Call The Midwife season 9: Everything you need to know

From Good Housekeeping

Contains spoilers for Call The Midwife season 8.

Call The Midwife season eight left viewers hooked each week, and fans of the hit show are already looking forward to the next instalment of Poplar-based drama.

After series eight wrapped in March 2019, it was announced the BBC has commissioned three more series of the popular show, including three Christmas specials.

“The drama will now be on air until 2022 and will depict Poplar life up until the year 1967,” the announcement read.

Heidi Thomas, Creator, Writer and Executive Producer of the show said:

“Even after all these years, it still feels as though Call the Midwife has more truth to tell, more tears to cry, more life to celebrate, and more love to give. We are blessed with the best cast, crew, and audience a show could wish for, and I could not be more excited about our future.”

Now we know the women of Nonnatus House will definitely be back, here’s everything you need to know about Call The Midwife season nine.

As of May, filming on the Christmas special has wrapped and work on the season that follows it has started. A first-look picture has been revealed, showing actor Ella Bruccoleri on set.

Call The Midwife season nine: When’s it on TV?

At the end of series eight it was revealed the show would return in Christmas 2019. It’s likely that season nine will follow the format of previous years by kicking off with a Christmas special then going on to an eight-episode run.

Call The Midwife season nine: What’s the latest news?

Filming has wrapped on the Christmas special and work has started on season nine. Announcing this news in May, the BBC shared an image of the cast filming.

Call The Midwife season nine: Who’s in it?

Expect to see all of your favourites returning.

Series nine cast includes; Miriam Margolyes (Mother Mildred), Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne), Linda Bassett (Nurse Crane), Judy Parfitt (Sister Monica Joan), Fenella Woolgar (Sister Hilda), Ella Bruccoleri (Sister Frances), Helen George (Trixie), Laura Main (Shelagh Turner), Jennifer Kirby (Valerie), Leonie Elliott (Lucille), Stephen McGann (Dr Turner), Cliff Parisi (Fred), Annabelle Apsion (Violet), Georgie Glen (Miss Higgins), Max Macmillan (Timothy), Trevor Cooper (Sgt Woolf) and Daniel Laurie (Reggie).

Call The Midwife season nine: What will it be about?

Series eight focused heavily on the issue of women turning to back street abortions because they were unable to receive a termination legally provided by the NHS. Expect to see this continue in series nine, with the midwives campaigning for women’s rights to safe and legal abortion.

As well as tackling sensitive social issues, expect to see more twists and turns in the personal lives of our Nonnatus House favourites, from Valerie coming to terms with her grandmother’s imprisonment to Lucille finding romance with Cyril.

The BBC has shared a synopsis for the Christmas special and beyond.

"This year’s Christmas special will see the team take their work to the Outer Hebrides. Led by Mother Mildred, they embark on a trip to the remote yet idyllic Scottish island, where residents have a desperate need for nurses and midwives. Exposed to the elements, they operate in bleak conditions with limited access to water and electricity to help their patients, just in time to reconvene in Poplar for Christmas.

"Opening with the funeral of Winston Churchill in January 1965, series nine then continues with Nonnatus House entering a bold and innovative era. As the tower blocks multiply, and a new East End rises from the ashes of the old, society becomes more prosperous, but more complex. Our familiar team of medics and midwives face unexpected challenges as the population shifts, rules change, and old diseases come back to haunt them. Alongside the joy and optimism of birth, they must cope with cases including diphtheria, drug abuse, cancer, tuberculosis, and fistula. Meanwhile, their own experiences are fuelled by love, loss, and doubt - and the very fabric of their lives is jeopardised when Nonnatus itself comes under threat of demolition," the channel said.

Heidi Thomas added: “After a magical Christmas experience in the Hebrides featuring wild seas, stormy skies and some very disobedient sheep, we return to the harsher reality of city life in 1965. Society is changing fast and in series nine we will see Nonnatus House shaken to its foundations.”

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Watch this space for more Call The Midwife news.

Call The Midwife will return to BBC One.

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