The ‘Call the Midwife’ Christmas Special Wrapped Filming and the Writer Says It Made the Whole Crew Cry

Call the Midwife is heading back to Poplar — but this time to a very different era, and the emotional weight of what the production captured during filming has already moved those who made it to tears.

The BBC has released the first photographs of the cast on set for Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms, a three-part Christmas special and prequel series that has now officially wrapped filming. The show is set to air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this Christmas.

The newly released images show Julie Hesmondhalgh, Helena Wilson, Ellie McKay, Liv Andrusier, and Lizzie Back on set together for the first time — giving audiences an early glimpse of the younger versions of the Nonnatus House community and the three secular midwives who complete the wartime team.

What the Story Is About

Sisters in Arms takes the beloved world of Call the Midwife back to September 1939, at the moment World War Two was declared and life in Poplar changed forever. Sister Monica Joan is in her prime. Sister Julienne and Sister Evangelina are young and full of purpose. And Nonnatus House is still the beating heart of the community.

But this is a world without gas and air, without penicillin, without a welfare state — and now without peace. Three young secular midwives — Sybil, Olive, and Marianne — arrive into the chaos of the Blitz and the blackout as their first real experience of professional life. Women give birth underground while bombs fall. Children are evacuated. Streets are reduced to rubble. And through it all, the community finds ways to survive and hold together.

Filming in a Heatwave With a Snow Machine

Creator, writer, and showrunner Heidi Thomas OBE reflected on the production in a statement accompanying the new images, referencing the show’s long tradition of filming Christmas content during some of the warmest months of the year. The snow machine, she noted, was welcomed back to the Nonnatus House set like a returning friend.

But the emotional experience of making the prequel caught even Thomas off guard. She described the storyline involving the evacuation of Poplar’s children — and the fear that those children might not make it home for Christmas — as the moment that broke through to everyone on set. The whole crew, she said, was in tears.

The Production Team

Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms is made by Neal Street for the BBC, under the All3Media banner. The series is created, written, and executive produced by Thomas, with Pippa Harris executive producing for Neal Street and Ann Tricklebank producing and directing the first two episodes. John Maidens directs the third.

All previous series of Call the Midwife are currently available on BBC iPlayer.