Call the Midwife season 7 ratings strong amidst shocking storyline
Still with us? Well, know that in total, 7.6 million viewers in the United Kingdom last night watched as Charlotte Ritchie, who plays Barbara on the series, officially was written off the series in stunning fashion. While it felt that there was always a possibility that the character could be written off the series, we never quite imagined that it would be via Barbara getting killed off. That’s the part of the show that is so hard to digest at the moment.
Yet, cast turnover is something that so many viewers have to be accustomed to on some level when it comes to this series — it’s happened so many times already over the years. Before this season Emerald Fennell departed as Patsy Mount, and even during this season Helen George has departed for maternity leave. (George will return, though — her exit is not meant to be a permanent one.)
From a meta standpoint one of the parts of the series that is interesting is that Jennifer Worth serves as the narrator; yet, there aren’t too many characters on the series at present who were actually around back when Jessica Raine was on the show as the younger version of the character. Sunday night’s finale will address the funeral for Barbara and hopefully in the process start to push the series even more towards whatever its future is going to be.
Related – Want to read more of why Charlotte Ritchie is departing Call the Midwife?
Will Barbara’s exit hurt the ratings?
For the reasons that we just mentioned we doubt it; there were plenty of viewers on Call the Midwife before she arrived and we have to think they will all remain. As a matter of fact, we would be shocked if the ratings did not rise for the final episode of the season, given the fact that viewers are all going to be collectively aware of what happened to Barbara going in. The viewers who watched Sunday’s episode likely had no idea that this episode was it for the character.
What did you think about Sunday’s episode of Call the Midwife and do you think Barbara’s death will impact the ratings? Share below!
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