
Scripted series · BBC One
Call the Midwife
In 1950's London, they delivered hope for all.
Who's in it
Cast
The principal ensemble across the run of the series.
The Nutevio profile
TV DNA
How Call the Midwife actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.
Signature profile
Call the Midwife reads strongest on Character Depth, Emotional Weight and Bingeability.
How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.
How much the series is designed to affect you.
How hard it is to stop after one episode.
How much each hour depends on the one before it.
How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.
The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.
Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.
The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.
How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.
The story
What it's about
Drama following the lives of a group of midwives working in the poverty-stricken East End of London during the 1950s, based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth.
The run
Seasons
15 seasons · 117 episodes.

Season 0 · Complete
Specials
201218 episodes
Best episode · S00E07 Christmas Special 2017

Season 1 · Complete
Series 1
20126 episodes
7.9IMDbIn season one we are introduced to the local community through the eyes of young nurse Jenny Lee as she lives and works as a midwife alongside the Nuns of the Order of St. Raymond of Nonnatus in the deprived Poplar district of London's desperately poor East End in the 1950s.
Best episode · S01E06 Episode 6

Season 2 · Complete
Series 2
20138 episodes
7.8IMDbThe second season sees young nurse Jenny Lee continue her work as a midwife in the local community alongside the Nuns of the Order of St. Raymond of Nonnatus.
Best episode · S02E01 Episode 1

Season 3 · Complete
Series 3
20148 episodes
7.8IMDbThis season, Chummy, PC Noakes and baby Freddy are back in the East End and Jenny faces huge challenges both personally and professionally.
Best episode · S03E04 Episode 4

Season 4 · Complete
Series 4
20158 episodes
7.6IMDbSeason four finds the community preparing to enter a new decade - the 1960s. Nurse Trixie receives a proposal from handsome young curate Tom Hereward. Nurse Cynthia starts to think seriously about joining the order as a nun, something that shocks both Trixie and Patsy. And an unexpected set of events sees Chummy take on the challenge of running a mother and baby home for unmarried girls.
Best episode · S04E07 Episode 7

Season 5 · Complete
Series 5
20168 episodes
8.1IMDbIn season five, Sister Monica Joan goes missing at Christmas time leaving the nuns and nurses distraught. Shelagh rushes to put together a children’s choir in time for a BBC broadcast from the church. Elsewhere Trixie, having battled through her issues with alcohol, finds a new purpose in her keep fit classes. And could friendship blossom into something more for vicar Tom Hereward and Barbara?
Best episode · S05E01 Episode 1

Season 6 · Complete
Series 6
20178 episodes
8.1IMDbIt is now 1962, and the Nonnatus House team are as committed to caring for the people of Poplar as always. However, the social revolution in the outside world is mirrored by change and challenge much closer to home. As they strive to help mothers and families cope with the demands of childbearing, disability, disease and social prejudice, our beloved medics must make choices - and fight battles - of their own. Series six will see them laugh together, cry together, and pull together, supporting each other as never before.
Best episode · S06E02 Episode 2

Season 7 · Complete
Series 7
20188 episodes
8.2IMDbIn series seven, the nuns and nurses are tested as they have never been before, both personally and professionally. All around them they see the old East End vanishing, as slum clearances make way for bold new tower blocks to accommodate expanding communities. Their work brings them into contact with a wide range of challenges, from leprosy and stroke, to Huntington's chorea, cataracts and unmarried mothers. Trixie's romance with Christopher continues to develop, while Tom and Barbara enjoy life as a married couple. Nurse Crane finds her authority questioned from an unexpected quarter and Sister Monica Joan is forced to accept her failing faculties. Meanwhile, life for the Turners is turned upside down when Shelagh decides to employ an au pair.
Best episode · S07E05 Episode 5

Season 8 · Complete
Series 8
20198 episodes
8.0IMDbIt is now 1964 and it's evident how the times are changing: from the beacon of the contraceptive pill and the shadow of the 1967 Abortion Act, to the introduction of a new cancer-screening program. The nuns and nurses continue to face a variety of challenging issues including interracial adoption, cleft palate, sickle cell and cot death. And for one of the team, romance could be on the horizon.
Best episode · S08E01 Episode 1

Season 9 · Complete
Series 9
20208 episodes
7.7IMDbThe medics and midwives of Nonnatus House are entering a bold and innovative era. They face unexpected challenges as the population shifts, rules change, and old diseases come back to haunt them. Meanwhile, their own experiences are fueled by love, loss, and doubt. And the very future of Nonnatus House comes under threat.
Best episode · S09E01 Episode 1

Season 10 · Complete
Series 10
20217 episodes
8.2IMDbIt’s 1966, and it’s a testing time for the midwives. But there’s excitement, too, as the women’s rights movement intensifies. With Trixie’s help, Sister Julienne is determined to steer Nonnatus House out of its financial quandary.
Best episode · S10E06 Episode 6

