Call the Midwife

The holidays are approaching, which can only mean one thing – it’s time for the very important festive tradition that is the Call the Midwife Christmas special!

While last year’s holiday story dramatized the Big Freeze of 1962, this year’s will focus on the arrival of a group of child refugees from China.

Netflix’s The Crown continues to add to its second generation of royals for its upcoming third season. Call the Midwife’s Emerald Fennell will play the young Camilla Shand, who will ultimately be Princes Charles’ second wife and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Though we’re still a few months from the return of popular period drama Call the Midwife, filming on its upcoming season has been underway since May.

The drama was renewed through Season 9 back when it was only airing Season 6, so we haven’t – and won’t – need to worry about its fate for some time. (It honestly feels like a show that could go for as long as they can keep updating the cast every few years.)

In the penultimate episode of Season 7, viewers endured the emotional rollercoaster of serious illness and the untimely death of Nurse Barbara Hereward played by Charlotte Ritchie. Other things happened which you can review here in our full recap, but mainly it was this tragedy and the tear-jerking aftermath that dominated episode seven.

This week we braced ourselves for an emotional Call the Midwife season finale. And while Barbara’s funeral was surprisingly brief, the episode was chockablock with new babies, a birthday celebration, a historical tragedy and poignant moments that honored our dearly departed midwife beautifully.

Before we face the unbearable sadness of this week’s Call the Midwife, let’s recall how we got to this heartbreaking state of affairs in the first place. You may remember there was the mother on a crusade against Valerie’s health and relationship (aka sex education) class and Sister Monica Joan’s delightful cataract surgery adventure where she made a surprising new friend. But it was Barbara Hereward’s unceasing dedication to the Davidson family through a whirlwind of unexpected death, fire and the birth of twins that contributed to the health crisis the midwife found herself in at the end of the episode. (Need more details? Our full recap of Episode 6 is right here.) 

This week, Patrick helps a bullied juvenile offender, Lucille finds a new circle of friends and Barbara's battle with meningitis and a blood infection turns tragic.

Previously on Call the Midwife…Amidst plans for a Poplar charity picnic, Trixie made her temporary exit while Barbara and Tom returned from their assignment in Birmingham. Nurse Anderson helped an expectant mother face a traumatic fear and an ill sailor who caused a health scare was rescued by Reggie and Nurse Crane. All rest of the details from Episode 5 can be found here.

This time around, the midwives and their friends rally behind families who have lost a great deal.  Meanwhile, Monica Joan gets a new lease on life at the same time Barbara faces a serious infection.

Here in America, we’re a little over halfway through watching Season 7 of the popular period drama Call the Midwife. But over in the U.K., production on the series’ eighth season has already begun!

The series has already been renewed through Season 9, so its future won’t be in question for some time to come. And, as a result, it seems like the production is just humming along!

When we last visited Poplar, Sister Monica Joan’s sight was finally restored, the Ganis were emerging from their struggles to work towards becoming a cohesive family and Trixie made a tough decision in order to halt her downward spiral. The complete breakdown of last week's Call the Midwife can be found here.

This week’s episode begins with the departure of one midwife and ends with the return of another. Meanwhile, an expectant mother deals with a traumatic fear and an ill sailor causes a health scare in Poplar. 

I think we can all agree last week’s episode of Call the Midwife left everyone rather gloomy and depressed. The Lunt family suffered devasting illness and loss, Magda’s desperate actions resulted in her departure from the Turners’ employ and a sacrificial breakup with Christopher left Trixie vulnerable enough to abandon her sobriety. Check out all the discouraging details here.

Thankfully, this latest installment provided viewers with a bit more of that reassuring hope we’ve come to expect from the midwives. Trixie and Sister Monica Joan make life-changing choices and a childless woman works through the pain of an unorthodox solution arranged by her Pakistani relatives.

Thank you for joining us for another episode recap of Call the Midwife. Last time we met the Turners’ chic and confident new au pair, Magda, who was not what Shelagh had in mind at all. Sister Winifred tried to get new fathers more involved in the care of their babies and one of them ended up delivering his own child. And Nurse Anderson refused to run from bitter prejudice and helped a broken family to heal in the process. (If you need a more detailed refresher, our recaps of Season 7's first two episodes can be found here and here.)

This week, the midwives and those close to them encountered heartbreak, desperation and sacrifice that no cute little beauty pageant could candy coat. We start with the unbelievably tragic story of a family torn apart by disease. Meanwhile, the Turners' au pair Magda secretly tries to resolve a situation that turns distasterous.