Published

It's Christmas in East London but the babies keep coming


Watch Call the Midwife Holiday Special Sunday, Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m. on WV PBS

In 1958 East End London, the holidays are not just about the opening of presents, but also about the closing of deep wounds. Although the weather is unseasonably mild for this time of year, the lives of the midwives are anything but calm. Jenny’s relationship with Alec continues to blossom and Shelagh’s (formerly Sister Bernadette) quiet wedding to Dr. Turner is underway. When a thousand-pound explosive is discovered, the district is evacuated and the Nonnatus House team is quick to take charge to ensure that the community is safe and warm. Always one to keep spirits high, Chummy decides to forge ahead with the Cubs Christmas party. However, just when the community’s holiday spirit is renewed, Poplar faces an outbreak of polio, with the repercussions of the illness affecting the nurses and nuns more than they could have ever imagined.

Based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife is a moving and intimate story of midwifery in London’s East End in the 1950s. Season 3 takes viewers back to East London, now in 1959 and the eve of the Swinging Sixties. The winds of change are sweeping through the country and the residents of Nonnatus House face some momentous changes of their own.

Call the Midwife stars Jessica Raine as Jenny Lee, along with Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne, Pam Ferris as Sister Evangelina, Miranda Hart as Chummy, Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan, Helen George  as Trixie Franklin, Bryony Hannah  as Cynthia Miller, Laura Main  as Shelagh and Cliff Parisi as Fred. Vanessa Redgrave provides the voice of the mature Jenny.

The third season of Call the Midwife returns in March.