The character was not very popular with patriarch Zak Dingle and his son Cain.

Stephen McGann is renowned for his role in Call the Midwife; however, he once starred as a villainous thug in Emmerdale.

The 62-year-old has played the loveable Dr. Turner on the hit BBC period drama since the show launched in 2012.

Call the Midwife returned on Christmas Day and saw Dr. Turner, along with nuns and nurses from Nonnatus House, rush to Hong Kong to assist with a disaster.

Set in 1971, the episode sees Fred (Cliff Parisi) and Violet Buckle (Annabelle Apsion) departing Poplar, East London, for Hong Kong to spend Christmas with her son, Derek (Nicholas Atkinson).

However, their holiday takes a tragic turn when they discover that the Hong Kong Branch House has collapsed, resulting in multiple fatalities.

A rescue mission is quickly assembled, with a team from Nonnatus House devising emergency plans to travel overseas and offer assistance.

Although the medical mission isn’t as straightforward as they had hoped, it appears Dr.Turner could be in trouble.

Who was Stephen McGann in Emmerdale?

Before arriving in Call the Midwife as Dr. Turner, Stephen was already an established soap star, having played the role of love rat Sean Reynolds in Emmerdale.

The Reynolds family made quite an impression when they first moved to the Dales in 1999. Sean first arrived with his wife Angie (Freya Copeland), their son Marc (Anthony Lewis), and daughter Ollie (Vicky Binns).

They were later joined by Sean’s father, Len (Peter Martin), following the off-screen death of his mother, Eileen.

After locking horns with Chris Tate (Peter Amory) and Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), Sean made a few enemies in and around the village, and drama quickly ensued.

In one exciting scene, Sean is enraged when he sees Cain enjoying a beer outside of The Woolpack and violently attacks him with a punch to the face.Zak Dingle (Steve Halliwell) tries to hold Sean back as Sam Dingle (James Hooton) confirms that his brother, Cain, has been having an affair with Angie Reynolds.

In another scene, Sean lashed out at Richie Carter (Glenn Lamont) after accusing him of also having an affair with his wife after spotting them in a romantic clinch.

It will come as no surprise that the haulage firm owner later split from his wife, Angie, but Sean was responsible following an affair with Lady Tara Thornfield (Anna Brecon).

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Sean and Tara had tried to resist the temptation of romance for the sake of their children, Marc and Ollie.

But the pair eventually gave in to their mutual attraction and decided to leave the Dales together to begin a new life in Chester. Stephen’s final scenes as Sean Reynolds aired in January 2002.

Who is Stephen McGann married to in real life?

Call the Midwife is inspired by the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, painting a vivid picture of the heart-wrenching and jubilant stories of midwives and families in East London’s East End.

The BBC period drama was crafted and penned by Heidi Thomas. However, off-camera, Stephen and Heidi are a real-life pair. They’ve been blissfully wedded since 1990 and also have a son named Dominic.

In a chat with Good Housekeeping in November 2020, Heidi confessed that Call the Midwife is the ‘sole topic of conversation’ in their home, but she never gives her husband an early glimpse at the plotlines.

She stated: “I live with Stephen McGann who plays Dr. Turner because we’ve been married for 30 years and so he’s the character I know best off-screen.

“I never show him scripts or storylines before the other actors see them because I don’t think it’s fair on him to have to keep secrets.”

Heidi added: “He is completely in the dark until he gets that script.”

According to Stephen’s book titled A History of My Family in Seven Maladies, he met Heidi after auditioning for her new play at Liverpool Playhouse.

They tied the knot two years later, both aged 27, and had a honeymoon in Tuscany before embarking on a new life together in a cottage in rural Essex.

Call the Midwife continues on Boxing Day on BBC One, and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer