We are thrilled to announce some exciting new future plans for Call the Midwife!
As well as returning with a new series of the beloved hit TV show, a prequel TV series AND a Call the Midwife movie are both in development.
Production has commenced on series 15 of Call the Midwife, in co-production with PBS. A two-part Christmas Special, set in Hong Kong and Poplar, will be followed by eight new hour-long episodes set in the East End and transmitting from January 2026 on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. The series will premiere on PBS and the PBS App later in 2026.
When senior members of the Nonnatus House staff head to Hong Kong on a mercy mission, the younger midwives are left to cope alone. As the Christmas action shifts between the sun-drenched Far East and a snowy East End, Sister Julienne suddenly finds herself excited about the Order’s future. After years of battling change, she decides to embrace it, work with it, and see what love can do. This change of energy reverberates throughout series 15. The new series kicks off in 1971 with several of the ladies embracing Women’s Lib and burning their bras outside Nonnatus House. As the year unfolds, we see the team handle cases including premature birth, placenta previa, kidney cancer, tuberculosis and slavery.
In an exciting new development, the world of Nonnatus House will also be expanding. A prequel TV series set in Poplar during World War Two will be made for the BBC in 2026. In addition, Neal Street, in development with BBC Film, are producing a Call the Midwife film. This will be set overseas in 1972 and feature iconic characters from the existing TV show.
The new projects will be written, created and produced by the formidable, all-female team behind the hugely successful current hit TV show; showrunner Heidi Thomas and executive producers Pippa Harris and Ann Tricklebank, who also produces. They will helm series 16 together in due course.
Heidi Thomas OBE, creator and writer, says: “The opening of new doors at Nonnatus House feels profoundly emotional, and yet just right. I have never run out of stories for our midwives, and I never will. But having wept, laughed, and raged my way from 1957 to 1971, I found myself yearning to delve into the deeper past. The Blitz years in the East End were extraordinary - filled with loss, togetherness, courage and joy. The bombs fell, the babies kept on coming, and the Sisters kept on going. There will be so much in the prequel for our wonderful, loyal fans, including the appearance of some familiar (if much younger!) faces. As the classic Call the Midwife series moves further into the 1970s, it also seems the perfect time for our much-loved regulars to take a short break from Poplar and test themselves in an unfamiliar landscape. The rise in hospital births, and changes in the NHS, have clipped their wings, and this is their chance to take flight and work out what really matters. Whilst the location of the film remains top-secret, I can say it is going to look absolutely fantastic on the big screen!”
Dame Pippa Harris DBE, executive producer, says: “We have all been delighted by the way in which audiences have continued to embrace Heidi’s imaginative and moving stories from Nonnatus House. In an increasingly competitive viewing environment not only have our loyal fans stayed with us for 14 years, but they’ve been joined by a new, younger generation who have also fallen in love with our characters and the challenges they face. Emboldened by this warmth and enthusiasm, now feels like the right time to expand our world and take our nuns and midwives onto the big screen with our movie, and back in time with the prequel!”
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, says: “Call the Midwife has been a jewel in the BBC’s crown for well over a decade, and this feels like the perfect time to further expand on the glorious, perfectly realised world that Heidi, Pippa, Annie and the team have created for the show’s millions of passionate and dedicated viewers. Whether you’ve been watching from the very start or joined us for one of the more recent series, this is an incredibly exciting time to be a Call the Midwife fan.”
Eva Yates, Director of BBC Film, says: “Call the Midwife has always brilliantly explored the issues and experiences of women across history and it is with great excitement that we are joining Pippa and Heidi in expanding the Midwife universe to bring these wonderful characters onto the big screen.”
Further details about Neal Street’s Call the Midwife prequel TV series for the BBC and the film with BBC Film will be released later this year.
“Call the Midwife is a PBS treasure, and it has consistently been one of our highest rated programs since debuting to American audiences in September 2012,” says Maria Bruno Ruiz, PBS Vice President, Program Content Strategy and Scheduling. “The beginning of filming for the 15th season is something to surely be celebrated! Our audience has fallen in love with the nuns and midwives of Nonnatus House, celebrating their wins and sharing in their losses, and having a ‘deep cry’ along with them, and we look forward for what is to come.”
This year’s series of Call the Midwife averaged 7.8million viewers, making it one of the UK’s biggest drama series across all channels and streamers. The 2024 Christmas special part one was the festive period’s most watched drama episode, with 8.9 million viewers.
Regular cast returning for the new series now filming are Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan, Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne, Laura Main as Shelagh Turner, Helen George as Trixie Aylward, Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle, Stephen McGann as Dr Turner, Linda Bassett as Nurse Crane, Annabelle Apsion as Violet Buckle, Georgie Glen as Miss Higgins, Zephryn Taitte as Cyril Robinson, Rebecca Gethings as Sister Veronica, Daniel Laurie as Reggie Jackson, Renee Bailey as Joyce Highland, Natalie Quarry as Rosalind Clifford, Molly Vevers as Sister Catherine, Max Macmillan as Timothy Turner, Alice Brown as Angela Turner, April Rae Hoang as May Tang and Edward Shaw as Teddy Turner.
Commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, Call the Midwife is made by All3Media’s Neal Street for the BBC in co-production with PBS. The series is created, written and executive produced by Heidi Thomas, executive produced by Pippa Harris, for Neal Street, and Ann Tricklebank who also serves as producer. Gaynor Holmes is the executive producer for the BBC. The first series of Call the Midwife was originally inspired by Jennifer Worth’s books of the same name. BBC Studios distribute Call the Midwife globally and have sold the series to over 260 territories worldwide and counting.
