Call the Midwife season 14 Christmas special spoilers follow.
For the first time in Call the Midwife's history the medical period drama has treated fans to a bumper-packed Christmas special: two festive episodes with a juicy cliffhanger intended to whet our appetite during the wait period.
While the cliffhanger successfully made us ravenous for the next episode, however, one can't help but feel that the standard 90-minute festive episode would have been more impactful.
We applaud creator Heidi Thomas's efforts to give fans more time in the festive world of Poplar but unfortunately the front half of the double special dragged. There was nothing wrong with it per se: Poplar prepped for Christmas, we saw new storylines emerge and much ado was made about the funfair coming to town.
It was all a very festive primer for the main action that took place in part two, but it failed to move the story along quick enough.
The chief reason to stick around was the cast, effortlessly charming as ever. There were sweet bursts of different personalities flurrying around and because we were invested in the characters we ultimately didn't mind waiting for the story to pick up pace.
What to Read Next
Thankfully when Call the Midwife did actually get going they charged full steam ahead. The seeds of the storylines planted in part one became lush, green and attractive in the back half.
The prisoner breakout story really captured the spirit of the season when escapee Jock (John Kazek) made some poor choices in order to see his elderly mother for Christmas. Through Cyril (Zephryn Taitte) and Rosalind (Natalie Quarry) there were themes about compassion in place of judgement as they offered kindness and hope.
A new romance blossomed *ahem* (or rather a layered, nuanced take on the classic festive love story blossomed – please see our thoughts here) but the main stories that really turned the waterworks up to full pressure were a story of family poverty and of course that heartwrenching cliffhanger centred around the missing Reggie (Daniel Laurie).
Accolades, please, to Laurie, whose performance delivered minute-by-minute tension.
While rationally fans knew (hoped) that no harm would come to Reggie during a Christmas special, the whole ordeal was still nerve-wracking.
Over the course of his Call the Midwife arc, Reggie (who has Down's Syndrome) has been on a journey of upskilling and independence in the nurturing hands of Violet (Annabelle Apsion) and Fred Buckle (Cliff Parisi), who have guided his steps.
There was a fleeting moment of pride in his confidence to take the bus alone when Fred didn't show up at the station to pick him up and take him home for Christmas.
That pride however was quickly replaced by the fear of knowing how vulnerable Reggie really is – alone, overnight, outside in a world that is often cruel to differently abled individuals.
Our confidence that he would ultimately be fine – we've seen telly before – did nothing to wash away the anguish of watching him try to navigate this terrifying situation, not knowing what would come of him in the meantime.
Call the Midwife did what it does best, highlighting social and political issues by knitting them into the fabric of a heartfelt drama. Reggie's story was about bringing awareness to just how unsupported differently abled individuals are, by way of the dismissive policeman who was willing to let him languish in the cold before starting a search in the morning.
You've got to love how ballsy Trixie (Helen George) was when she steamrolled the officer into doing the right thing, pulling out the Lady Aylward card she keeps in tucked in her back pocket and tossing in Violet's Mayoral status for good measure.
No moment could be sweeter than when Reggie returned home to warm embraces. If you weren't crying, we don't want to know you anymore.
The other storyline that tugged on those heartstrings in a similar way was that of the Shaughnessy family, who were forced into squalid living conditions when they were kicked out of their home ahead of Christmas.
Their story was told predominately through the experiences of pregnant mum-of-three Dilys (Madelyn Smedley) and Karen (Myla Park), her eldest child with her sick husband Pete (Peter Hannah).
Having just been released from hospital after receiving treatment for a hole in her heart, Karen took the parental role off her mother's hands owing to the fact that her father had pneumonia and her mother had come down with flu.
Karen's age wasn't disclosed but she was around the same age as the Turner kids. While they busy themselves with Christmas performances and Blue Peter appeals, however, she was scrounging for bread and candles to feed her siblings and light her home.
It was truly a devastating watch, and it made gentle nods to the modern-day housing crisis through Violet and Shelagh's (Laura Main) conversation about Shaughnessy's application for housing.
"We're led to suppose that squalor is dying out," lamented Shelagh, "that we're poised on the brink of 1970 and the whole world is on the up and up."
Violet responded: "But the sad fact is the world is on the up and up and too many people are being left behind."
There were heavy sighs both on and off screen as the brink of 1970 feels awfully reflective of the brink of 2025.
The Shaughnessy family had a moment of reprieve and were able to enjoy the season and the birth of a new family member, but there was no true happy ending for them. A stark reality for many.
It wasn't all trauma and hidden lessons. Miss Higgins' (Georgie Glen) reconnecting with her grandson – after meeting her estranged son before his death last season – was one of the most heartwarming moments lingering after the episode came to a close.
The Turner children (sans Max Macmillan's Timothy, who was notably absent) were pure joy and light. The Trio, May (April Rae Hoang), Angela (Alice Brown) and Teddy (Edward Shaw) had definitely been working on the comedy chemistry and it came through in the most adorable way.
Overall Call the Midwife's double Christmas bill was thankfully not spoiled by its lagging start. The festive episode was able to go out on a high note thanks to punchy stories that were deeply felt.
Call the Midwife airs on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.
Read more Call the Midwife news on our dedicated homepage
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.
