# Call the Midwife (2012)

> Midwives and nuns in 1950s East London deliver babies and comfort to a poor working-class community.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/36515

## Facts

- Seasons: 15
- Episodes: 117
- Episode runtime: 52 min
- Status: Returning Series
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Heidi Thomas
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Jenny Agutter, Judy Parfitt, Jessica Raine, Molly Vevers, Rebecca Gethings, Jennifer Kirby, Linda Bassett
- TMDB rating: 8.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1983079/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, nostalgic, hopeful, gentle, sincere

## What critics say

Viewers broadly acclaim the show as warm, humane period drama with a strong ensemble, though later seasons draw sharper criticism.

## Synopsis

Call the Midwife (2012-present) is a British national-television period drama series created by Heidi Thomas for BBC One. Based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth, it follows a group of midwives working out of Nonnatus House in the poverty-stricken East End of London during the 1950s. Jenny Lee (Jessica Raine) arrives as a young nurse and is drawn into the daily round of home births, medical emergencies and family crises, while Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) and Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) guide the community alongside the nuns. Dr Patrick Turner (Stephen McGann) and Phyllis Crane (Linda Bassett) round out the principal cast. The engine is simple and humane: each episode centers on a patient, a birth or a social problem that tests the staff's skill and faith. Running for fifteen seasons, it is a long-running serialized saga with episodic case-of-the-week arcs. Its tone is warm, nostalgic and hopeful, with a strong emotional undercurrent of hardship. Fans of Downton Abbey, The Crown and The Durrells will find resonance in its period detail and ensemble warmth.

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