"Is Trixie leaving Call the Midwife and is she still with Matthew?" are questions that will be hard not to ask yourself after the emotional scenes for the couple in the latest episode.
We might have had to wait an extra week for Call the Midwife season 13 episode 7 after it was rescheduled due to the BAFTAs but it certainly didn’t disappoint. This episode had all the emotional intensity we thought it might do after Nurse Trixie (Helen George) and Matthew Alyward (Olly Rix)’s marriage hit a seriously rough patch in episode 6. Alongside the usual heart-warming storylines in the latest episode, these two long-standing characters once again took centre stage.
The seventh episode ended with a devastating twist for Trixie and Matthew and it’s no surprise that it’s got us all wondering the same thing - is Trixie leaving Call the Midwife? With only the finale left to go this is all we know about whether the Nurse could be about to bow out of the BBC drama and whether Olly Rix could return.
*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
Is Trixie leaving Call the Midwife?
As of now it seems Trixie isn’t leaving Call the Midwife - at least not in season 13. Last year rumours circulated that Olly Rix would be leaving as her on-screen husband Matthew Aylward, prompting additional speculation about Helen George’s future on the hit BBC show. Since then Digital Spy reported that they understand Helen - and therefore Trixie - isn’t leaving Call the Midwife in season 13.
Her future on the show beyond this, though, remains a little uncertain at this point. If Trixie doesn’t leave Call the Midwife in the future then that also raises another rather significant question about her marriage to Matthew.
Call the Midwife season 13 has prompted plenty of emotional questions from fans, including Does Fred Buckle die in Call the Midwife?, however the future of Trixie and Matthew’s marriage is now many people’s primary concern. Whilst Trixie didn’t leave Call the Midwife in season 13 episode 7 Matthew did, taking his son Jonty with him and leaving his Nurse wife with a serious decision to make.
In light of this, it’s at least technically possible (though it would be heart-wrenching to watch) that Helen George could leave Call the Midwife as Trixie at some point in the show’s future. The show has been renewed until season 15 already so fans will have to wait and see if Trixie Aylward remains a beloved regular character until then.
Are Trixie and Matthew still together in Call the Midwife?
Matthew, played brilliantly by Olly Rix since 2021, left Call the Midwife in the latest episode, though he and Trixie are technically still together. He and his son Jonty went to New York for a fresh start after he was forced to fess up to Trixie about his financial situation and he left the ball in her court about whether she wanted to join them at some point. Matthew was sacked from the Aylward Estates board in episode 6 after his actions left the family company in debt in excess of £250,000 and he was stripped of his salary at the same time.
After keeping the truth from Trixie for so long, he finally admitted his money troubles to her and broke the news that they couldn’t move into their new Barbican flat, she couldn’t have her new car and they were utterly dependent on her own salary. Humiliated and feeling like a failure, Matthew viewed a move to New York as a way to start again after he bought warehouses there from his friend Chester.
He put in his own money and said that if he and Chester join forces he could get a return on his investment within 5 years. He made the decision without consulting Trixie - who was understandably upset.
“I want to rebuild where we are, where we belong,” she told her husband, who replied flatly, “Well, that’s not going to be possible.”
“Oh, you’ve decided that independently have you? Act now and tell the little woman later?” Trixie retorted.
Matthew wouldn’t be swayed and said that he and Jonty were going, although he appreciated that if Trixie needed time to think about it that wasn’t “unreasonable”. He implored her to remember that she loved New York when they were last there, to which she said that she loved it because it had been their honeymoon and she would’ve loved Skegness if they’d gone there instead, because it wasn’t the glamour that she loved but being with him.
This conversation didn’t get them any closer to agreeing and an anxious Trixie refused to lie down in bed that night. Despite Matthew assuring her that him going to New York didn’t change anything, that they were still married and still had a future together, she said she wasn’t so sure.
We next had the heart-breaking experience of watching Trixie say goodbye to her stepson Jonty as he and Matthew prepared to leave the flat and board the plane to New York. Matthew begged his wife to “please come” to the US, adding that she could come tomorrow if she wanted.
“If you haven’t decided what you want, I won’t force things,” Matthew said to her, leaving Trixie tearful and with a lot to consider. She was last seen heading to Nonnatus House at the very end of Call the Midwife season 13 episode 7 still looking heartbroken.
It’s clear Matthew is still hopeful Trixie will join him and Jonty and perceives them as very much still married. Though this was also the case when we saw Lucille leave Call the Midwife in season 12 and we know she’s not coming back to live with her husband Cyril right now. So it’s very likely that if Trixie decides conclusively she's never going to go to New York, this essentially signals that she and Matthew are separating for good.
Is Olly Rix coming back to Call the Midwife?
Olly Rix’s departure from Call the Midwife as Matthew Alyward hasn’t been officially confirmed by the BBC, though reports claimed last year that season 13 would be his last. According to RadioTimes.com, the door is supposedly being left open for Olly to potentially return to the BBC show at some point. This certainly fits with the way things were left in Matthew and Trixie’s final conversation together at their Poplar flat where they parted very much still married.
It seems that Trixie isn’t going to swap Poplar for New York and if the show writers still want Matthew and Trixie to stay together then perhaps they will make their relationship work long distance for some time. If not, then it’s possible that Olly Rix could return and Matthew might realise that he couldn’t let his relationship with Trixie fall apart because of geographical distance.
After all, Matthew’s trip to New York is initially just for 3-4 months and will only be extended if things go well, so it doesn’t seem that a permanent move is set in stone right now. Fans of the couple will likely be hoping for a reunion and if you've only just discovered how to watch Call the Midwife from the beginning then their wedding episode in season 12 is especially worth a watch.
It was tough watching the couple say goodbye in the latest episode and Olly Rix and Helen George found their final scenes in Call the Midwife challenging to film due to the emotional intensity of them.
Olly said it was "something we found quite emotionally exhausting to do", whilst Helen said the scenes were “hard, really hard to work on.”
“We have this set of Matthew's flat, Matthew and Trixie’s flat, which is quite a small set. And we're just in these four walls, and often our scenes would be programmed to be filmed in one day, so there's a sort of pressure on the finality of it all, as well,” she explained.
Call the Midwife season 13 continues on Sunday 3rd March at 8pm on BBC One and episodes are made available to watch after broadcast. Seasons 1-12 can be watched via BBC iPlayer.
