Call The Midwife creator Heidi Thomas denies claims she is quitting the show

Call The Midwife creator Heidi Thomas has denied claims that she is quitting the popular BBC show.

It was previously reported that the 56-year-old writer would bow out of the long-running drama to focus on other projects because the period drama left her with little time to work on other opportunities.

Thomas has since told the Standard: ”Reports that I am leaving Call The Midwife are absolute nonsense.

“I am currently happily working on Series nine and will continue with my role until the show itself comes to an end.

“Series 10 and 11 have already been commissioned by the BBC, meaning we will be on air until at least 2022.”

According to the reports in The Mirror, the writer had hinted on a forthcoming episode of The South Bank Show.

She was quoted as saying: “It’s like owls when they learn to fly – they wriggle along the branch and then suddenly they’re flying. I suppose that will be me in the next year or two.

“When I look at the casualties along the way, my path for the last eight years is strewn with bodies, corpses, things I was commissioned and couldn’t write.

“What I don’t want, when Call the Midwife ends, is for me to be 60 and redundant so I have to go and do yoga and polish things at church and do all the other things retired ladies do.”

But she has since clarified her statement and said she will continue her role until the show comes to an end.

The ninth series of Call the Midwife is currently halfway through filming, and series 10 and 11 have already been commissioned – meaning the show will be on air until at least 2022.

Thomas is a writer and executive producer on the show and also writes many of the episodes.

She also brings out additional screenwriters into the team. For series eight, writers included Louise Ironside, Debbie O’Malley, Andrea Gibb and Lisa Holdsworth.