Call the Midwife is taking a break ahead of the penultimate episode in the BBC’s schedule shake-up. Episode seven, which was due to air on Sunday 22 February, has been held back one week due to the BAFTA Film Awards.
The news was announced via the show’s official Instagram account, with the post reading: “We’re taking a week’s break for the BAFTA Film Awards. Call the Midwife will continue Sunday 1 March on BBC 1.”
The update, which featured a clapperboard, was captioned: “As in previous years, we’ll be taking a short break next Sunday while the BAFTA Film Awards are shown live on BBC1. But we will be back with you in two weeks time for episode seven!!”
This comes just after the BBC period nursing drama dropped a bombshell on fans when it announced the closure of Nonnatus House, alongside Dr Turner’s (Stephen McGann) maternity home, as well as the fan favourite Sister Monica Joan’s (Judy Parfitt) fatal illness.
The delayed episode seven has stirred up emotion among fans, who took to Instagram to predict the end of the long-running BBC series.
One fan posted: “I feel like Call the Midwife is slowly coming to an end. I want this series to last forever, please can we make a few more years of the show. It’s what I live for. I’ve grown up with it.”
PHOTOGRAPHER:Olly Courtney//BBC
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“I felt the same,” another fan commented. “Like they’re setting up everyone’s storyline to end. [They’re] apparently having a break but I don’t see how it can come back with no Nonnatus House, Sisters or maternity home.”
A third fan shared their delight at the week’s hiatus, saying: “At least with the week’s postponement it prolongs the inevitable ending of the series and all that holds.
“We don’t have to face it for a little bit longer. I adore Call the Midwife and have watched it loyally from the beginning.”
BBC
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Call the Midwife’s future has been under speculation for years with rumours that the show is coming to an end. However, despite current storylines, the series has been commissioned for a 16th series as well as a movie and a prequel series.
Still, fans have begun speculating that the film is setting up a location move for the nuns of Poplar, with one Instagram user saying: “[Call the Midwife] can’t come back and it is not going to. There will be a movie set in another country, so the Sisters obviously move there, and the prequel series will begin, but it will not be the same.”
BBC
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Jenny Agutter’s Sister Julienne hinted something similar during a conversation with Trixie during episode five, when she said: “I’d rather go and be a missionary elsewhere than be forced to pretend that we are something we are not.” However, nothing has been officially confirmed.
Call the Midwife series 15 continues Sunday 1 March at 8pm on BBC1. Previous episodes are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
Read more Call the Midwife news on our dedicated homepage
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.