Fans of Call the Midwife will have been quick to Google Olly Rix when he first appeared on their screen, given the handsome actor’s attractive looks and presence on screen. There will equally have been a sense of devastation for many when it was revealed that he would be leaving the TV show at the end of the 13th season. When heading online to find out about Rix, some might have found themselves reading about Brian Rix, given the fact that the pair have the same last name and that Brian was also an actor. The fact that Brian Rix had four children will have furthered this, but was Olly Rix one of them?
Who Are We Talking About?
Even if you’re a big fan of television and tend to watch the soaps, it isn’t out of the realms of the possible that the Rixs have passed you by. Whilst you might have seen one, if not both, of them at some point or another simply by virtue of paying attention to what’s on your TV screen, you might not know who they are. Here is a quick look at them both:
Olly Rix
Olly Rix didn’t originally plan to become an actor, studying English Literature at Trinity College, Oxford. As with so many other Oxbridge candidates, though, he found another interest when he got involved in the university’s Dramatic Society. He then gained a scholarship to study at the London Academy of Drama Art, getting a job at the Royal Shakespeare Company after graduation. He first appeared on screen in Death Comes to Pemberley, but really made a name for himself when he was cast as Matthew Aylward in Call the Midwife. Although he left the series at the end of the 13th season, the door was left open for him to return.
Brian Rix
Brian Norman Roger Rix was born in Cottingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire on the 27th of January, 1924. He wanted to play cricket during his early years, managing to do so for Hull Cricket Club when he was 16 and the Marylebone Cricket Club after the war. Sheila, his elder sister, became an actress, with Rix having a similar desire himself. He managed it when he was 18, appearing in professional productions in London. He appeared in numerous TV productions as well as some films, but might well be best-known to some for his activism around disability in the wake of his first son being born with Down syndrome. In 1992 he entered the House of Lords.
Are They Related?
When it comes to whether or not the pair are related, the assumption that they are is a case of people adding two and two together to get five. The fact that Brian Rix was an actor and Olly Rix is too, as well as their shared surname, means that people might well expect them to be related only to be disappointed upon finding out that they’re not. It is another in the long line of people who appear to be related owing to a series of coincidences, but that actually bare no relation to one another other than the fact that they share a surname and a profession, or look a little bit like one another, which isn’t the case here.