Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
It’s that time of the year again to share my thoughts on the latest Christmas Special of ‘Call the Midwife’. This year, I missed out on watching Series 10 of ‘Call the Midwife’, mainly because my parents and I were checking out the other seasons before it. But thankfully, we’re right up-to-date. 🙂
I’ve seen all the episodes of Series 1 to 10 of ‘Call the Midwife’ on DVD and now I’ve seen the 2021 Christmas Special. I’m looking forward to checking out Series 11, which is due to be shown on BBC TV on the 2nd of January 2022. It was really good to check out the trailer after the Christmas Special.
But yes! We’re back again with another ‘Call the Midwife’ Christmas Special. And we have returning cast members like Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne, Linda Bassett as Nurse Crane, Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan, Helen George as Trixie, Laura Main as Shelagh, Leonie Elliot as Lucille and Stephen McGann as Dr. Turner. There’s also Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle, Annabelle Apsion as Violet, Daniel Laurie as Reggie, Ella Bruccoleri as Sister Frances, Fenella Woogar as Sister Hilda, Georgie Glen as Miss Higgins and Zephryn Taitte as Cyril. Megan Cusack is also back as Nancy Corrigan as well as Olly Rix as Matthew. The two appeared in Series 10 and seem to have become new cast members.
The special takes place in December 1966. There’s a lot to look forward to. As well as Christmas, there’s Lucille and Cyril’s wedding, which was established at the end of Series 10. They’ve had a long engagement and they can’t wait to get married on Boxing Day. But nothing ever runs smoothly here.
This includes a hen night where Lucille ends up getting drunk – Sister Hilda – as she ends up with a black eye that becomes really swollen. Lucille is upset and even considers breaking the wedding off, which Cyril is understandably troubled by. Thankfully, Sister Monica Joan has the solution to this problem.
With Dr. Turner’s help, it involves putting leeches onto Lucille’s bad eye – a remedy concocted from olden days. It’s quite amusing and off-putting to see leeches being used to cure Lucille’s eye, but thankfully it works out. Lucille is able to have her wedding and she and Cyril do marry on Boxing Day.
This special also features the return of Miriam Margoyles as Mother Mildred. Whilst I appreciate it’s been a long while since we saw Mother Mildred in ‘Call the Midwife’, I’d be more excited for Jennifer Kirby returning as Valerie instead of Mother Mildred returning. She still didn’t get the exit she deserved.
Mind you, it was amusing and enchanting to see Mother Mildred read ‘A Christmas Carol’ to Dr. Turner’s children when he was out on numerous cases on Christmas Day. Angela, Teddy and May are captivated by Mother Mildred’s reading of the story as well as people who return to Nonnatus House.
The maternity home gets filled with expectant mums-to-be, each with very challenging cases. This includes a mother who has a drug addiction to heroin. This causes severe consequences for the baby who suffers from the drug addiction. It was upsetting to see this and it concerns the baby’s future. 😐
The mother came from a dodgy background involving the black market, I believe. It was interesting to see that environment touched upon, especially when Dr. Turner keeps attending to the people who come from there, when he’s visiting their house and when they come to the maternity home. 😐
Max Macmillan as Timothy Turner also gets to see what his father’s up to when he’s conducting rounds and case as a physician. It was intriguing to see Timothy’s reaction, even when he’s wearing a facemask during the delivery of an expectant mother. I wonder if Timothy is getting nervous here. 😐
Reggie is also overjoyed to see snowfall in the Poplar area. I’m disappointed we don’t get snow in Cardiff. After all, we had rain on Christmas Day this year. 😀 It was nice to see Reggie be Cyril’s best man at the wedding and Fred gets to give Lucille away. He was meant to be Cyril’s best man initially.
I like how Trixie interacts with Matthew in the special. There seems to be a growing attraction between them, especially after Matthew lost his wife in Series 10 and how it’s teased in the trailer for Series 11. I do wonder what will happen when Trixie interacts with Matthew more in Series 11. 😐
I liked it when the special made reference to Barbara who tragically died in Series 7, as Nurse Crane reflects on the loss in connection to her wedding, which echoes in a similar manner to Lucille getting married to Cyril. I like how Nurse Crane and Lucille’s scene in talking about Barbara are presented. 🙂
The 2021 Christmas Special of ‘Call the Midwife’ has been enjoyable to watch. The ‘Call the Midwife’ Christmas Specials are enjoyably comfortable to watch, despite certain issues concerning mothers with challenging situations. I like how the special ends on a happy note with Cyril and Lucille married. 🙂
Thanks for reading!
See you soon for Series 11 of ‘Call the Midwife’! 🙂
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
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