Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It turns out I did see the ‘Call the Midwife’ Christmas Special on Christmas Day in December 2023. It’s only fair I saw it with it being Christmas Day and all. For what it’s worth, this Christmas Special is pleasant enough. It was very enjoyable to revisit many familiar characters I’ve seen over the years. 🙂

The special takes place in December 1968. The countdown to Christmas is on, and so is the launch of Apollo 8’s mission to Earth’s moon. It was intriguing to see that in the Christmas Special. This was before the historical Apollo 11 mission to Earth’s moon where Neil Armstrong made one small step.

In Poplar, Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan is convinced that Christmas 1968 will be her last one. She believes she won’t see man walk on the moon. Everyone else tries to convince her otherwise, but she’s resolute. Stephen McGann as Dr. Turner assesses that Sister Monica Joan has depression. 😐

It’s interesting how this special depicts Sister Monica Joan, especially as she’s been one of the longest-serving cast members in ‘Call the Midwife’ since it began in 2012. The other long-serving cast members in ‘Call the Midwife’ include Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne and Helen George as Trixie. 🙂

I’m not sure if Series 13 of ‘Call the Midwife’ is going to depict Judy Parfitt’s final outing in the series. That will depend on how long ‘Call the Midwife’ is going to go on for. After all, there are three more seasons of ‘Call the Midwife’ on their way. By the time we get to Series 15, we’ll be in 1971. 😐

Most of the Poplar community attempt to cheer up Sister Monica Joan by providing her with a special gift of a Victorian Nativity scene. It was fascinating to see that put together in the special. I expected a Victorian enactment of the Nativity, similar to how ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ did their Nativity. 😀

Whilst that’s going on with Sister Monica Joan, Laura Main as Shelagh becomes unsettled when a parcel arrives from May’s mother in Hong Kong. May is the Chinese girl that Shelagh and Dr. Turner adopted in the 2018 Christmas Special. 🙂 The parcel happens to be a little girl’s dress made for May.

The problem is the dress is too small, as May has now fully-grown up. It’s intriguing how the storyline with May and her birth mum is followed up in the special. The last time we saw May’s birth mum was in Series 9, Episode 6. Things got complicated with May meeting up with her mum in that.

I don’t know if the May and her birth mum storyline is going to be followed up in Series 13. One thing’s for certain. By the time May has fully grown-up, she probably would want to know more about her family history. It’ll be intriguing to see how Dr. Turner and Shelagh handle that as parents.

The special also sees Sister Julienne allowing the daughter of Megan Cusack as Nancy – Francesca Fullilove as Colette – to move into Nonnatus House for the foreseeable future. Nancy is thrilled to be able to spend every day with Colette and to be more present in her upbringing whilst at Nonnatus. 🙂

I like how Nancy has developed as a character in ‘Call the Midwife’ since she was introduced in Series 10. Over the years, she’s grown to be a likeable character and it’s clearly shown through her interactions with many of the Nonnatus House members and how she interacts with her daughter. 🙂

There’s a storyline in the special that involves an veteran soldier that fought in the Second World War and is living in the most deplorable conditions when Zephryn Taitte as Cyril tries to help him. By the way, whilst it’s nice to see Cyril in the series, no mention is made about his wife Lucille, which is a shame.

Another storyline involves Dr. Turner and the midwives dealing with a complicated multiple birth. A mother has a quadruple amount of babies. 😀 The first three she has in an ambulance on the way to a hospital, whilst the fourth baby is born off-screen at the hospital, which was fascinating to unravel. 🙂

The mother of the four babies also becomes friends with another mother who used to be a bully at her school. It was also intriguing to see how the other mother who used to be a bully at school turned out in the special, especially when she was anxious for her boyfriend to come home from sea.

Olly Rix as Matthew Aylward also does his best to be accommodating when Trixie’s brother – Christopher Harper as Geoffrey, who appeared in Series 12 – comes over to Poplar to stay for Christmas. Geoffrey even helps out with the Victorian Nativity when he moves into Nonnatus House.

Like I said, the 2023 Christmas Special of ‘Call the Midwife’ has been pleasant enough to check out on Christmas Day. I’m not sure if this prompts me to check out Series 13 of ‘Call the Midwife’ in 2024, but I’m pleased I’ve at least seen the Christmas Special, as it’s a nice tradition to have every Christmas. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