Written by Heidi Thomas and based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife returns to BBC One for a second series.
> Buy Series 1 on DVD on Amazon.
> Order Series 2 on DVD on Amazon.
Extended to eight episodes, Series 2 sees the return of all the show’s well-loved characters as well as some new faces. Nonnatus House opens its doors to warmly welcome the audience back into 1950s East End London, and continues to follow Poplar’s community of exceptional midwives and nursing nuns.
Episode 1
Sunday 20 January 2013, 8pm
It’s 1958 and, returning from a long day of duties, Nurse Jenny Lee finds the Nonnatus House community gathered to wish her a happy birthday, before she, Chummy, Trixie and Cynthia head off to the cinema – it’s a joyous celebration. However the midwife’s good cheer is short lived when the next day she is assigned a new patient, Molly Brignall.
Involved in an abusive marriage, Molly’s due date is imminent and Jenny worries about the harm that could come to Molly and her children. Meanwhile, Trixie and Sister Evangelina find themselves in highly unusual circumstances, aboard a Swedish cargo ship looking after the captain’s daughter, who is about to have her first baby.
Episode 2
Sunday 27 January 2013, 8pm
The Nonnatus community is rocked when the Kelly family’s new-born son dies tragically in unexplained circumstances. Cynthia, who had attended the birth, comes under intense scrutiny from the police, and the pregnant women of Poplar. Despite reassurances from her friends and colleagues, Cynthia questions her own abilities and the immense strain takes its toll on her work and health.
Now fully ensconced in married life with PC Noakes, Chummy’s decision to pursue her dream brings about a different sort of pressure as exciting changes lie ahead for the couple. Meanwhile, a chance encounter returns Jimmy to Jenny’s life with surprising results.
Episode 3
Sunday 3 February 2013, 8pm
Jenny is seconded to a short-staffed London Hospital to work on the male surgical ward. Initially hesitant about her temporary assignment, she becomes increasingly reluctant about her new duties when she finds herself working under an intimidating surgeon, Mr Tracey.
Back in Poplar, the midwives have a new addition to the household, Jane, who lends a hand in Jenny’s absence. In one of their most unusual cases, the nuns and midwives are introduced to a forthright pair of twins, Meg and Mave Carter. The two women are identical in every way – they even share a husband; except one of them is now pregnant. As the pair come to terms with the impact that a baby will have on each of them, Jenny unexpectedly helps to save the life of an old friend.
Episode 4
Sunday 10 February 2013, 8pm
Returning from her stint at The London Hospital, Jenny needs all her skill as a midwife when she and Sister Evangelina assist at the birth of the Roberts’ baby, who is born with spina bifida.
The parents, Doug and Ruby, struggle to understand and accept their son’s life-limiting condition. Jenny has never delivered a disabled child and she too struggles to accept the implications the illness could have for the child’s future – abandonment and institutionalisation. Nonnatus House meanwhile plays host to an acquaintance of Chummy’s – the Reverend Applebee Thornton, an eccentric cleric who befriends Jane.
Episode 5
Sunday 17 February 2013, 8pm
The whole Poplar community pull together to prepare for the annual Summer Fete.
This year, with the introduction of a Baby Show, the Nonnatus House midwives will be more involved than ever – especially Trixie, who assumes responsibility for securing a celebrity judge.
For others though, life is a little less festive. At the ante-natal clinic, Jenny meets Nora Harding, an impoverished mother of eight, who is distraught that she may soon have another mouth to feed. Jenny’s attempts to reassure her fall on deaf ears, and a desperate Nora takes matters into her own hands with disastrous consequences.
Episode 6
Sunday 24 February 2013, 8pm
Crowded living conditions have always meant that tuberculosis has been rife in Poplar. However, with the advent of the mass-Xray programme to diagnose the disease early, Dr Turner is determined that the community will no longer live under the threat of TB.
While the nuns and nurses support the doctor in his campaign to bring proper screening facilities to the area, Jenny’s district nursing rounds lead her to a family who have suffered devastating misfortune from the disease. The Mastersons were decimated by TB and now, as the father is in decline with heart failure, Jenny works to reconcile the dying man with his only remaining daughter, Julia.
Having succeeded in securing a visit from a TB-screening van, Dr Turner pulls off an epic day backed by the midwives, but little can prepare them for what the results will mean for one of their own.
Episode 7
Sunday 3 March 2013, 8pm
Cynthia’s district nursing rounds find her administering daily insulin injections to diabetic John Lacey, a deplorable bully who consistently belittles his wife Annie. A visit from Annie’s beloved son Bob, and moral support from Cynthia, see Annie gaining confidence and start to turn her life around.
Jenny’s work leads her to witness persecution of a different variety, when she looks after a black mother to be, Monique, who is subjected to racial prejudice from her neighbours.
Funded by the success of the Summer Fete, Nonnatus House takes ownership of a scooter to help with their rounds. Fred undertakes to teach the midwives how to ride, with amusing and unforeseen consequences. The whole community are thrilled when Chummy and Peter return home from Sierra Leone with a surprise of their own.
Episode 8
Sunday 10 March 2013, 8pm
Supported by their friends, Chummy and PC Noakes prepare for the arrival of their baby with nervous excitement. Fred is in high spirits when his pregnant daughter, Dolly, and her young son Anthony arrive to stay with him.
Jenny’s own excitement comes in the form of potential love interest Alec, a friend and colleague of Jimmy’s.
However, in the outside world of Poplar, the winds of change are blowing. Old buildings are being demolished to make way for new flats, a situation that reaches crisis point when the convent comes under threat.
> Buy Series 1 on DVD on Amazon.
> Order Series 2 on DVD on Amazon.
Are you looking forward to Series 2? Let us know below…