Call the Midwife (TV Series) Christmas Special (2016) User Reviews

Better than most reviews

[rgxdzrybr · 9/10 · 3 January 2024]

Yes the left too few midwives behind to go to Africa but I love that they went.

Sister Julianne did leave the most capable Patsy behind in charge that made perfect sense. Sister Mary Cynthia was to look after Sister Monica Joan and Delia Busby was there but I do think they didn't have to take so many with them. Shelagh should have stayed behind along with either Trixie or Winifred.

I do however love the location it shows how the needs can be so similar but so different at the same time.

Trixie continues to send mixed messages however teaching Barbara to smoke?? Give me a break! Advocating for fitness but she only gives up alcohol and continues to smoke ? ! Still I like that she wants to promote that women don't have to be so narrowly defined.

The overall message of helping out others from a different perspective is beautiful and teaches them all something I just think it's odd that they left so few behind when they are often understaffed under more typical circumstances.

Ignore the reviews - delightful episode!

[soccsucc · 10/10 · 28 February 2021]

I don't know why the reviewers here say what they're saying. This episode is a delight and well-written throughout. I loved the Hope Clinic in Africa and the struggles our characters had to face.

Oh, dear. Just a little too treacly this time

[bbewnylorac · 6/10 · 23 December 2018]

Look. I love Call the Midwife. But for me, this episode, in which the cast decamps to South Africa to fill in at a clinic for dirt poor locals, is quite a bit too unbelievable for comfort. Firstly, one nun at the clinic has died, but we're expected to believe that the entire cast - doctor, nurses, nuns, and even Fred the janitor - are required to fill in at the clinic on the other side of the world for a month. Leaving about two midwifes to deliver all the babies in Poplar in London! Secondly, Trixie the midwife performs a caeserian section in less than sanitary conditions, that goes perfectly well, and has no repurcussions, despite the fact she doesn't have a medical degree, so therefore about 100 things could, and should, go wrong. Thirdly, the clinic happens to have a microscope, which allows Dr Turner - who is not a liver expert - to diagnose the clinic's wily physician Dr Myra Fitzsimmonds (the wonderfully watchable Sinead Cusack) with an obscure liver condition. Fourthly, the hospital Myra is sent to happens to have an obscure drug that Dr Turner happens to have heard about and recommends she take. Fifthly, the saintly Sister Julienne convinces, through her magic wiles, a bitter old farmer to let the clinic's water pipe go through his land. Sixthly, the Reverend Tom Hereward, who to my knowledge has never done manual labour, turns into a man of the land, leading the dig of the water pipe that will save the day. In real life, he'd have done his back or almost died of exhaustion on the first day of digging. The team manages to lay this water pipe (no mention of council permission!) in a few days. Seventhly, all the Africans speak good English, and the English upstarts don't have to learn a word of the local language. Good-oh. I could go on, but I won't. The scenery and cinematography is beautiful, so it's almost worth watching for that. But it doesn't mean the creators should get away with so many plot holes.

Disappointing

[fiona-tamburrini · 6/10 · 4 February 2023]

Usually I like when there's a special that takes a show out of the usual location but this was just a bit too much. I missed several characters from the overall series as they weren't included or have possibly left (I'm just catching up with the series so don't know who's coming or going yet!) but I also think that there wasn't enough for others who were in the show to do. And also the stories in the show weren't holding my attention as much as normal. All the Christmas specials are excellent up until this one and I hope that this is just a blip in an otherwise excellent show with amazing actors.

Very contrived

[Catharina_Sweden · 3/10 · 29 December 2016]

This was a disappointment. I have loved the "Call the Midwife", and I have looked forward to a new season. But this was just too bad.

To send off the characters to a faraway and (supposedly) exciting location, is an old trick to try to vary an old formula. But it almost always does not work. To mention only the most obvious thing: there were no real, believable reason for all these our beloved characters to go away to South Africa. ONE nurse/nun had died. But now, suddenly, almost everybody working in or for Nonnatus house has to go abroad. And nothing is explained, either, about who is going to take care of the Nonnatus house and the rest of the Poplars in the meantime. I mean: even the doctor, the janitor and the clergyman follow the call!

I am still going to try watching the new C.T.M.-episodes, but I feel that my heart has died somehow... :-(

It left its heart in Poplar

[studioAT · 3/10 · 27 December 2016]

Sending a show to a foreign country is a tried and tested technique for opening up new possibilities, especially for a Christmas Special. So off go the midwives to Africa, to do pretty much what they've always done, only in the sun.

Oh dear, this episode dragged. I understand that BBC need big ratings at Christmas and know that people will watch this, but at 90 minutes this was too long. At an hour long this would have been a treat, as all the other 'Call the Midwife' Christmas specials have been. Not this time.

Nobody gives a bad performance, the story being told is fine, but it just felt a bit bloated, much like the nation watching it on Christmas night.

Contrived

[fh_3 · 5/10 · 18 March 2021]

Weak premise but beautiful episode. Why is there a border patrol in the middle of the country to inspect visas and then say "Welcome to South Africa." South Africa has plenty of coastline and several ports.

Fully expected The Fonz to jump an actual shark

[spittingkitty · 1/10 · 5 November 2021]

It's rare that you can pinpoint the exact moment a show has jumped the shark, but 14 seconds into this Christmas special, it was clear their was chum in the water. I hope someone in the writers room had the temerity to say, "is anyone else getting a whiff of 'The Bradys go to Hawaii'? Are we writing in an African idol for Babs to find?".

The whole conceit was utterly ludicrous. In what universe would the entire neighborhood (except those pesky lesbians) get drafted to help the same African village at the same time? Doctor? Midwives? Minister? Why not include an administrative assistant? Seems legit.

Besides the fantastical premise, the writing was just atrocious and predictable. It was obvious from the first scene that Tom was going to propose before the end of the episode and Trixie would have a stiff upper lips about it. The rest of the episode was similarly awful and obvious.

I fear for the show after this episode. It was that bad.

Order wrong on Netflix, what before season 6 ep 1

[ferinkyra · 7 August 2019]

Definitely watched all of season 6 and then the Xmas special on Netflix as that was the order and was very confused why they had to go back to Africa - realized after part one that it was all out of order!