Call the Midwife 2017 Christmas Special review: The Big Freeze and a celebration

If you watch Call the Midwife with any regularity, you likely knew one thing with confidence entering the 2017 Christmas Special — there was a pretty good chance that you were going to be devastated by something during the 80-minute run time. We’re talking about a world where babies don’t often survive.

Therefore, when it seemed as though one of the young mothers had lost her baby we were about to spend the rest of Christmas sobbing — yet, there was a Christmas miracle that took place along the way. Just after it looked as though baby had passed, they came back to life. The transition from sad tears to happy tears came about in a split-second.

Emotion was a heartbeat for the Christmas Special, but you can also say so was the Big Freeze. This was one of the coldest winters in the history of Britain, and you can see the result of that reverberating throughout Poplar. The streets were frozen over and to go along with that, even such things as indoor plumbing were starting to break down. There were some amusing scenes that came about because of the winter, including an impromptu hockey game, but no doubt it also made life incredibly difficult for many people.

By the end of the special we did see some of the roads start to clear, and the likes of Tom (departing soon for Birmingham) doing what he can in order to help organize a dinner for the elderly. We also had a chance to see a festive pantomime, a way to round out the season in one of the happiest ways possible.

Seeing both Barbara and Tom leave was a little bit surprising, but we do imagine that the two characters are each going to have a future in Poplar soon. The good news is that they are leaving it in good hands with many men and women capable of moving the community forward.

CarterMatt Verdict

In setting the Christmas Special around winter, Call the Midwife gave us a special that was very distinctive in terms of its flair. The story reflected that by giving you an interesting series of twists and turns from start to finish. It was hopeful, it was sad, and it was a not-so-subtle reminder that at the end of the day, life does go on and characters do move forward.

If you offer up a criticism here, you can argue that the Call the Midwife 2017 Christmas Special offered up a little less in terms of major events from last year’s special. Yet, it’s also pretty darn hard to pop Barbara and Tom getting engaged, or the two of them marrying at the end of season 6.

When is Call the Midwife returning to with new episodes?

Whether you are located in the UK or the United States, you can get an answer to that question over at the link here.

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