Season 11 · Complete
Series 11
20228 episodes
8.1IMDbFollowing an eventful Christmas, the midwives return to their rounds in East London in Easter 1967. Celebrations are underway for a colourful Easter Bonnet parade outside Nonnatus House. Sister Monica Joan and Reggie are excited about the Eurovision song contest and Nancy, having just passed her midwifery examinations, is about to don her red cardigan for the first time.
Best episode · S11E08 Episode 8

Season 12 · Complete
Series 12
20238 episodes
8.3IMDbIt's 1968 and Enoch Powell's infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech creates serious tension in Poplar, especially when a group of dockers march in support of Powell. The midwives welcome a new nun, Sister Veronica, who's an instant hit with everyone - except Nurse Crane. Meanwhile, Trixie's relationship with Matthew goes from strength to strength, while Nurse Crane helps Nancy with her financial woes. Sister Julienne enjoys helping out on the district rounds, Shelagh and Dr Turner split their time between the busy maternity home and their lively young family, while Reggie continues to bring joy into Violet and Fred's lives.
Best episode · S12E03 Episode 3

Season 13 · Complete
Series 13
20248 episodes
5.1IMDbIt is now 1969 and more babies are being born in hospital than ever before. Pressure on maternity beds remains extremely high across the country but Poplar is coping better than most due to the work of Nonnatus House and the popularity of home births under the auspices of the Sisters.

Season 14 · Complete
Series 14
20258 episodes
4.9IMDbBest episode · S14E02 Episode 2

Season 15 · Complete
Series 15
20268 episodes
6.5IMDb
Where the series peaks
Best Episodes
The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.

S00E07
Christmas Special 2017
Boxing Day sees heavy snowfall covering the country and the adverse weather causes major disruption across Poplar as roads become blocked and pipes freeze meaning families have to queue outside for water from standpipes. Sister Julienne must inform a family about the death of their loved one and uncovers an uncomfortable truth, while Valerie helps an unmarried couple living in a caravan prepare for their baby, but unforeseen complications knock her confidence in her ability as a midwife. Guest starring Anita Dobson.

S08E01
Episode 1
Nonnatus House welcomes two new nuns. Valerie deals with a shocking case that arrives unexpectedly, and the other midwives must handle a complicated multiple birth.
- Directed by Sydney Macartney

S05E01
Episode 1
When a baby is born with severe deformities of the kind later identified as caused by the drug thalidomide, the midwives find it difficult to handle the situation, and the baby's father rejects her completely, to his wife's dismay. Trixie's new sideline as a keep fit instructor brings her into conflict with Sister Julienne, and she also becomes suspicious of the relationship between Barbara and Tom. Rather than return to Wales as her mother wishes, Delia moves into Nonnatus House.
- Directed by Sydney Macartney

S00E05
Christmas Special 2016
The nuns are trying to help a tiny struggling mission hospital on the Eastern Cape. But can they save the hospital from closing down – and perform a Christmas miracle a long way from home?

S06E02
Episode 2
An explosion at the docks brings heartache to the people of Poplar, whilst Sister Ursula continues to ruffle feathers with her unpopular decisions.
- Directed by Sheree Folkson

S05E05
Episode 5
Turner and Shelagh are at the forefront of the advances in medical technology, and begin a campaign to ensure better respiratory health for their patients. However, Timothy fears their own lifestyle is not good for them and tries to encourage his parents to give up smoking. Violet injures her back and is forced to leave the shop in Fred's hands, a decision that strengthens their relationship but which proves to have other, unforeseen consequences. A new mother's past comes to light, with devastating repercussions for her family. Nurse Crane draws on her own experiences to help her.
- Directed by Lisa Clarke
Recently aired
Latest Episodes
Behind the series
Created by
Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.

Heidi Thomas
Showrunner

Pippa Harris
Executive producer
- Photo unavailable
Ann Tricklebank
Executive producer
- Photo unavailable
Jonathan Harvey
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Lucy Catherine
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Sally Abbott
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Nicola Wilson
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Harriet Warner
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Jack Williams
Writer

Andrea Gibb
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Carolyn Bonnyman
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Joe Ainsworth
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Lisa Holdsworth
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Susan Everett
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Helen Raynor
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Paul Walker
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Chloe Moss
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Lena Rae
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Debbie O'Malley
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Esther Wilson
Writer
The craft
Key Crew
Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.
Executive production
- Pippa HarrisExecutive Producer
- Hugh WarrenProducer
- Ann TricklebankExecutive Producer
- Ann TricklebankProducer
- Heidi ThomasExecutive Producer
Writing
- Jonathan HarveyWriter
- Lucy CatherineWriter
- Sally AbbottWriter
- Nicola WilsonWriter
- Harriet WarnerWriter
- Jack WilliamsWriter
Direction
- Kate SaxonDirector
- Amy NeilDirector
- David TuckerDirector
- Juliet MayDirector
- Rebecca JohnsonDirector
- Corin Campbell-HillDirector
Cinematography
- Chris SeagerDirector of Photography
- Kate ReidDirector of Photography
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
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- Netflix Standard with AdsStreaming
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