Call The Midwife: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
Heartwarming drama about midwives in London's East End
Year: 2012-
Certificate: 12
Set in the East End of London in the 1950s, this heartwarming drama series is based on the bestselling memoirs of Jennifer Worth, who worked as a midwife in a convent in Poplar. At the start, Jessica Raine plays the young Jenny, who knows nothing of life and love, and is on the steepest of learning curves as she gets to work helping women to give birth in conditions she has never dreamed of.
The show has evolved to be about much more than babies. Each series is set in a different year, starting in 1957, and as time marches on we see the start of the space race, the emergence of The Beatles, social change and progress within nursing and midwifery. It paints a vivid picture of a bygone era - it's cosy and nostalgic but also doesn't shy away from more controversial subjects, including tackling the Thalidomide crisis, as well as highlighting social issues from racism to poverty, and abortion to interracial relationships.
No one thought the show would be such a hit - scoring nearly 10 million viewers for its first episode in 2012, which would be unheard of now - including star Jenny Agutter: 'I didn't see this happening. I thought we'd do six episodes and that would be it.' Fifteen series later, it's still going strong, and there's even a dramatic change of scene for Christmas 2025 when the nuns and midwives head to Hong Kong to offer humanitarian aid to mothers and orphaned babies after an earthquake hits.
In the latest 15th series, Trixie returns from the US and informs Sister Monica Joan that Americans eat pancakes not with sugar and lemon, but with bacon. 'A cauldron of all perversities,' is her response to this news. After the Pancake Day plates have been swept away, it's back to the daily business of delivering babies and seeing to the health of the people of Poplar as the 1970s dawn.
This run of episodes concludes with a big emotional finish and fans will be relieved to know that Call The Midwife will return for a 16th series. However, show creator Heidi Thomas has her hands full with a prequel show and a Call The Midwife movie, so it may not be for a while. (15 series)
