‘Call the Midwife’ season 3 premiere review: The return to Jenny’s world

“Call the Midwife” is probably one of those shows that you either very much enjoy watching, or you find to be rather dry and boring. It is not a show that really makes some sort of grand overtures in the same way that many American series do; heck, it makes a Steven Moffat production feel like an action-packed thrill ride.

But what BBC brought to its season 1 premiere on Sunday night was a tale about change for most of the midwives, and also a story about what some of these women were able to do to both effectively do their job, and also care more for the patients. One of the big events was the reveal of cystic fibrosis, a disease that so many of us are aware of in the modern day. If you are a medical student, then this show is at times like opening up a textbook from a few decades ago.

But is the show particular entertaining? We still do not find it to be one of the easier-to-watch series on the BBC schedule, but only because of the subject matter more than anything else. The subject matter here is so specific that you have to rely more on subtlety to get those big moments versus other shows; when they hit, as they did near the end of this episode where we witnessed a very different sort of birth, they are very effective. This was one of the show’s most-painful births that we have ever witnessed, mostly because it was of a child whose shoulders were stuck and it took almost all of the mother’s strength to make the delivery happen. So, to answer the initial question, it is entertaining. You just have to be patient enough to find the moments of joy.

Jenny and company still make a great ensemble cast, and following this at-times emotion premiere (which did feature a somewhat-happy ending in the child being born), we are very interested in seeing where the show goes from here. Grade: B.

What did you think about the “Call the Midwife” premiere? Share what you think below.