Call The Midwife star catches hypothermia as cast film in extreme weather

Call The Midwife is set for a jolly picnic at the beach in Sunday's episode – but in real life, weather conditions were so extreme during filming that Cliff Parisi ended up with hypothermia.

The popular BBC One period drama went out on location to West Wittering on the West Sussex coast for the episode, but unluckily for the cast, it coincided with Storm Agnes.

Sweeping in from the Atlantic Ocean at the end of September, gusts reached up to nearly 60mph in the coastal area the show visited, a far cry from the actual weather in 1969, the year the current series is set, which recorded heat wave temperatures.

In fact, the weather was so extreme that Parisi, who plays shop owner Fred Buckle, needed medical attention as he told The Mirror: "Everything was going sideways. The wind was unbelievable, it was so cold. I was wearing a shirt with a hanky on my head. I managed to keep the hanky the whole time - but I got hypothermia in the end. They had to take me off set. I had to warm up, I couldn’t go back on. We’d done most of it by that point."

He added that he was wrapped in a foil blanket and said: "It was a laugh, but it was difficult to film. Things were flying all over the place. Hair and make-up gave up and ran for cover. One of the crews did as well, we had two cameras then we had one. There was sand in everything."

Fans of the cosy drama might be able to spot conditions looking a little breezy in the episode, which sees Fred's wife Violet (Annabel Apsion) plan a day out at the beach which quickly turns to chaos when one of the guests, heavily pregnant Lindy Webster (Lydia Fleming) goes into labour.

Also filming on the windy beach were Helen George, Olly Rix, Laura Main and Stephen McGann, and scenes from the episode appear to show a chilly-looking sky.

The cast had to put in a huge effort to make the day look like the height of summer as Apsion revealed that the weather "could not have been worse", calling it "a nightmare for continuity" as hair and costumes had to be constantly adjusted.

Call The Midwife airs on BBC One at 8pm on Sunday.

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