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Call the Midwife creator and writer Heidi Thomas has declared her loyalty to the BBC as she confessed to turning down lucrative offers from streaming services saying: "It's not about money, it's about values". Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk and other media at the launch of the upcoming season 15 of the BBC period drama, she acknowledged that she had received big-money offers from the likes of Netflix but stressed that her loyalty lies closer to home with the BBC.

"I get wonderful opportunities, but this is the best opportunity I have ever had, and why would I give it up for something that's a shot in the dark?" She asked. "I've always had things to say, and I've always had brilliant people to say it for me. Quite literally, this (Call the Midwife) is my job of a lifetime, and I've probably spent half my lifetime doing it, and that's not going to change.

"To work with other women, to be able to tell stories about women and the working classes and the disabled and about newcomers to this country, I feel incredibly privileged to have had this material to work with.

"And yes, you could say to have this platform to work on, the streamers don't necessarily give anybody that, because it's all a puff of smoke in the dark, and anything on a streamer comes like a firework and vanishes like a firework.

"This is solid. We built it from the ground up, and there will be more stories, one on top of the other.

"The fact that I'm still here is a testament that it's not about money, it's about values," she insisted.

Call The Midwife has run on BBC One since its launch in 2012, and she continued to extol the broadcaster's virtues.

"I love the fact that we are a BBC show, because the BBC gives us an unreasonably good budget to work with, and we put every penny onto the screen. And I think that is as it ought to be," she said, quipping that despite this, there is never enough time or money.

The star added: "But what you make out of not having enough time and not having enough money is a jewel, because you put thought into every gesture that you make, both on the screen and behind it.

"I don't think you can put a price on thoughtfulness," she said.