By Carmen Croghan for Drama on August 19th, 2016

Miranda Breaks Our Hearts: Chummy Won't Return in Series 6 of 'Call the Midwife'

Chummy won't be coming home to Poplar for the new series of "Call the Midwife" after all. (Photo Neal Street Productions)

It was only a few months ago when Telly Visions happily reported that Miranda Hart would be returning to Nonnatus House to reprise her role as Chummy Noakes in Season 6 of Call the Midwife. News of this homecoming was met with cheers and much rejoicing from fans of the beloved midwife who had been missing in action for most of the past two seasons of the show.

You may recall we were informed that Chummy had left Poplar in order to temporarily administrate a mother-and-baby home. This fact was mentioned from time to time to remind viewers that Chummy wasn't too far away. Her absence turned more permanent in nature during Season 5. Though we saw her husband Sgt. Noakes (Ben Caplan) going about his police business from time to time, it was as if Chummy and her son Freddie no longer existed.

Alas, on Thursday Ms. Hart took to Twitter to break the news that she would not be able to return to the Call the Midwife fold after all.

News: it's with a heavy heart that having shared Chummy's return to CTM, I've not been able to birth (pun) the schedule to make it work. xx

— Miranda Hart (@mermhart) August 18, 2016

She followed up with bit of info meant to cheer us about a new Call the Midwife cast member- as if an unfamiliar nun could fill the Chummy-sized hole in our hearts.

Truly sad not to be playing Chummy this year but fans are in for a treat with Dame Harriet Walter as a new cast member and more besides.

— Miranda Hart (@mermhart) August 18, 2016

No disrespect meant to Dame Harriet of course. I'm sure she'll be great as Sister Ursula who, after a period of adjustment woes, will find a place in the heart of the show's fans as well.  It's just that no new arrival is going to make us forget the monumentally kind, clumsy, good-natured Camilla Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne-Noakes with whom so many viewers came to empathize and relate. Our disappointment is completely understandable.

For now we must wish Miranda good luck on her current endeavours and not bemoan the success she has worked so hard to achieve. Perhaps she will come back for one last hurrah some day - a wedding, a birth, a funeral or the series finale at the very least. If not, we'll always have memories like this to make us smile. And by all means, please share your favorite Chummy moments in the comments below. 

 

 

 

 

 

By Carmen Croghan for Drama on August 19th, 2016
Carmen Croghan

Carmen Croghan often looks at the state of her British addiction and wonders how it got so out of hand.  Was it the re-runs of Monty Python on PBS, that second British Invasion in the 80’s or the royal pomp and pageantry of Charles and Diana’s wedding? Whatever the culprit, it led her to a college semester abroad in London and over 25 years of wishing she could get back to the UK again.  Until she is able, she fills the void with British telly, some of her favorites being comedies such as The Office, The IT Crowd, Gavin and Stacey, Alan Partridge, Miranda and Green Wing. Her all-time favorite series, however, is Life On Mars. A part-time reference library staffer, she spends an inordinate amount of time watching just about any British series she can track down which she then writes about for her own blog Everything I Know about the UK, I Learned from the BBC.  She is excited to be contributing to Telly Visions and endeavors to share her Anglo-zeal with its readers.

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