It’s Christmas 1969 in Poplar for the annual ‘Call the Midwife’ 2024 special
Set in 1969 and airing Christmas Day at 7pCT/8pET on PBS (and BBC1), the 2024 Call the Midwife Christmas Special will see a lot of familiar faces returning to Poplar (sadly, still no Chummy) for a special 2-part episode this Christmas.
While the Nonnatus House midwives are busy delivering babies and doing the job they are most dedicated and committed to, Poplar also welcomes a funfair among the traditional CTM challenges including influenza and the Hong Kong flu, not to mention an escaped prisoner.
As the neighborhood prepares for a carol concert, fears grow that he may be in the local area after a rash of break-ins. Trixie makes a fleeting visit to Nonnatus House and is delighted to see her brother Geoffrey, and Miss Higgins has her grandson Harry stay for Christmas.
On the lighter side, the Turner children are caught up in the fever surrounding the Blue Peter Christmas appeal to collect dinky cars and scrap metal. If that’s not enough to get you to tune in, Violet also has her hands full hosting a mince pie competition and the Buckles’ preparations for Reggie’s homecoming are thrown into turmoil with chaos on the horizon as he continues to explore his newfound independence.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press, Cliff Parisi (Fred Buckle) said: “Normally Reggie’s been really sheltered by Vi and Fred, but they’ve kind of started to try and grant him a little bit more independence as he’s gotten older. So when we do a job together, he gets a separate pay packet with his own name on it. He’s now becoming a young man, and they’re trying to respect that and trying to make him more responsible.”
If you haven’t figured it out already, the tone for the Christmas special this year is fairly dark but also humorous according to Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne). “For me, when I read it, I was very touched by it. It’s quite Dickensian,” Agutter told RadioTimes.com and other press.
Agutter summed up the upcoming holiday special with a comment that could apply not only to the Christmas special but to all 14 seasons: “It is quite dark, but in with that is a lot of humour and a lot of humanity, and that’s what lightens it. It’s just the recognition that we’re in difficult times, we’ve been in difficult times, we always were in difficult times. It just recognises that.”
Call the Midwife Holiday Special 2024 airs Wednesday, December 25 at 7pCT/8pET on PBS.
In: Drama
