It’s early 1962 and the sisters and midwives of Nonnatus House have just returned from their mission in South Africa. Well, most of them anyway. One of them has stayed behind for a while to help Hope Clinic get back up on its feet. And there are changes afoot, not the least of which is the arrival of a new sister, Sister Ursula, who quickly supplants Sister Julienne as the leader of Nonnatus House.
Call the Midwife, by this time, has settled into a comfortable formula. We follow the nuns and midwives as they deal with their patients, support each other, and fight the crippling poverty that afflicts the people of the Poplar district of the East End of London. The new season does not deviate from this, but it does add a few more complications. There are more continuing storylines threaded through, and the new character, Sister Ursula, gives the series something it has shied away from until now: a continuing villain.
The first few episodes of season six offer intriguing, sometimes heartbreaking plotlines: a woman with dwarfism and her complicated pregnancy, the struggles of an abused woman, an Englishwoman married to a Chinese man who must contend with a domineering mother-in-law, a regular character finds herself suddenly, shockingly, pregnant. All are handled deftly and with the nuance the show is known for. If you’re the kind of person who cries at tv shows, you’ll be weeping several times in this new season.
The sixth season of Call the Midwife debuts Sunday, April 2nd at 8:00 p.m. on KIXE Cannel 9.