Get ready for this year’s Call the Midwife Christmas Special — a key part of the BBC’s holiday programming

We have details for this year’s Call the Midwife Christmas Special and while the date has to be confirmed, surely the evening of Christmas Day is a given? The story details are part of the massive Christmas look-ahead — we’ve grabbed the content of interest to fans of the show. This year’s offering comes in two 60′ episodes.

What can we expect from this year’s Call the Midwife Christmas special

No strangers to big stories painted on a large canvas, this time it’s the Far East. Here we go:

The residents of Poplar are preparing for Christmas while Fred (Cliff Parisi) and Violet (Annabelle Apsion) get ready to fly to Hong Kong to visit her son. On arrival and carrying parcels for the sisters, they head to the Branch House in Kowloon but discover that it has collapsed and there are many fatalities. A rescue mission is hastily organised and a team from Nonnatus makes emergency plans to head out to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Cyril (Zephryn Taitte) receives an unexpected request from a Mr Fischer (Henry Goodman) who wants to rent his flat for an unspecified amount of time and at any price.

That’s the gist of the first episode. Next up more of the regulars come into focus:

Trixie (Helen George) and Geoffrey (Christopher Harper) find Mr Fischer fallen in the snow and learn he has a terminal blood disorder. Rosalind (Natalie Quarry) and Joyce (Renee Bailey) host a Christmas gathering while Sister Catherine (Molly Vevers) determines to find out what happened to Queenie’s (Aoife McMahon) baby.

Back in Hong Kong, Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) and Sister Hilda (Fenella Woolgar) face down a gangster who demands the keys to the Order’s new property. Dr Turner (Stephen McGann) and Shelagh (Laura Main) arrive at the Walled City to finally find Esther (Yennis Cheung) and her son who is very unwell.

In many ways, the show is at its best when it focuses on Poplar. We hope this wider stage doesn’t reduce the impact of the story. We shall see.