Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas has revealed season 12 will see the return of Rhoda Mullucks, whose baby was born with birth defects in season 5 after taking medication prescribed by Dr Turner.

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Season 6 tackled the Thalidomide scandal once again, catching up with the Mullucks family 18 months after Susan’s birth, as Dr Turner helped fit her with prosthetic limbs ahead of enrolling in nursery school.

And during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Thomas revealed that the show will revisit the family in season 12, with Rhoda set to have another baby.

The new pregnancy "puts them under a certain amount of pressure and gives them a lot to worry about", Thomas explained.

She added: "We haven’t actually been with that family for five years, so we’re picking up the pieces for them and it makes for a very special Christmas special."

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Call the Midwife thalidomide baby susan
Thalidomide baby Susan in Call the Midwife

Thomas went on to reveal other emotive storylines set to feature in this year’s Christmas special.

"We also have a story featuring a young woman who’s recently been discharged from prison as a single mother and how she finds a community at Christmas when she’s completely alone in the world," she continued.

"And we also have a talent show, which has been enormous fun, honestly, both to write, rehearse and film. So there’s a lot of joy in there at Christmas as well."

She added: "And looking forward to Christmas and beyond Christmas, something rather wonderful happens to Trixie, Lucille has to contend with a reasonable amount of sadness, and what else can I say? We have a new nun coming to join the line-up, Sister Veronica."

The update on season 12 comes shortly after the team behind Call the Midwife announced that filming is complete on this year’s Christmas special and work on the new batch of episodes is well underway.

In a post on the show's official Facebook page, a spokesperson explained that Call the Midwife is now midway through production and taking a short break in filming for the summer.

"Filming days can be very long, and the hours very inhospitable – and so our production likes to reward our team with a decent break midway through, so that they can return refreshed to complete the series," they explained

The statement continued: "So how are we doing? Really, really well! We have already completed Christmas filming, and are well into season 12! When we return from our summer break, we have the last half of our stories to film, and won't complete that till the early winter.

"Call the Midwife is truly a four seasons job!"

Call The Midwife is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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