'Call the Midwife' Season 13 to Get Early Debut on PBS Passport

Call The Midwife Season 13 debuted on the BBC on January 7, 2024. As usual, the first two months of the year are the hardest to keep from being spoiled if you happen to read the U.K. entertainment sites while everyone waits for the series to debut on PBS in its usual March berth. This has been a fact of life for Call The Midwife fans of the series since it first started airing a dozen years ago in 2012, and will probably continue to be the case for another dozen, considering the BBC keeps renewing the series for multiple seasons at a time. 

However, for PBS Passport members, the wait for Season 13 just got a little shorter, as early access to the new season of Call The Midwife is officially confirmed for 2024. While those who only have PBS on linear or the PBS app on their televisions will still have to wait until March 17 to watch the new season, PBS Passport members will get a head start on watching a month early, with the premiere episode rolling out just after Valentine's Day, on February 16, 2024. 

For those who fast-forward through their local station's pledge drives (or get up and wander off), PBS Passport is the streaming service benefit that comes with a mug and tote bag when you support your local station. For streaming churners, it's $5 for a month; for those who tend to commit to their streaming services longer term, it's $60 for a year. (That's usually the level where the mug/tote bag gets included.) Call The Midwife Season 12 is currently streaming on PBS Passport ahead of the Season 13 early access debut for members, so it's a perfect time to join.

If you're currently not a member of your local PBS but want early access to Call The Midwife, signing up is easy; you get access to a ton of programming, and you can feel good about supporting public television (and Telly Visions!) while you're at it.

Here's the Season 13 synopsis, which picks up in the spring of 1969, a few months after the Christmas special left off.

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.

Season 13 stars current longtime original cast members Helen George, Judy Parfitt, Jenny Agutter, Laura Main, Stephen McGann, and Cliff Parisi, plus longtime mainstay additions Annabelle Apsion, Linda Bassett, Daniel Laurie, Georgie Glen, Zephryn Taitte, Olly Rix, and Megan Cusack. Last year's new addition, Rebecca Gethings, also returns as Sister Veronica; plus, Season 13 introduces two new midwife trainees, Renee Bailey (Mood) as Joyce Highland and Natalie Quarry (Doctors) as Rosalind Clifford.

Call the Midwife Season 13 early access premiere for PBS Passport members will arrive on Friday, February 16, with one episode a week to follow every Friday, with the finale streaming on April 5. The series will premiere for the rest of the world on most PBS stations starting on Sunday, March 17, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET, airing weekly through mid-May. As always, check your local listings.