Filming has started on the much-anticipated upcoming Call the Midwife spin-off!
Set in Poplar during the Second World War, the prequel series was announced by the BBC last year.
Titled Sisters in Arms, the new show will make its debut this Christmas with three 60-minute episodes, with a full-length series expected to follow in 2027 or 2028.
Production is now underway at the regular Call the Midwife studio base in Longcross, Surrey.
“We feel immensely proud to continue our partnership with the Call the Midwife team to take this very special, much-loved series in such an exciting direction,” said Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama this week.
“The cast assembled for Sisters in Arms are every bit as wonderful as Heidi [Thomas]’s scripts, and we can’t wait to take BBC viewers to the Poplar of 1939 to get to know them.”
The series will feature some familiar Call the Midwife characters as their younger selves and it’ll be narrated by Jenny Agutter as the older Sister Julienne.
Amy Booth-Steel (Down Cemetery Road) will take on the role of Sister Evangelina, while Helen Schlesinger (Ted Lasso) plays Sister Monica Joan, and Helena Wilson (The Hills of California) plays Sister Julienne.
They’re joined by Bally Gill (Slow Horses) as Dr Kit Malhotra, Liv Andrusier (The Witcher) as Marianne Siegler, Lizzie Back (Grantchester) as Sybil Maxted, and Ellie Mckay (Hijack) as Olive Dobbs.
We’ll also see Ciaran Bowling (Dune Prophecy) playing the young Fred Buckle, with Ami Metcalf (Sister Boniface Mysteries) as his wife Betty, while Ben Rose (This Town) plays the young Dr Patrick Turner.
The Christmas episodes will guest star Julie Hesmondhalgh (Broadchurch), Martin McCann (Blue Lights), and Rachel O’Connell (EastEnders).
Here’s the official synopsis for the show from the BBC: “In September 1939, Sister Monica Joan is in her prime, Sister Julienne and Sister Evangelina are young and zealous, and Nonnatus House is the beating heart of Poplar.
“Together with Sister Alice, and local GP Dr Kit, the nuns dedicate their lives to mothers, babies and the poor. But there is no gas and air, no penicillin, no cure for TB, and no welfare state. Then war is declared – and life gets even harder.
“The three young secular midwives who complete the team – Sybil, Olive and Marianne – receive a baptism of fire as the blackout and the Blitz take hold.
“While bombs rain from the sky, women give birth underground, families are shattered, children run wild, and whole streets are reduced to rubble. But courage, compassion and resilience triumph as the community unites in its efforts to survive.”
Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms premieres in December in the UK on BBC One and streaming on BBC iPlayer. We expect it’ll air in the US on Call the Midwife‘s regular home, PBS Masterpiece.
