Call the Midwife's Nonnatus House jeopardy storyline has lost its edge – and here's why

Nonnatus House is in peril. As the National Health Service undergoes widespread restructuring to create a more unified system in Call the Midwife, the status of smaller, community-led programmes and initiatives remains under threat.

And with more people choosing hospital births over home ones, questions about how much longer it will survive remain ever present.

But for now, it does survive, continuing to provide essential care to the people of Poplar – although Sister Julienne has been informed that funding will cease from the end of the year if they don't ditch their religious garb.

A deliberate nudge towards extinction? Or simply a way to keep them in line? Only time will tell.

"That's fine in itself," Jenny Agutter said of the order to ditch their habits. "But it's actually a bigger question, which is that Sister Julienne sees the nuns as being missionaries in the East End. And she, as a nun, is very much aware of the fact that the first service they have is to God. The habit is very much to do with showing that they are a part of serving the community.

"So it's not just a matter of identification, it's a matter of knowing what one's role is and what they're meant to be doing, and feeling that one’s no longer wanted."

But of course, this jeopardy is nothing new. Funding pressures have always been a part of Nonnatus House's story, and it wasn’t that long ago that Matthew stepped in to rescue them, before he was sunk by his own financial woes and left for New York to start afresh.

Yet there was one big difference that made that all feel far more grave back then: the future of the show itself wasn't mapped out to the extent it is now.

When the last major threat to its future was delivered by the evil Dr Threapwood – every staff member would be placed in the direct employment of the health service, and Nonnatus House could be closed down "as and when deemed appropriate"– Call the Midwife hadn't been renewed for another season.

Following that sobering declaration, fans were forced to sit with the uncertainty for more than two weeks before receiving news of seasons 14 and 15’s renewals.

Read more:

• Call the Midwife's Sister Veronica makes a startling admission – raising huge questions
• Call the Midwife legend Judy Parfitt reveals the show’s upcoming hiatus "shakes" her a bit: "It'll be hard for all of us"

And while changes to health care, and the historical decline of nuns in particular, are still hanging over Call the Midwife – and are only going to increase – we now know that the BBC series is returning for a prequel series in lieu of the traditional Christmas special, as well as a movie set overseas, with Australia looking likely.

And it’s not stopping there, with season 16 set to arrive after that.

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So while we're certainly not expecting another 16 seasons – it's long been acknowledged that the BBC series will end sooner rather than later – Call the Midwife isn't going anywhere any time soon. And that inevitably undermines the sense of jeopardy whenever the precarious nature of Nonnatus House's future is raised, although it should be noted that decisions about how much to announce, and when, sit with broadcasters and streamers.

It may also be that this has been a running theme for quite some time and has naturally lost its edge as a result. Waning interest is something our own analytics have also picked up on when we've covered the subject of late.

But while history dictates that the order will have to take a step back from delivering healthcare in the community – creator Heidi Thomas could fudge the facts to extend the show's lifespan – there's still plenty of life in this old dog yet.

And when the day to say goodbye does finally arrive, Thomas will no doubt turn her attention to a new setting and new characters that audiences will fall in love with. Because as central as Nonnatus House is to Call the Midwife, it's the characters and themes, more than anything else, that continually draw us back.

Call the Midwife season 15 continues on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 18th January 2026 at 8pm.

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