Call the Midwife creator reveals when the show will 'probably' have to end

'I don't know how far into the 1970s we could go'

Clarisse Loughrey
Tuesday 05 February 2019 14:11 GMT
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Call the Midwife’s creator Heidi Thomas has revealed when she expects the show to end.

The BBC drama is currently in its eighth series, with new episodes taking place in 1964, as Poplar sees growing prosperity, increased immigration, and medical innovations.

“I do know that the original nuns on whom the original books were based left Poplar in 1976, because the social and the medical climate had changed,” Thomas told the Radio Times. “They relocated to Birmingham and focused more on spiritual work. So I don’t know how far into the 1970s we could go.”

She added: “Because every series has a new year attached to it, I think we could go on for a few years to come. But who knows? We aren’t bored yet!”

A ninth series set in 1965 has already been commissioned, with Thomas adding: “We may well continue. And, if we did, there seems to be no limit to the interest and excitement of the world in the 1960s.”

She also revealed that she’d be open to previous characters making a comeback, specifically Sister Winifred (Victoria Yeates), Nurse Patsy Mount (Emerald Fennell), and Chummy (Miranda Hart).

“I think anybody who leaves is always welcome back,” she said. “Call the Midwife has a momentum of its own and what we find is, particularly when it’s a matter of an actor wanting to move on, very quickly they’re replaced by new characters that the audience take to their heart.”

“And I think that’s what keeps Call the Midwife going, is the idea that we constantly move forward. There’s always something refreshing happening and a new face on the horizon, and I just love the way people have embraced Sister Hilda and Sister Frances, and of course the magnificent Miriam as Mother Mildred.”

Call the Midwife continues on Sundays at 8pm on BBC1

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