‘Call the Midwife’ season 4 Christmas Special review: Vanessa Redgrave, pain, and the 1960s transition

The “Call the Midwife” Christmas Special today should in some ways be thought of as a big transition. There are new episodes of the show airing next year, but they probably want to hit the ground running.

For this episode, we started with an appearance from Vanessa Regrave as Jennifer Worth, which was a reminder that Jenny was a huge part of the show … even if she is not featured on the show in the form of Jessica Raine anymore. The truth is that there are still many stories worth continuing for Trixie, Chummy, and everyone else at Nonnatus House, and the show is not going to deny giving those to you.

During this episode, the stories were roughly the same as they are the rest of the year: Mothers in difficult situations, and that includes one who claimed that she did not want to keep her, even if Miranda Hart’s character insisted otherwise.

Without Raine around anymore, Hart was much more of the focus, which to us is something we don’t mind. We’ve always been a fan of her talents, and with her sitcom going off the air, why not give her more to do here?

By and large, the majority of this episode focused on the pain and loneliness that can come with Christmas; it was probably depressing if this was the last thing you watched before bed. Still, there were some pleasant moments, including Shelagh and Dr. Turner celebrating their daughter.

There were some heartwrenching moments in here, but given how much the show hyped up the progression into the 1960s, we wish there was more of that. We’ve seen so many women give birth on the show (we know, it’s in the title), and at this point, much of that is starting to blend together. Grade: B.

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