Overview
- The BBC confirmed on Thursday that filming has started for Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms, a three-part prequel set in September 1939 that examines the early days of Nonnatus House during the Blitz.
- Heidi Thomas returns as creator and writer and Jenny Agutter will narrate as the older Sister Julienne while younger versions of key characters are played by Helena Wilson, Helen Schlesinger and Amy Booth-Steel.
- Producers have announced a wide supporting cast and guest stars, including Julie Hesmondhalgh, Bally Gill and Martin McCann, and filming is taking place at Longcross Studios in Surrey where the main series is made.
- The special will foreground wartime medical limits—no penicillin, scarce anaesthetics, blackout and shelter births—to explore how women’s roles and community care changed under the pressures of war.
- The BBC and producers say further details about a full-length Sisters in Arms run will be announced later and a wider franchise plan, including a possible movie and future series, is expected to follow.