PBS Confirms 'Call the Midwife' Season 13 & 2023 Holiday Special Premiere Dates

Call The Midwife has officially finished filming Season 13 just in time for the holiday season. The beloved British series, which is all the cozy, none of the mystery, will return to the small screen for its yearly "Festive Special" for the holidays and then to the BBC in January 2024, as is a time-honored tradition after more than a decade on the air. PBS has also confirmed that the series will return to America for another year, with dates set for both the 2023 holiday special arriving on most stations and PBS Passport, as well as a confirmed Season 13 premiere date in the spring of 2024.

Neal Street Productions announced the series had finally completed filming on November 24, 2023, with a photo of Georgie Glen, who plays Miss Higgins, and a festive clapper celebrating the final scene to be filmed this year. The holiday decor surrounding Glenn suggests the scene is from the forthcoming special; though it is the first to be shown, and, in the U.K., is the unofficial kickoff to the new season, it is not filmed first. (Also, unlike some series that also have holiday specials, like Doctor Who and The Great British Baking Show, the special is not filmed separately.) 

The production studio had been hyping the end of filming for a couple of weeks, with behind-the-scenes images from the forthcoming season featuring everyone from the youngest cast members who play the Turner children to Cliff Parisi, who has been with the series since Season 1, playing Fred Buckle. While there's been little in the way of details for the new season, it looks like at least one episode plans to go off with a bang.

While there's no synopsis for the holiday special yet, we do know that it will be the run-up to New Year's Eve entering 1969 and the end of a long and turbulent decade that brought many changes to England. As for Season 13, PBS's general synopsis reads:

Call The Midwife explores complex medical and personal situations on the midwifery and district nursing rounds. It is now 1969, and the period drama returns with Poplar coping with the popularity of home births under the auspices of the Sisters. Season 13 will also see stories of poor housing challenges and health issues for the nurses, midwives, and nuns of the Nonnatus House.

The current cast of Call The Midwife stars Helen George, Linda Bassett, Judy Parfitt, Jenny Agutter, Laura Main, Stephen McGann, Cliff Parisi, Annabelle Apsion, and Megan Cusack. The series co-stars Georgie Glen, Zephryn Taitte, Olly Rix, Rebecca Gethings, and Daniel Laurie. Season 13 will also introduce two new midwife trainees, Renee Bailey (Mood) as Joyce Highland and Natalie Quarry (Doctors) as Rosalind Clifford.

The Call the Midwife holiday specials from Season 9 through Season 12 (2020 - 2022) are all currently streaming for members on PBS Passport. The Season 13 2023 special will air on most PBS stations and stream on PBS Passport starting Monday, December 25, 2023. Season 13 will premiere on Sunday, March 17, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET, airing weekly on linear, with all eight episodes available that day on PBS Passport for members. As always, check your local listings.