Global InformationCall the Midwife information
| Call the Midwife | |
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| Genre | Period drama |
| Created by | Heidi Thomas |
| Based on | Memoirs of Jennifer Worth |
| Starring | Current
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| Narrated by | Vanessa Redgrave |
| Composers |
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| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 13 |
| No. of episodes | 113 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Annie Tricklebank |
| Production location | Poplar, London |
| Cinematography | Chris Seager |
| Running time | 60–90 minutes |
| Production company | Neal Street Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network |
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| Release | 15 January 2012 – present |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Call the Midwife is a British period drama television series about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s and 1960s. The principal cast of the show has included Jessica Raine, Miranda Hart, Helen George, Bryony Hannah, Laura Main, Jenny Agutter, Pam Ferris, Judy Parfitt, Cliff Parisi, Stephen McGann, Ben Caplan, Daniel Laurie, Emerald Fennell, Victoria Yeates, Jack Ashton, Linda Bassett, Charlotte Ritchie, Kate Lamb, Jennifer Kirby, Annabelle Apsion and Leonie Elliott.
The series is produced by Neal Street Productions, a production company founded and owned by the film director and producer Sam Mendes, Call the Midwife executive producer Pippa Harris, and Caro Newling. The first series, set in 1957, premiered in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2012. The series was created by Heidi Thomas, originally based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth who worked with the Community of St. John the Divine, an Anglican religious order, at their convent in the East End in London. The order was founded as a nursing order in 1849. The show's storylines have extended beyond the memoirs to include new, historically-sourced material.[1] For the most part it depicts the day-to-day lives of the midwives and those in their local neighbourhood of Poplar, with certain historical events of the era having a direct or indirect effect on the characters and storylines.
Call the Midwife achieved high ratings in its first series, making it the most successful new drama series on BBC One since 2001.[2] A total of twelve annual series, of eight episodes each, have aired subsequently year-on-year, along with an annual Christmas special broadcast every Christmas Day since 2012. A 13th series is being broadcast. It is also broadcast in the United States on the PBS network; the first series started on 30 September 2012.[3]
Critical reception has been mostly positive, and the series has won numerous awards and nominations.[4] It has been praised for tackling topical subjects and contemporary social, cultural and economic issues, including nationalised healthcare, infertility, teen pregnancy, adoption, the importance of local community, miscarriage and stillbirths, abortion and unwanted pregnancies, birth defects, poverty, common illnesses, epidemic disease, prostitution, incest, religion and faith, racism and prejudice, same-sex attraction and female genital mutilation. Some aspects of love—maternal, paternal, filial, fraternal, sisterly, romantic, or the love of friends—are explored in every episode.
- ^ "Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas: TV series won't suffer when source material runs out". Radio Times. 12 February 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ "Call the Midwife series ends on ratings high". BBC News. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
- ^ "Season 1 | Seasons | Call the Midwife". PBS.org. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ "Call The Midwife - Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2017.