Call the Midwife 2018 Christmas Special review: The new Mother Superior…

The Call the Midwife 2018 Christmas Special arrived on BBC One today and, as a whole, it brought you much of what you could’ve wanted. It was basically a movie at 90 minutes’ long and with that, we had quite a bit of content jammed in here.

New video – Check out our video review for the special below and be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube for more.

For starters, we had the fantastic return of Trixie! The character came back tonight after a lengthy absence in season 7 due to Helen George’s pregnancy, and she tried her best to bring some high fashion and art to Nonnatus House. However, in the process of doing so she was thrown from the frying pan into the fire. She was put right back into work and with that, we saw the midwives forced to take on a rather challenging case involving a desperate woman set to give birth at a rather inopportune time. She, Valerie, and Lucille also did their part in this episode to help in a reunion.

As for what’s coming up for some of the nuns at Nonnatus, they were all facing a situation that was highly unusual. For starters, they were left to care for young children from Hong Kong for most of the episode. Beyond that, there was also the possibility of nuns having to relocate to the Mother House. Eventually, this story led to the selection of a new Mother Superior. Sister Juilienne was extremely concerned about having to depart herself but, in the end, newcomer Sister Mildred was promoted to the title instead. With that, Julienne can stay, she will oversee matters in Poplar, and there will eventually be some new arrivals, as well.

Perhaps the most surprising reveal through the whole Mother House story, though, was finding out that Shelagh has a secret stash of cigarettes that she gives to nervous fathers in particular moments. We cannot say that Shelagh and Dr. Turner becoming foster parents is all that much of a surprise, though, mostly because these are the sort of people that they are.

Now that this scary situation has been officially taken care of, there was a chance to celebrate something a little bit different near the end of the episode — a nativity scene, albeit one that could’ve went down as a disaster. Fred, Violent, and Reggie found themselves involved at the center of this story, and it provided one of the better moments of the night in the form of a rogue donkey. Everyone was able to reassemble and celebrate the holidays together.

CarterMatt Verdict

Call the Midwife is very much the same show that it’s always been — warm, welcoming, and at times extremely heartfelt. This is a show that is about breaking through the bittersweet and finding a larger sense of happiness and peace. This is about characters finding a way to keep pressing forward while holding their fate and understanding their value. There was laughter at the end of it, just as there was also family.

As for where the show could go moving forward into the new year, we do think that there are a wide array of different possibilities. There was no enormous cliffhanger and everything was left fairly open. Just listening to that church choir at the end of this episode — how can you not feel something?

Related News – Check out more insight on Call the Midwife, including when the series could come back on the air

What did you think about the 2018 Call the Midwife Christmas Special overall? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments. (Photo: BBC.)