Call The Midwife fans in for two bundles of joy at Christmas for the first time ever

BBC viewers will be treated to a double Christmas special of Call The Midwife this festive season

Call the Midwife fans will have two bundles of joy at Christmas for the first time.

An hour-long Christmas Day special, ending with a cliffhanger, will be foll­owed by another episode, probably on Boxing Day. The BBC drama attracted nine million viewers last Christmas.

Series 14, which starts in January, will transport fans, and the nuns and nurses of Nonnatus House, to 1970. Call the Midwife writer Heidi Thomas said: “Who doesn’t love finding an extra, unexpected present underneath the Christmas tree? When asked to write a two-part Christmas special for 2024, I couldn’t resist.”

The festive plot centres on the residents of Poplar, East London, fearing an escaped prisoner on the loose due to break-ins. Christmas 1969 also brings a funfair to the area but there are other, less welcome visitors, including influenza and the Hong Kong flu.

There is also some heartache when Fred and Violet Buckle’s preparations for son Reggie’s homecoming are thrown into turmoil. Meanwhile, the Turner children are caught up in a Blue Peter Christmas appeal, Miss Higgins has her grandson Harry to stay for the festivities and Trixie returns from visiting her husband Matthew in New York.

BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt added: “Heidi and the team have lined up two irresistible episodes packed full of everything fans will love about this very special series at Christmas time.”

Series 15 in 2026, taking the drama to 1971, has been commissioned. Many of the cast have been in the drama, based on the diaries of Jennifer Worth, since it started in 2012.

They include Jenny Agutter as head nun Sister Julienne, Judy Parfitt (as Monica Joan), Helen George (Trixie), Stephen McGann (Dr Turner), Laura Main (Shelagh) and Cliff Parisi (Fred Buckle).

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