Call the Midwife Christmas special part 1 ends on cliffhanger with Reggie in peril

Before the Call the Midwife double feature for Christmas premiered, Cliff Parisi remarked that the situation for the Buckles becomes quite chaotic, and he definitely wasn't overstating the matter.

In this evening's episode (December 25th), Fred was meant to collect Reggie from the bus station, but he left later than planned and then encountered a police roadblock because of an escaped prisoner.

After a long wait with nothing rewarding to show for it, Reggie chose to get on a bus to Penge. He rode for a while before getting off, and it was then that a group of young men celebrating Christmas told him he was "far from Poplar."

“Oh no,” Fred exclaimed as he finally reached the station. He looked around anxiously, wishing for his surrogate son to show up, and that’s when he spotted Reggie’s bag lying under a bench.

Inside was the thoughtfully packaged Christmas gift he had chosen for him.

"Reggie!" he shouted, his face showing a mix of fear and panic.

However, he encountered complete quiet.

Cliff Parisi portrays Fred Buckle, while Daniel Laurie plays the character of Reggie Jackson.

"Typically, Reggie has been quite protected by Vi and Fred, but as he’s grown older, they’ve begun to allow him a bit more freedom," Parisi shared with RadioTimes.com and other media outlets.

"When we work on a project together, he receives his own paycheck with his name on it. As he grows into a young adult, they are trying to acknowledge that and encourage him to take on more responsibility."

However, that also entails certain dangers.

"During this specific incident, everything spirals out of hand," he explained. "It serves as a reminder of how fragile his situation can be. When everything goes smoothly, things are fine, but when they don't, Reggie is left without a backup plan. He feels lost and unsure of how to proceed."

Call the Midwife is broadcast on BBC One and available for streaming on iPlayer.

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Abby Robinson serves as the Drama Editor for Radio Times, focusing on television dramas and comedies. Before joining Radio Times, she was a TV writer at Digital Spy and also worked as a content writer for Mumsnet. She holds a postgraduate diploma along with a degree in English Studies.