The Call the Midwife Christmas special is overstuffed (like the rest of us)
Having too many plotlines makes this first of the two seasonal episodes less than perfect for Christmas Day.
By 8pm on Christmas night, it's fair to say that most people lounging in front of their televisions are not exactly sharp-minded. After indulging in hefty meals and perhaps sipping on a second bottle of something, focus tends to wane. Despite this, the Call the Midwife Christmas Day special was packed with so much happening that it demanded viewers' full attention.
Juggling an overwhelming number of storylines made for a rather hectic hour of television. We saw a young family thrown onto the streets by bailiffs, a patient dealing with infected stitches from an episiotomy, a pregnant worker from a fairground, two escaped convicts, and the discovery of a lonely old woman's body. Plus, Reggie Jackson (Daniel Laurie) went missing while returning from Sussex. And that’s not all—we also had a mince pie competition, the Turner kids raising money for a Blue Peter appeal, a Hong Kong flu outbreak, Trixie's return from New York, and a budding romance between Nurse Corrigan (Megan Cusack) and a pharmaceutical salesman. It was almost too much to keep up with!
The story takes place during Christmas in 1969, with the “Hong Kong” flu epidemic being the main contemporary detail. The family that has been displaced reminds viewers of Ken Loach's groundbreaking 1966 film, Cathy Come Home, and as Vanessa Redgrave, our narrator, begins, she emphasizes that the concept of “home” will be central to this year’s message. In a frail voice, Dame Vanessa questions, “What do we really mean by ‘home for Christmas’?”
For Reggie, a person with Down's syndrome currently living in a care facility, the term "home" referred to Poplar, where Fred Buckle (played by Cliff Parisi) would always be there to meet him when he arrived by bus. Unfortunately, the situation with the escaped prisoners caused police to set up roadblocks, which resulted in Fred being unable to catch Reggie's bus.
For the fairground worker, home was an on-site trailer, from which a strict hospital administrator had hastily sent her away with a severely jaundiced newborn. Meanwhile, the displaced family was doing their best to manage in a temporary, rat-infested place, made even tougher as the father caught the flu. Merry Christmas to everyone.
The typical scenes of labor and delivery were portrayed with the same stark authenticity as always, featuring a cast of newborns (seemingly sourced from a talent agency) who had just been born themselves. As always, the nuns made their reassuring appearance, providing a comforting presence. Reflecting on the solitary passing of an elderly woman, Nurse Crane (the wonderful Lina Bassett) posed the question: “What is the value of life if there's no love waiting for you at the end?” This kind of moral and philosophical inquiry isn't something you often see in TV dramas, yet it’s a regular theme in Call the Midwife.
I recall a time when I asked the show's creator, Heidi Thomas, about when she envisioned her project might conclude. She said, "If it ever turns into a soap opera, that's when we should pack it in."
Call the Midwife is far from becoming a soap opera or a historical drama like Casualty. However, the first of two packed Christmas episodes— with the second set to air on Boxing Day— ended in what could be considered a typical soap opera cliffhanger. Fred, who missed Reggie’s bus, stumbled upon an empty bus station where he found Reggie’s forgotten bag under a bench. Meanwhile, Reggie was shown aimlessly wandering the streets, looking lost. If the opening notes of the EastEnders theme had played at that moment, it wouldn’t have been surprising if viewers didn’t even flinch.
