The BBC has hit out at reports that Call the Midwife has been cancelled, insisting the show is here to stay for “years to come”.
The period drama, launched in 2012, is one of the most-watched programmes in the UK and follows a group of midwives working in the East End of London in the 1950s, 1960 and 1970s.
Reports that the series had been cancelled sparked an outcry on social media on Thursday (26 June), prompting the BBC to respond and clarify that work had in fact begun on the fifteenth season.
“In case you’ve heard any reports to the contrary this morning,” read a tweet on X/Twitter by the BBC press office.
“The BBC would like to reassure fans that Call The Midwife will remain at the heart of the BBC for years to come.
“As previously announced, there are two Christmas specials, a new series, a film and a prequel series, before a fifteenth series in due course. Call the Midwife isn’t going anywhere!”
In a press release, the corporation confirmed that a two-part Christmas special, set in Hong Kong and London’s Poplar district, would be followed by eight new hour-long episodes from January 2026 and will be available on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
“When senior members of the Nonnatus House staff head to Hong Kong on a mercy mission, the younger midwives are left to cope alone,” read a synopsis for the upcoming projects.
“As the Christmas action shifts between the sun-drenched Far East and a snowy East End, Sister Julienne suddenly finds herself excited about the Order’s future. After years of battling change, she decides to embrace it, work with it, and see what love can do.
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“This change of energy reverberates throughout series 15. The new series kicks off in 1971 with several of the ladies embracing Women’s Lib and burning their bras outside Nonnatus House. As the year unfolds, we see the team handle cases including premature birth, placenta previa, kidney cancer, tuberculosis and slavery.”
The world of Nonnatus House is also expanding with a prequel TV series set in Poplar during World War Two. BBC Film and Neal Street will be working together to produce a Call the Midwife film, set overseas in 1972.
