Atkinson).

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However, tragedy struck when the Hong Kong Branch House collapsed, and there were multiple fatalities. A rescue mission was hastily organised, and a team from Nonnatus House made emergency plans to head out to Hong Kong to do what they could to help.

Call the Midwife fans have seen Timothy grow from a young lad to a young man as he follows in his father’s footsteps and becomes a doctor.

Who is Max Macmillan’s mum?

Away from the BBC drama, Max isn’t the only star in his family as his mother is the internationally bestselling author Gilly Macmillan, who writes thriller books. She has eight published novels, including The Manor House, The Perfect Girl, The Nanny, The Long Weekend and The Burning Library.

The proud mum has previously reshared photos posted on the official Call the Midwife Facebook page. Reposting a snap of Max on the drama’s set with his co-star Daniel Laurie, who plays Reggie, Gilly penned back in 2017: “My boy Max on set at #CallTheMidwife.”

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As Max started his acting career on Call the Midwife, the actor has not appeared in many other series.

However, he did star in a short film called “The Night to Come.” In 2019, Max appeared as Peter Stemp alongside Tim Roth and Clive Owen in The Song of Names, a film about two boys who form a bond over their shared love of music.

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Away from acting, Max is a man of musical talents as he can sing and play instruments. He can be seen playing the piano on Call The Midwife, and he has also performed several concerts in real life.

He is also a keen photographer, and you can find Max Macmillan’s photos on his Instagram page: @lazydonkey27.

Countryfile presenter Adam Henson has shared his heartache over a saddening change he’s witnessed over the years in Gloucestershire, where his Cotswolds Farm Park is based

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BBC’s Countryfile presenter Adam Henson has spoken of his heartbreak at the falling number of orchards near his farm, where he lives with wife Charlie.

Speaking about the tradition of wassailing, an ancient winter tradition involving singing and dancing on the Twelfth Night (January 5), Adam said he was glad that despite the falling number of orchards in Gloucestershire, wassailing was still taking place.

Writing in Cotswold Life about nature in winter, Adam said: “In days of old, the sheer number of fruit orchards dotted across Gloucestershire made the county a prime place for wassailing.

“The Twelfth Night custom of blessing the trees in hope of a good crop later in the year dates back to pagan times.

“I can’t guarantee that chasing away the evil spirits always worked but I do know that every self respecting wassail involved singing, dancing, the lighting of bonfires and drinking plenty of farmhouse cider.

“It’s heartbreaking that so many orchards have been list in recent decades but it’s good to know that there’s renewed interest in wassailing. Gatherings now take place all over the region.”

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Adam’s concerns over the loss of many orchards in the Cotswolds come as the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust warns that changes in buying habits and infrastructure are impacting the number of orchards in the county.

In a statement, they said: “Traditional orchards have unique ecological, genetic, heritage and landscape value that we need to conserve and celebrate.

“Changes in agriculture and in the way supermarkets buy and sell fruit have meant that Gloucestershire has lost over 70% of its orchards in the past 50 or so years and what was once a familiar part of the landscape is now increasingly rare.”

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This isn’t the first time Adam has talked about the importance of trees, in an article for the official BBC Countryfile website, he discussed about what people get wrong about them, especially old veteran trees, and how they’re so much more than they appear.

He explained: “You might think that a tree that is full of holes, cavities and crevices is no use to anyone but, in fact, veteran trees are incredibly important for biodiversity and nature conservation.

“For starters, fungi and lichen provide a free home for insects, food for animals such as squirrels and voles, and nesting material for birds.

The Traitors star Amanda Collier has shared how she is lucky to be alive after being involved in a freak bike accident while on holiday in France, which almost saw her break her neck

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Banished Traitors star Amanda Collier has revealed how she almost broke her neck after a freak bike accident on holiday.

The 57-year-old former Met Police detective was voted off the BBC show last week after failing to pick a box at the roundtable that contained a shield, which would have protected her from elimination.

It came shortly after Amanda, from Brighton, shared her secret identity with castle best friend and Traitor Rachel Duffy and made her the seventh player to leave the latest series of The Traitors, which kicked off on New Year’s Day and is set to conclude on January 23.

Now the show legend has spoken out about the horrific injury she sustained while on holiday with her wife, Caroline. She shared: “We were having a lovely time on a camper van holiday in the Loire Valley countryside and were on a bike ride on the last day.

“Out of the blue, Caroline accidentally clipped my wheel. The freak accident sent me headfirst into this flint wall. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I realised I had to turn my body, or I would break my neck.”

READ MORE: Banished Traitors star Amanda makes heartbreaking admission about late brother

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Amanda continued to The Sun: “It all happened in a split second, but my shoulder smashed into the hard rock, and I couldn’t breathe, and I had badly winded myself. It was just awful. Thank God for this lovely French jogger who appeared. He was able to help direct the ambulance, as we didn’t know exactly where we were.”

The TV star explained how her collarbone was jutting out at an angle, narrowly avoiding breaking her skin. Though she was taken to a hospital in France following the freak accident in 2022, it was agreed that treatment would be better if it happened in the UK.

However, this meant she had to endure an agonising 15-hour journey home through the Channel Tunnel.

“I’ve never been in so much pain,” Amanda said as she detailed how every time their camper van went over a bump was “torture”. At one point she even asked her wife to pull over to side of the road and leave her as she felt she “couldn’t go on”.

Of course, Caroline ploughed on and got Amanda hone. Once they were back in the UK, Amanda had an operation to have a metal sheet inserted into her body to help fix her bones back into place. She then spent two months recovering at home.

Sharing how she’ll never take her health for granted again, she added: “I’m so grateful not to have any lasting effects from the accident. I was fine doing all the physical challenges on the Traitors, but sometimes I still get twinges in my collarbone from time to time.”

While appearing on the hit BBC game show earlier this month, Amanda revealed more heartbreak as she told how it was painful for her be up against Reece Ward at the roundtable – because he reminded her so much of her late brother.

After her elimination, she said: “I was sadly up against Reece, who reminded me of my brother who sadly passed away in 2011 at the age of 32. He just looked like him, so it made it more difficult because I had a really good friendship with him. He was like a little brother.”

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