'Call The Midwife' Season 12 Midway Point Delivers Gratitude and Hope

Call The Midwife continues the dark trajectory of Season 12 with a medical crisis at the maternity home. It won’t be the first time in this series that the fictional events of 1968 Poplar mirror those of our lives –– families separated, overwhelmed medical staff, and a serious life-threatening epidemic. Meanwhile, new developments in obstetrics continue, as does the shift from home births to hospitalization. In 1968 English culture is obsessed with modernity and youth, and Nurse Phyllis finds that despite her years of experience, her value as a midwife is not always respected by patients or the health system.

Nurse Phyllis: With respect, Mr. Walsh, I’ve seen more innovations in my forty-four years of professional practice than you’ve had fish dinners. I’ve embraced them all with interest, and also with caution and questions, a policy which has served me well.

At this halfway point in the series, traditional midwifery, and possibly even Nonnatus House itself, may be under threat.