The 2020 Call the Midwife Christmas Special (officially part of Season 10) is a masterful blend of the show's signature warmth and the unavoidable reality of the era's hardships. Despite being filmed under strict pandemic restrictions, the production remains seamless, capturing the festive spirit of Poplar with remarkable heart. Plot Summary
Set in December 1965, the episode follows three primary emotional threads:
The Circus Arrives: A traveling circus led by the charismatic Mr. Percival (Peter Davison) arrives in Poplar, offering Nurse Crane an unexpected adventure and a brush with romance.
A Crisis of Faith: Sister Monica Joan suffers a fall and faces a personal spiritual crisis that challenges her place at Nonnatus House.
Shelagh's Reunion: Shelagh Turner encounters a former patient whose difficult pregnancy brings back emotional ghosts and tests Shelagh's medical expertise. Critical Reception
A "Festive Staple": Critics widely praised the episode for acting as "comfort viewing" at the end of a difficult year, maintaining the show's high standard for period detail and emotional resonance.
Standout Performances: Judy Parfitt (Sister Monica Joan) and guest star Peter Davison were highlighted for their "show-stealing" performances. Call.The.Midwife.S10E00.Christmas.Special.2020....
Pacing & Narrative: While most viewers found the episode "beautiful" and "uplifting," some noted the first half was slightly slow, and others felt the multiple storylines made the episode feel a bit crowded.
Production: The episode is particularly noted for how the cast and crew managed to film during COVID-19, using clever camera angles to hide social distancing—a feat that felt "miraculous" to many fans.
For a closer look at the traditional holiday plans that didn't go quite as expected: Call the Midwife | Holiday Special 2020 | Season 10 PBS• Dec 25, 2020 Review: Call The Midwife Christmas Special 2020 | Redbrick
The Call the Midwife 2020 Christmas Special (technically the opening of Season 10) is a poignant 90-minute feature set in December 1965. As Poplar prepares for Christmas, the community deals with the aftermath of the "Big Freeze" of 1963 and the modernizing world of the mid-60s. Core Plot & Highlights
A Circus in Poplar: The festive cheer is brought by a visiting circus, but the arrival of a circus performer with a complex pregnancy provides the central medical and emotional drama.
Nonnatus House in Jeopardy: Sister Julienne and Shelagh face financial pressures as they struggle to keep the house running, leading to a surprising offer from the council that threatens the order’s independence. The 2020 Call the Midwife Christmas Special (officially
Trixie’s Professional Growth: Trixie receives a professional opportunity that takes her away from Poplar, signaling a significant shift in her character arc.
Holiday Spirit: The episode maintains the show's signature "tender blend of poignant drama" and festive warmth, concluding with the community coming together despite various personal and professional challenges. Viewing Information
Where to Watch: In the US, the special and subsequent Season 10 episodes are available via PBS. International viewers can often find it on platforms like Stan. Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes. Setting: Poplar, London, December 1965. Call the Midwife - PBS
Trixie’s story is perhaps the most poignant. She receives a letter from a former patient—a dying mother she helped years ago. The letter contains a Christmas gift for the woman’s now-orphaned daughter, who lives in a children’s home. Trixie, battling her own exhaustion from the vaccination drive, treks across London on Christmas Eve to deliver the gift personally. The scene, where the teenager opens a small music box to reveal a locket with her mother’s picture, is a masterclass in quiet acting.
Spoilers ahead for the Call the Midwife 2020 Christmas Special.
There is a specific kind of magic that happens when Call the Midwife releases its annual Christmas episode. It usually involves tinsel draped over a district nursing bicycle, a dusting of snow on the cobbles of Poplar, and a choir of angelic voices in a candlelit chapel. But the 2020 Christmas Special—the bridge between Series 9 and Series 10—was never going to be usual. Community and Care: The special emphasizes the power
Set during the winter of 1965, this episode arrived wrapped in a very different kind of ribbon: grief. And yet, in true Call the Midwife fashion, it managed to be one of the most profoundly hopeful hours of television that year.
The special opens with festive cheer at Nonnatus House. Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) is preparing for the annual carol concert, while Trixie Franklin (Helen George) is decorating the clinic. But a shadow looms. A radio news bulletin announces that a sailor, emigrating from the Far East, has been hospitalized in London with a suspected case of Variola major—smallpox.
The Outbreak Narrative: The crisis escalates when a young boy in Poplar, Timothy (a patient of Dr. Turner), develops a suspicious rash. Dr. Patrick Turner (Stephen McGann) faces his worst nightmare: a potential smallpox cluster. The local health authority swings into action, decreeing mandatory ring vaccination for all residents of Poplar.
The episode brilliantly weaves medical history into character drama:
This special is notable for its rigorous historical fidelity. The episode is based on the real 1965 smallpox outbreak in the UK, which originated with a Pakistani sailor named Ali Alam Butt who arrived at Heathrow Airport in December 1965. The outbreak led to two deaths and the quarantine of over 500 people.
Call the Midwife uses this event to highlight several 1960s-specific realities:
Critics praised the episode for not running away from the darkness of its subject matter. The Guardian gave it 5 stars, calling it "a gut-punch of realism wrapped in the softest woolen blanket of kindness." Radio Times noted that "watching a fictional smallpox outbreak while living through a real pandemic was initially uncomfortable, but the show’s triumphant ending feels earned, not forced."
Fans, however, were divided. Some longed for the "simple" Christmas specials of earlier years (the 2014 South Africa special, or the 2015 Mother Teresa episode). Others called it the "most important" special the show has ever produced, particularly praising Megan Cusack’s debut as Nancy Corrigan, who arrives as a breath of irreverent, sharp-witted energy.