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brightknightie) wrote2026-05-28 08:18 am
brightknightie) wrote2026-05-28 08:18 am
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Call the Midwife S15 transitions (no story spoilers, but meta spoilers)
Recently, I saw the last episode of season fifteen of Call the Midwife from PBS, and learned only after viewing that it was the series finale, not just the season finale. (Sort of. We'll get to that.)
This should not have surprised me. The historical setting had caught up to 1971. The Anglican sisters from the memoirs on which the series is based -- which I read back when the first season of the show was so amazingly well-made -- moved out of Poplar about then, when the UK's National Health Service phased out such midwifery. Our characters kept swinging for their patients, community, and mission throughout, but they went down in the end, as history says they must. (Also, the series just isn't as good as once it was. It used up the original memoirs material long ago. And successive waves of writers have seemingly had less and less feeling for important aspects, particularly religious faith, but also class and even historical accuracy. Bleah.)
Yet what made it such a surprise was that I knew the series had been renewed! What? It turns out that the renewal is for (1) a movie (feature film, not TV) set in 1972, (2) a new prequel series set during WWII with younger versions of the elderly sisters we know, and (3) a dedicated concluding "season 16" with a heavily modified premise, probably built around the lay characters adjusting to the new system -- and, I imagine, the sisters being absent entirely, or occasional cameos -- but we'll have to see the movie first, won't we?
I hope that the new things will be good. Winding back time for the prequel series appeals to me highly, but I'm concerned that without writers who understand history and faith, it will be a sad, threadbare experience for me, because I will see only what's missing. I will give them every chance.
This should not have surprised me. The historical setting had caught up to 1971. The Anglican sisters from the memoirs on which the series is based -- which I read back when the first season of the show was so amazingly well-made -- moved out of Poplar about then, when the UK's National Health Service phased out such midwifery. Our characters kept swinging for their patients, community, and mission throughout, but they went down in the end, as history says they must. (Also, the series just isn't as good as once it was. It used up the original memoirs material long ago. And successive waves of writers have seemingly had less and less feeling for important aspects, particularly religious faith, but also class and even historical accuracy. Bleah.)
Yet what made it such a surprise was that I knew the series had been renewed! What? It turns out that the renewal is for (1) a movie (feature film, not TV) set in 1972, (2) a new prequel series set during WWII with younger versions of the elderly sisters we know, and (3) a dedicated concluding "season 16" with a heavily modified premise, probably built around the lay characters adjusting to the new system -- and, I imagine, the sisters being absent entirely, or occasional cameos -- but we'll have to see the movie first, won't we?
I hope that the new things will be good. Winding back time for the prequel series appeals to me highly, but I'm concerned that without writers who understand history and faith, it will be a sad, threadbare experience for me, because I will see only what's missing. I will give them every chance.
no subject
Hoping the movie and prequel series will be good.
no subject
Yes, fingers crossed and all the lucky gestures for a rich renewal of the storytelling with the new plans!