‘Tis the season to watch Call the Midwife.

By Abby Robinson

Published: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 at 15:18 PM


It simply wouldn’t be Christmas without Call the Midwife.

The BBC period drama returns to our screens for its 12th festive special and, as ever, viewers are guaranteed to experience the whole gamut of emotions as its characters navigate both highs and lows during the holiday season.

Read on for everything you need to know, from when you can watch to what will happen.

Call the Midwife Christmas special 2023 release date: When will it air?

You can watch it on Christmas Day (25th December) at 8.15pm on BBC One.

Call the Midwife Christmas special cast: Who stars?

The characters of the Call the Midwife Christmas special 2023 sitting around a dinner table and smiling
The cast of the Call the Midwife Christmas special 2023.
BBC/Neal Street Productions

The confirmed cast for the festive episode is as follows:

  • Helen George as Nurse Trixie Aylward (née Franklin)
  • Olly Rix as Matthew Aylward
  • Stephen McGann as Dr Patrick Turner
  • Laura Main as Shelagh Turner
  • Linda Bassett as Nurse Phyllis Crane
  • Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne
  • Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan
  • Megan Cusack as Nancy Corrigan
  • Rebecca Gethings as Sister Veronica
  • Georgie Glen as Miss Higgins
  • Zephryn Taitte as Cyril Robinson
  • Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle
  • Annabelle Apsion as Violet Buckle
  • Daniel Laurie as Reggie Jackson
  • Alice Brown as Angela Turner
  • April Rae Hoang as May
  • Max Macmillan as Timothy Turner
  • Francesca Fullilove as Colette Corrigan
  • Archie O’Callaghan as Jonty Aylward
  • Christopher Harper as Geoffrey Franklin
  • Dame Vanessa Redgrave as the voice of Jennifer Worth

Call the Midwife Christmas special plot: What will happen?

Sister Juliene (JENNY AGUTTER) and Shelagh Turner (LAURA MAIN)
Jenny Agutter and Laura Main in Call the Midwife.
BBC/Neal Street Productions/Laurence Cendrowicz

This year’s festive episode begins a couple of weeks before Christmas Day in 1968, with “Apollo 8 poised to circle the moon”.

But despite the excitement in the air, “Sister Monica Joan is convinced this could be her last Yuletide and decides she’ll not live to see man walk on the moon”, which prompts her friends to team up in an effort to boost her spirits.

Viewers will also be pleased to hear that “Nancy has recommitted to staying at Nonnatus House” after her future was in doubt last season, while Cyril is distracted by “a lost soul living alone in a dilapidated basement flat”, and Nurse Crane attempts to make it back in time for Christmas after time away on a refresher course.

Shelagh and Dr Turner also face a dilemma when “a parcel arrives from May’s biological mother in Hong Kong”.