Call the Midwife

British actress Jessica Raine is likely familiar to many PBS viewers from her roles on period drama Call the Midwife and mystery series Baptiste, but that's certainly not all she's done.  

Welcome to the final recap of Call the Midwife Season 9. A lot is packed into this episode. There’s the compulsory patient story, but this week we have a 2 for 1 situation. In addition, several overarching plotlines are resolved, some more hopefully than others but always with compassion and grace.

As the episode opens, November has arrived and the many of Poplar’s residents are making preparations for Bonfire Night. But others have more pressing issues on their minds.

On this Mother’s Day, the new episode of Call the Midwife delivers two mothers in challenging circumstances, a young doctor in over his head, one friend helping another and a midwife who’s very concerned about her grandmother. With so much to cover, let’s get straight to the recap, shall we?

I don’t know whether Call the Midwife is getting more heartbreaking or if I’m extra emotional due to the state of the world today, but I bawled my eyes out watching this episode.

There was the lovely, but let’s face it, increasingly habitual community event organized by one or more members of the Buckle family and Dr. McNulty returned to give Dr. Turner some much needed help in his busy surgery. On the more upsetting side, the Turners’ adoption of little May hit an unexpected snag. And then Valerie’s cousin Maureen and her family weathered an unimaginable and heartwrenching ordeal. Okay here we go…

Welcome back to a Call the Midwife episode that was both gleeful and touching. Folks in Poplar are certainly aquiver about the arrival of the nun-centric The Sound of Music! Meanwhile, our actual Nonnatus Sisters are front and center in the plotlines this time around. Frances and Hilda strive to provide services and reassurance while Sister Julienne must examine the accusation that she is out of touch with the population she has vowed to serve.

Believe it or not, we’re at the half-way point of Call the Midwife Season 9. This week Sister Julienne’s quest to keep Nonnatus House relevant results in ruffled feathers and close quarters. Elsewhere, Fred and Reggie befriend a man whose passion has made him ill and Valerie attends a tricky delivery with a trainee doctor in tow.

Welcome back to another Call the Midwife recap! Elderly narrator Jenny tells us that it is May and spring has truly arrived in Poplar. This week focuses on the outstanding service of Nurses Crane and Anderson (and in Lucille’s case, how dedication to your job can mess with your private life.) The midwives also come together for a worthy and fashionable fundraising event spearheaded by Nurse Franklin and Mrs. Buckle.

This week’s episode of Call the Midwife is framed around the periods of Lent and Mothering Sunday, and its story conveniently focuses on sacrifice and motherhood. As people all across Poplar are denying themselves the simple pleasures of sugar and cigarettes, Sister Julienne tries to prepare a young woman for motherhood, a family falters when their strongest member suffers a health emergency and a blossoming romance falters in the midst of illness.

Spring has arrived and that means the return of Call the Midwife on PBS! I’d like to welcome you back to another round of episode recaps in which we highlight the often poignant, but mainly uplifting, stories of Poplar residents and their steadfast caregivers, the sisters and nurses of Nonnatus House.

The debut episode of Season 9 begins in January of 1965 with the death of Sir Winston Churchill, a passing which saddens citizens across the U.K. Meanwhile, Poplar experiences an alarming outbreak of diphtheria and an abandoned baby is reunited with its troubled mother.