'Madame Blanc' Gets a Feature Length Special for Christmas

Since its debut in 2021, The Madame Blanc Mysteries production team tends to drop renewal announcements at the end of the summer, along with first images from filming the series' yearly holiday special. Like other highly popular British TV series, Madame Blanc has been awarded a "Festive Special" (as they're technically known in the U.K.) since its initial debut; Channel 5 has always treated the holiday-themed episode as an early season premiere for the wintertime series, much the same as the BBC does with Call the Midwife. However, it seems changes are afoot as the newly announced 2025 edition is bumper-sized... and does not arrive with a Season 5 to follow.

The announcement of The Madame Blanc Mysteries feature-length holiday episode is not surprising, considering that Call the Midwife transitioned to two-episode specials in 2024 and was rewarded handsomely in the ratings. (We should expect more holiday specials to start getting longer as the trend gets picked up across the British TV landscape.) But the lack of a Season 5 renewal is curious. There are several possible explanations, including that Channel 5 plans to release the announcement on a later date or a desire to make the specials completely separate from the regular season.

If this had occurred last year, it wouldn't have been remarkable for the special to be announced separately from the season, as Acorn TV and Channel 5 had always released the holiday episodes in tandem in late December. However, Acorn TV only recently decided to go its own way in 2025, holding off airing it to create a Christmas-themed Season 4 premiere in July. With the new holiday special announced without a guaranteed season to follow, it seems Acorn may wind up airing two Christmas-themed Madame Blanc episodes for 2025, six months apart.