Call the Midwife returns to BBC One for a fourth season.
> Buy the complete Season 1-3 boxset on Amazon.
Christmas 2014 special
Thursday 25 December 2014, 7.50pm
The episode opens in 2005. Jennifer Worth is at home preparing for Christmas with husband Philip, and as she reminisces about her youth at Nonnatus House, the drama cuts back to 1960. Rehearsals are underway for the Sunday School Christmas Concert, and while Chummy tries to choreograph dancing snowflakes, Trixie sets to work designing a Father Christmas outfit for Fred to wear.
Chummy is enlisted to help run a poorly managed Mother And Baby home, and with Patsy’s help succeeds in bringing some Christmas joy into the residents’ lives.
Cynthia is drawn deeply into a case concerning two former residents of a Victorian mental hospital who have been left to fend for themselves, and are barely coping. This causes Cynthia to make a life-changing decision. There is only question in all of their hearts, though it goes unspoken – what will 1960 bring?
Episode 1
Sunday 18 January 2015, 8pm
Freshly qualified nurse Barbara Gilbert arrives to take up her position at Nonnatus and is extremely anxious to prove herself. But a late night drinks’ party proves disastrous for her and she is upset at having got off on the wrong foot.
Later Barbara comes up with a clever scheme to help a new mother overcome difficulties feeding her baby and earns the respect of all her colleagues.
Trixie faces one of the most emotionally draining cases of her career, when a family of severely neglected children are discovered. As she strives to restore the children’s health and bring happiness into their lives, Tom is filled with admiration for the woman he loves.
Shelagh finds she is needed at the surgery almost as much as she is at home and between them, the Turners broker a domestic deal that breaks the mould for the 1950s.
Sister Evangelina finally agrees to undergo medical tests for her abdominal pain.
Episode 2
Sunday 25 January 2015, 8pm
Barbara faces her most challenging case to date when she treats first-time mother Abigail Bissette and the birth does not go according to plan.
As Sister Julienne struggles with the increasing financial pressure on Nonnatus House, a mystery benefactor comes to the rescue.
Elsewhere Sister Evangelina is unimpressed by newly arrived nurse Phyllis Crane.
Episode 3
Sunday 1 February 2015, 8pm
As Poplar is gripped by a mysterious outbreak of dysentery, first-time mother Marie Amos’s life is turned upside down when her husband Tony (pictured) is arrested for gross indecency with another male. Patsy rallies to support the young couple, as Tony faces a criminal hearing.
Meanwhile, Nurse Crane meets Dolores McEvoy, a pregnant Irish woman with two young children who, on examination, is found to be covered in flea bites and clearly malnourished. Further confusion sets in when a home visit reveals that Dolores has given a false address and seems to have disappeared.
Elsewhere, Trixie is delighted when Tom asks her to oversee the Rose Queen Celebrations, her first official church duty since their engagement. At Nonnatus House Fred’s attempts to bring a rat infestation under control are deliberately undermined by Sister Monica Joan.
Episode 4
Sunday 8 February 2015, 8pm
Nonnatus House experiences a very busy spell and Sister Winifred’s eyes are opened to Poplar’s seedy underworld, when she cares for Bridget Cole, an expectant prostitute.
Horrified by the girl’s lack of awareness, Sister Winifred draws on her past teaching experience and help from SGT Noakes to promote ‘safe sex’ to the working girls of Poplar.
Meanwhile, Barbara struggles to understand why expectant father Frank Robbins would put undue pressure on his wife to bear him a son.
Elsewhere, Sister Monica Joan feels increasingly redundant and side-lined as the busy midwives go about their work until she finds herself unexpectedly assisting Shelagh with an emergency birth.
Meanwhile, Trixie is delighted at hearing the Bishop has requested a meeting with Tom Hereward and invites herself along. But when the possibility of relocating to Newcastle is raised, Trixie and Tom have their first proper row – leading them both to question their future life together.
Episode 5
Sunday 15 February 2015, 8pm
Sister Julienne questions the nature of absolute faith when she meets a Christian Scientist couple who refuse medicine for their new-born baby.
Things become more complex when the parents are accused of harming their child and Dr Turner’s involvement in the case forces him to face his own demons.
Barbara uses her initiative to try and communicate with a pregnant Sylheti woman who cannot speak English. It soon becomes clear to the midwives that using the woman’s young son to translate comes with a whole new set of problems. Elsewhere, Sister Mary Cynthia returns and Fred meets a woman who catches his eye.
Episode 6
Sunday 22 February 2015, 8pm
A secret romance faces heartbreak when teenager Paulette Roland falls pregnant.
The situation is complicated by Paulette’s diabetes and her boyfriend’s criminal past. Nurse Crane helps support the young couple, but Paulette’s life is endangered further when the two youngsters go on the run together.
Meanwhile a group of Irish Travellers comes to the attention of the Nonnatus Team, when they are wrongly accused of petty theft by Sgt Noakes.
The midwives get drawn into this closed world when they help to treat a newborn infant, and when a second pregnancy is revealed Sister Cynthia (pictured) is able to deliver her first baby since becoming a nun.
Elsewhere, Patsy organises a fundraising Square Dance, and Fred asks local haberdasher Violet to accompany him as his date.
Episode 7
Sunday 1 March 2015, 8pm
A water shortage means that the Maternity Home is busier than ever. Two old school friends, Shirley and Marion, are reunited.
Both are pregnant with their first child but are now worlds apart. Marion shuns Shirley’s attempts at renewing their friendship and they part ways but are brought together later in the most unexpected way.
Elsewhere, Barbara makes a revolutionary suggestion to help Sister Mary Cynthia’s bedsore patient, Tommy Mills. However, it is discovered that it is his steadfast wife, Gert, who is the one most in need of care.
The love between Tommy and Gert makes Fred think about taking the next step in his relationship with Violet.
Episode 8
Sunday 8 March 2015, 8pm
Trixie and Sister Mary Cynthia team up to support a deaf mother to be.
A case of morning sickness proves more serious than initially suspected.
Elsewhere, Fred’s daughter is less than delighted about his forthcoming wedding.
> Buy the complete Season 1-3 boxset on Amazon.
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