Trixie Returns in Time for 'Call the Midwife's Supersized Christmas Special

It's Christmas time in Poplar in 1969 when Call the Midwife returns for the annual Christmas special — and this year, we've got a double helping! The nuns and medical staff of Nonnatus House are preparing for the holiday season while also helping out the hospital, which is short-staffed due to a Hong Kong Flu outbreak*. It's all hands on deck as more and more people are getting sick, but luckily, it seems the Nonnatus midwives had a mild bout of the spreading flu shortly before the holidays went into full swing. 

(*Yes, we are side-eyeing the name.) 

Keeping everyone germ-free is difficult when the fun fair rolls into town, bringing everyone out to play. Several fun scenes and even a love connection blossom at the fair as everyone takes turns on the Ferris Wheel and eats candied apples. Trixie (Helen George) also returns for the fun! While everyone is trying to have a good time, news breaks that a handful of felons have broken out of the nearby prison. Two head to town and rob Fred's (Cliff Parisi) shop; one is arrested when they attempt to hold up a post office, but the meeker of the two makes his way to his mum's flat, only to find out she's passed away from the flu. 

While most of Poplar is on edge because a criminal is on the loose, Fred is on an urgent mission to find Reg (Daniel Laurie), who traveled alone to visit his family for Christmas. Fred is set to pick Reg up at the bus station, but the traffic from the post office robbery makes him late, and Reg has disappeared by the time he gets there, making us so grateful for the invention of the cell phone. 

That's just how the Christmas special kicks off. Let's break down all of the reunions and drama. 

Once Fred realizes Reg is missing, it is all hands on deck. Nurse Phyllis (Linda Bassett) and Miss Higgins (Georgie Glen) take cars to look for him. Meanwhile, Rosalind (Natalie Quarry) and Cyril (Zephryn Taitte) search on foot. They find Jacque, the escaped felon, during their search, and Rosalind attempts to bandage his hurt hand before Cyril makes a citizen's arrest. 

A few miles away, Reg finds shelter in an open garage. He attempted to take the bus to Poplar by himself and ended up in the entirely wrong place. Trixie insists that the police put out a radio call for Reg, which helps a woman identify Reg on a park bench the following day. She takes him home to Poplar so he can be reunited with his family and give us a sigh of relief. 

It was a harrowing experience for Reg, but it inspired him to make a Poplar community Christmas dinner so that no one in the community goes hungry. Everyone pitches in to help because there's always something more you can do to make a hurt better. 

The central case of the week features a family down that desperately needs Reg's goodwill dinner. The family of five is thrown out of their housing at the top of the episode and forced to live in a one-bedroom, run-down den. The eldest daughter, Karen, befriends Nurse Turner (Lauren Main) when she's in hospital for a heart condition. When Nurse Turner later catches Karen stealing candles for her pregnant mother because their apartment has no electricity, she immediately jumps into action. 

Both the mother and father have contracted the flu. The father is taken to the hospital because his strain has developed into pneumonia, but Nurse Turner stays behind when she realizes the mother is going into labor with a fourth baby. She calls Trixie, and the duo helps deliver the child—a boy. He is the first boy of the four children, and Karen worries about what he'll wear since they only have girl clothes. 

Of course, The Order isn't about to let the family live in squalor. In addition to the warm Christmas meal, they are gifted new clothes for the newborn baby and new dresses for the girls. It will be a while before they can get into better government housing, but they at least have a lovely Christmas that helps them bond together. 

With Trixie bouncing between Polar and New York, there's been a question about which character will enter the spotlight. Right now, it's Nurse Nancy Corrigan (Megan Cusack), who provided the episode with some much-needed levity by striking up a charming romance with a tranquilizer salesman named Roger (Conor O'Donnell) during the Christmas special. The pair meet at Doctor Turner's (Stephen McGann) office and instantly have flirty chemistry. Nancy turns him down the first time he asks her out because she's worried about jumping into things too fast, but later, she changes her mind when the two run into each other at the fun fair. 

Rosalind and Joyce (Renee Bailey) help her get ready, and it is so cute to see Nancy excited about this date. The chemistry continues as the two ride bumper cars and walk around town, sharing stories. The good vibes continue even after Nancy's date falls over and sprains his ankle, forcing them to spend the rest of the evening at the hospital waiting for an X-ray. 

Things take a little bit of a turn the next day when Roger shows up at Nonnatus House, and Collette (Francesca Fullilove) answers the door. Nancy didn't want to bring up having a 12-year-old daughter on the first date and assumes the romance is over now that it's out in the open. Oh, ye of little faith, Nancy! It turns out this guy is the real deal. He takes Nancy out for coffee and confesses that he's falling in love with her, and the fact that she has a daughter won't scare him away. He'd be more scared if she expected everything to be cheery laughter all of the time. 

Is it too soon to say we are in love? After all of the grief Matthew (Olly Rix) gave us in Season 13, it is so refreshing to see a man arrive at Nonnatus House ready to get his hands dirty and actually show up for one of our girls! 

While Nancy's next adventure seems assured, the Christmas special raises several questions going into Season 14. Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) is searching for extra finances to help fix the deteriorating Nonnatus House, but opposition is brewing with the Board of Health. They are not a fan of The Order being in charge of the neighborhood's maternity care and claim most women don't want nuns giving them birth control, treating their venereal disease, or giving them abortions. When Sister Julienne points out The Order doesn't do abortions, the Board of Health representative feels that he's made his point. 

Season 14 will take place in 1970, so it seems The Order will have to prove its relevance and respected place within the community. While the nuns take their religious oaths seriously, they've never required any of their patients to share their beliefs. This is going to be a battle of perception over reality. So, once again, we should buckle up for Nonnatus House, which is fighting for its right to exist in Poplar. 

We are still unsure how Trixie will figure into that fight. She returns to Poplar during the Christmas special for a visit, and frozen fog keeps her at Nonnatus House for the holiday, but she still lives in New York. She expects to stay there for at least another year or more and worries that her midwifery skills will get rusty if she doesn't find a way to keep it up. She's torn between the two places, but will she make the full-time jump back to Nonnatus House? Sister Julienne insists that Trixie visit again during the year so that her skills can stay sharp, which is how we assume she'll return for Season 14, but will she end up staying? 

Cyril is also contemplating his future going into the new season. He receives a letter from his wife in Jamaica during the special and is distraught by the content. She's doing well abroad and enjoying her job, but he's upset that she doesn't say anything in the correspondence. It seems this long-distance situation is hitting the rocks, and Cyril is no longer content with the marriage. Will he go to Jamaica and try to make things work, or will he give up and try to find new love in Poplar? Cyril does so much for the community; we all want to see him settled and happy. 

Even though the Christmas special ended heartwarmingly and upliftingly, many loose threads must be addressed in the upcoming season. There's a sense of foreboding about the Order's place in the modern world, and Poplar is becoming more secularized. The nuns have done so much for the people of Popular, but are the people of Poplar ready to stand up for them in return? 

Call the Midwife Season 14 premieres on most PBS stations in the spring of 2025 at 8 p.m. ET and streams weekly on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Channel. As always, check your local listings. Details on whether that debut is on March 23 alongside Wolf Hall: The Mirror & The Light have not been confirmed; however, information on a release date and early access for PBS Passport members is expected to be forthcoming in the next few weeks.