The tenth series of the much loved BBC drama Call The Midwife came to an end on 30 May 2021. Fans of the show have since been able to enjoy the 11th series.
Here's everything you need to know about Call the Midwife season 10 cast, the storyline and when we can expect to see it next on our screens.
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Call the Midwife season 10 release date
The 10th series of Call the Midwife began on Sunday 18 April, 2021 on BBC One at 8PM.
There were seven episodes, with a new episode airing each Sunday.
When did Call the Midwife season 10 air late?
Call the Midwife usually returns in January, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the filming of season 10 was delayed for five months which resulted in the show hitting our screens on 18 April 2021.
Season 10 was also meant to have eight episodes, but this was reduced to seven.
Call the Midwife season 10 cast
Many familiar faces made an appearance for season 10 of the show, including:
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), Leonie Elliott (Lucille), Stephen McGann (Dr Turner), Cliff Parisi (Fred), Annabelle Apsion (Violet), Georgie Glen (Miss Higgins), Max Macmillan (Timothy), Zephryn Taitte (Cyril) and Daniel Laurie (Reggie).
However, Nurse Valerie, played by Jennifer Kirby, sadly didn't return to the show.
Jennifer posted a statement on Instagram saying: "After four joyful years spent with Call the Midwife, I have decided to say goodbye to Nonnatus, Val, and the wonderful cast, crew and production team. The programme is truly a national treasure, and it will always be a huge honour for me to have been a part of something so wonderful. I can’t wait to keep watching our beloved Nonnatuns from the other side of the screen. Long live Call the Midwife. So long chicks”
What is Call the Midwife season 10 about?
The 10th season of Call the Midwife is set in 1966. As the show tends to follow events that happened during the time it is set, the stories followed the different societal changes and shifts happening in the UK at that time.
From changing attitudes towards private healthcare, to the ongoing Thalidomide cases, we also see families being evicted from their homes due to the housing crisis and teenage pregnancies.
We also got to see England’s World Cup win of that year which was an important event as 32 million (of the total population of 55 million) gathered around the television to see England beat West Germany at Wembley 4-2.
In politics in 1966, there was a snap general election, with the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson gaining the comfortable majority.
Before season 10 began, writer Heidi Thomas shared how the show would continue to encounter changing social and legal attitudes in the run-up to some important legislation. Heidi Thomas mentioned that, “what I do know is that when we get to series 11 it will be 1967, so abortion will be legalised and homosexuality will be legalised, and these are big staging posts in modern social history, so I know we’ll be referencing those, and we might be referencing the journey towards those things.
“There was a lot of public debate about the changes in society, so I know in a very general way that the change that has fuelled us so far will take us forward.”
Call the Midwife Christmas special 2020
Set in Christmas of 1965, the Christmas special saw the circus come to Poplar, led by Peter Davison as the ringmaster Mr Percival.
The episode also saw the return of a Call the Midwife character we’ve seen before, Gloria Venables, for a moving storyline with Shelagh Turner (Laura Main). Gloria had suffered several miscarriages but was pregnant again and almost at full term and feeling very anxious.
Long-timer Trixie was speed-dating due to her subscription to a “Marriage Bureau” as a Christmas present, but this didn’t go as planned. Meanwhile, poor Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) was rushed to the hospital due to a fall which prompted Nurse Lucille Anderson (Leonie Elliott) to devise a plan to bring her elderly friend back to Nonnatus House for Christmas.
Has Call the Midwife been recommissioned?
It has indeed! While Season 11 of Call The Midwife has already aired at the start of the year, the BBC has already confirmed there will also be two more seasons of CTM - 12 and 13, taking us right up to 2024. Each will have eight episodes and we'll also have Christmas specials to look forward to as well.
Commenting on the exciting news, Heidi said: "It’s an incredible privilege to be able to look back on a decade of Call The Midwife, and yet know that our journey is still very far from over. We are thrilled to be going on for a few more years! Like Nonnatus House itself, we have a proud past but an even more exciting future - full of old favourites, fresh faces, higher hemlines, new ideas. The stories we tell are like babies - they never stop coming, we love them all, and we vow to do our best by every single one."