Happy Tears Flow in 'Call the Midwife' 2022 Christmas Special

It’s December 1967, and it wouldn’t be a Call The Midwife Christmas episode without a pageant or other festive community event planned by Fred Buckle. Life in Poplar is slowly returning to normal a few months after the terrible train crash from last season. Fred decides that the neighborhood needs to come together to raise money for those families still affected by the tragedy and proposes they put on a local talent show, “Poplartunity Knocks”– a play-on-words from the title of a British talent show, Opportunity Knocks, from the 40s and beyond.

After recruiting Cecil Robinson as a set designer and Timothy Turner as musical director, the team tries to find acceptable performers (complete with the obligatory lousy audition montage). Meanwhile, Cecil’s biggest challenge is to construct a functioning applause-o-meter. More on the performances at the end of this recap.

In other news, the Mullucks family is back! Who can forget the harrowing but ultimately uplifting story from season five when Rhoda Mullucks (Liz White) delivered a daughter with severe congenital disabilities caused by the drug thalidomide? Now six years on, Susan is a happy, resilient girl. We also learn that Rhoda is expecting again and is understandably nervous about her unborn baby’s health and how she will manage a newborn and a child with significant physical requirements. Shelagh reassures Rhoda that she can cope, and when her son is completely healthy, Rhoda tells Dr. Turner she would like to name him Patrick.