The
nuns and medical professionals of Nonnatus House are used to surprise
pregnancies, so you could say Christmas has special significance for them. Yet, they are still taken aback by the
package left on their doorstep. The hit
PBS-BBC series Call the Midwife delivers
a special holiday helping of faith and sentiment in the Christmas special
edition, screening this Sunday, just in time for Boxing Day, on most PBS
outlets nationwide (promo
here).
There
is indeed a foundling left for the nuns of the East End convent-clinic. He was not immaculately conceived. Rather, he was secretly delivered by the
plain but hard working daughter of a parish lay leader. The infant will be fine in the nuns’
care. The young girl is another story.
Of
course, there is plenty of other drama afoot for the multi-character
ensemble. Fan favorite Nurse Chummy
Browne has her hands full planning the neighborhood Christmas pageant,
featuring an angel who looks suspiciously green around the gills. Meanwhile, rookie-nurse Jenny Lee, the
protagonist-narrator, is stuck paying house-calls on Mrs. Jenkins, an
anti-social derelict with a bad case of the “work-house howl.” In fact, this is the strongest subplot,
giving the special an appropriately Dickensian vibe. As usual, there will also be plenty of bike
riding.
Midwife is sort of like
Hallmark television for PBS viewers. It
depicts Christian virtues like faith and charity put into everyday practice in
depressed 1950’s London, while promoting the welfare state expansion then
underway. The heavy-handed in-retrospect
narration, courtesy of Vanessa Redgrave, is always a mistake, for multiple
reasons. However, the cast is convincingly
earnest and committed. Jessica Raine
shows star quality as Lee and it is cool to see Brit TV and movie veteran Jenny
Agutter light up the screen as the pious but pragmatic Sister Julienne.
