10 iconic female characters from historical dramas to celebrate Women’s History Month

7. Nurse Lucille Anderson from Call the Midwife

Nurse Lucille Anderson, portrayed by actress Leonie Elliott, is one of the newer members of the Nonnatus House and to Call the Midwife. While Call the Midwife is a long-running series with a stacked cast of talented women, I chose Lucille for this piece because I think it’s important to highlight the few diverse roles in the historical drama category and Lucille is one of many iconic female characters on the show.

It seems like the genre is finally starting to shift to become more inclusive, but it’s certainly taken far too long to do so, and it’s a shame that the casts for so many of the series are painfully white. Nonetheless, Lucille is a Jamaican nurse born in 1940 who starts her career as a librarian before beginning her training as a nurse in 1960 England. Lucille embraces the challenging work at Nonnatus House after Enoch Powell’s encouragement and goes on to become the first black nurse working at the establishment.

At first, Lucille sees nursing as a means to an end, a way to make a living. But over time, she genuinely falls in love with her work and starts to see it as a passion more than just another job. While this role is Elliott’s most notable one to date, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see big things from this talented actress in the future.