CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2019
Please feel free to comment on my review.
It’s amazing to look back at this Christmas Special of ‘Call the Midwife’ which I saw on TV on December 25th 2019. I was blissfully unaware of what 2020 would bring and so far, this ended up becoming the last ‘Call the Midwife’ Christmas Special where no Covid-19 guidelines were needed. 😐
I enjoyed Christmas Day 2019 with the presents I received and spending time with my family. I also enjoyed the things I saw on DVD and Blu-ray, including some Disney films like 2019’s ‘Dumbo’, ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ and ‘Toy Story 4’. I hoped everybody else enjoyed themselves on Christmas Day. 😀
Nowadays, Christmas Day in every year seem to be good times to watch the latest ‘Call the Midwife’ Christmas Special. Even if you hadn’t seen the previous ‘Call the Midwife’ seasons beforehand, you’re bound to enjoy the standalone Christmas Specials filled with such emotional character drama.
I saw the 2019 Christmas Special with my parents on BBC One TV at 7.30pm. It was nice to settle back into the world of ‘Call the Midwife’ when I saw this Christmas Special on TV in 2019, especially after enjoying Series 8 earlier in the year. Somehow, it was pretty easy to get into the series again. 🙂
It was good to see the ‘Call the Midwife’ cast led by Jenny Agutter, Linda Bassett, Helen George and Judy Parfitt. A lot of the main characters had colds before Christmas, which was slightly amusing to watch. 😀 I have been in that position myself where I’ve had colds before, during and after Christmas. 🙂
In this Christmas Special, a bout of influenza sweeps through both Nonnatus House and the Turner family before Christmas arrives. Soon, most of the ‘Call the Midwife’ team head out to the Outer Hebrides. This is Miriam Margolyes as Mother Mildred’s idea since she declares God is calling to her.
Mother Mildred seeks to set up a branch house in the Outer Hebrides. It seems an ideal opportunity for the nuns and the midwives to convalesce in the bracing Scottish air. As they recover, they will also be able to help the island since there is a nursing and a doctor shortage among the community.
Heading out to the Outer Hebrides, Mother Mildred selects certain members of the ‘Call the Midwife’ team to join her. Not all are very keen to accompany Mother Mildred on this trip. I don’t blame them as it’s not exactly how I would want to spend my Christmas away from my own home. 😐
The selected members include Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne, Linda Bassett as Nurse Crane, Helen George as Trixie, Leonie Elliott as Lucille, Jennifer Kirby as Valerie, Stephen McGann as Dr. Turner, Laura Main as his wife Shelagh and Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle. Are these people up to this endeavour?
Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan also comes along for the ride to join the ‘Call the Midwife’ team, even though she wasn’t selected by Mother Mildred. She’s annoyed when she has to stay behind with Fenella Woolgar as Sister Hilda and Ella Bruccoleri as Sister Frances. She does slip away though.
Mother Mildred is far from happy when Sister Monica Joan turns up via train. But Sister Monica Joan is determined to see a white stag in the Outer Hebrides, having seen it in a vision. 🙂 She associates the Outer Hebrides with St. Eustace’s White Stag, which happens to be a symbol of Jesus Christ.
I found it funny when Sister Monica Joan managed to see a White Stag with her own eyes at the Callanish Standing Stones with Sister Julienne and Mother Mildred joining her. I wonder if C.S. Lewis was inspired by St. Eustace’s White Stag to be included in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. 🙂
It was very interesting to watch this Christmas Special with my parents back in 2019. We’ve been to the Outer Hebrides ourselves when we used to go on our Scotland holidays years ago. We’ve visited the Isles of Harris and Lewis on a summer holiday once, so this was a really nice nostalgia trip for us.
I was amazed by my Dad being able to recognisable landmarks in the episode such as the Callanish Standing Stones I’ve mentioned. It’s been a while since we’ve visited the Isles of Harris and Lewis, but I would like to revisit the Outer Hebrides whenever my parents and I get to go to Scotland again.
