News of Chummy comeback was premature

Miranda Hart says she won't be returning to Call The Midwife.

The comedian had previously been expected to go back to the role of Camilla Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne – aka 'Chummy' – when the show returns for a sixth series later this year.

But now she has tweeted, 'with a heavy heart' that her work commitment will make that impossible:

News: it's with a heavy heart that having shared Chummy's return to CTM, I've not been able to birth (pun) the schedule to make it work. xx

— Miranda Hart (@mermhart) August 18, 2016

Chummy was written out of the show during series four. She was sent to a mother and baby unit, leaving the door open for her return.

In April, producers Neal Street Productions said: 'We've been bursting to share the news Chummy has left the mother and baby unit and is heading back to Poplar for series six! We're thrilled to be once again featuring Miranda Hart and her fabulous blend of warmth, strength and vulnerability as Chummy gets to grips with the medical and social challenges of the 1960s.'

However their excitement now seems premature.

Truly sad not to be playing Chummy this year but fans are in for a treat with Dame Harriet Walter as a new cast member and more besides.

— Miranda Hart (@mermhart) August 18, 2016

Hart publishes her second book, Peggy and Me, about her relationship with her dog, a Shih-Tzu Bichon Frise cross, in October. (Preorder).

She is also lending her voice to a forthcoming animated version of Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost, which will reunite Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, and also star Imelda Staunton and Toby Jones.

Published: 18 Aug 2016