The ‘Call the Midwife’ team have to cope with the run-down conditions of where they have to stay in the Outer Hebrides, including coping with the cold. They stay in a freezing cold converted church, which is a big contrast to how comfortable they might have been had they stayed in Poplar, London.
The team set about establishing an antenatal clinic and treating the local population. They not only have to battle the weather and bleak terrain, but they also have to deal with the suspicions of some of the islanders, including dealing with some of their stricter religious beliefs in the local community.
It was intriguing to see how the community reacted against Fred Buckle putting up a Christmas tree in a local hall to cheer up the kids when it’s against the community’s religious traditions. It’s hard to forget there are groups of Christians that don’t embrace Christmas traditions e.g. Christmas trees. 😐
As the episode progresses, Mother Mildred comes to the conclusion that she may have misheard God’s call to come to the Outer Hebrides. It’s interesting how Mother Mildred admits she might have been in error, despite her best intentions to help the community of the Outer Hebrides here. 🙂
Also in the episode, Dr. Turner, Lucille, Valerie and Fred Buckle have to help a lighthouse keeper and his wife who’s about to give birth. Thankfully the baby is born, but the mother suffers a terrible condition after giving birth. It was interesting to see Dr. Turner be scared before doing an operation.
For the most part in ‘Call the Midwife’, Dr. Turner comes across as a brave physician. It’s intriguing how he shares his fears of conducting this certain operation on the suffering mother to Fred beforehand and to Shelagh afterwards. It probably didn’t help with the lighthouse’s power being cut.
This was also during a thunderstorm, I might add. It was also compelling to see a young teenager go on a depressive path and abandon her younger cousin who received burns when her dress caught fire. Nurse Crane and Trixie observe this whilst they attend to the little cousin who’s left abandoned.
Nurse Crane and Trixie find a way of calming the little cousin down by getting her calf to come in and cheer her up, which is very amusing. 😀 They also help the teenager through her misery, especially when she’s found drinking alcohol and she was found on the road after being out in the rugged wild.
Having seen the first eight seasons of ‘Call the Midwife’ on DVD, it was intriguing to see Helen George’s Trixie reflecting herself in what Eilidh Fisher as Effie Tolmie did to herself with drink. It’s something that hasn’t been addressed for quite some time since she stopped drinking from Series 7.
Meanwhile, back in Poplar, Daniel Laurie as Reggie Jackson returns home for Christmas to find Fred has gone to the Outer Hebrides. He also finds one of the presents meant for him for Christmas – the Book of Guinness World Records. Annabelle Apsion as Violet Buckle meant to hide that from him. 😀
Inspired by the triumph of others, Reggie decides that he too will try to break a world record. It’s interesting how Georgie Glen as Miss Higgins helps in that regard. At the episode’s end, everyone has paper chains spread across Poplar, in time for the press to take in a Guinness World Record of it.
The efforts of the ‘Call the Midwife’ team in the Outer Hebrides are also appreciated as they’re invited to attend a Christmas celebration among the community. Shelagh, Lucille, Valerie and Trixie get to sing Christmas carols at the celebration before they and the rest of the team leave for Poplar.
The 2019 ‘Call the Midwife’ Christmas Special was great to watch on Christmas Day in that year. There’s a lot going in this Christmas Special, especially for 90 minutes. I found how easy it was to get into the characters and their journeys, especially in terms of revisiting the special on DVD recently. 🙂
There is a sense of Christian messages echoing throughout the ‘Call the Midwife’ series, especially in Vanessa Redgrave as mature Jennifer Worth’s narration, which makes it very appealing. It works well in a period drama such as this and it’s no surprise that the TV series has continued to last for so long.
Series 9 of ‘Call the Midwife’ was about to start on the 5th of January 2020, which I was looking forward to very much. It meant watching episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Call the Midwife’ on Sunday evenings for my parents and me via BBC iPlayer in early 2020, which was really good to hear here. 😀
‘Christmas Special 2019’ rating – 8/10
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