Call the Midwife's Jenny Agutter teases Trixie's role in season 15 as Nonnatus House is threatened

The future of Nonnatus House has grown increasingly uncertain in the most recent seasons of Call the Midwife.

Following funding pressures and the NHS's growing influence on public healthcare, which has continued to modernise, many have been left wondering just how long it can survive.

And that remains "the big question all the way through" season 15, which will begin on Sunday 11th January at 8pm, as teased by Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne).

"It all looks as if they'll have to fall in line with the NHS and what the council want of them," she added, with one such demand being that the nuns ditch their habits and wear official uniforms.

"That's fine in itself but it's actually a bigger question, which is that Sister Julienne sees the nuns as being missionaries in the East End, serving a community," Agutter explained.

"And she, as a nun, is very much aware of the fact that the first service they have is to God, a higher order than the council. 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."

Agutter went on to say that "it's a conundrum because if Nonnatus House goes, then a lot of the services that are a part of it go, too".

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But Sister Julienne can't fight that battle alone, instead turning to Trixie as her "spokesperson".

"She recognises that there's one person at the council who really does not like the idea of nuns at all and finds it very difficult to talk to them," she explains.

"So Trixie is her ally, and she's very pleased that she has come back from the States and is able to take on that role."

Helen George went on to say that the uncertainty hanging over Nonnatus House is "one of the storylines that's affected me".

"This external threat to Nonnatus House and what was happening in the NHS at the time, and the fact that nuns were being made to choose between their habit and their work. Having that looming threat over us, which we've been pushing away for years, inching closer and closer, is terrifying now it’s pounding on the door," she expanded.

But as George correctly identified, Trixie has all of the right qualities to give them a real chance of survival.

"She's got so many good ones... I think her determination," she said. "When she's got a bee in her bonnet, there's no stopping her. She will fight to the bitter end, and she's not proud. For instance, this series, we really see her fighting and standing up to the authorities again and again, even though she's nervous.

"She's carrying the weight of Nonnatus House on her shoulders; that relentless nature that she has is inspiring to me."

Season 15 follows on from the 2025 Christmas specials, which saw senior members of the Nonnatus House head to Hong Kong on a mercy mission.

"As the Christmas action shifts between the sun-drenched Far East and a snowy East End, Sister Julienne suddenly finds herself excited about the Order’s future," reads the official synopsis for season 15.

"After years of battling change, she decides to embrace it, work with it, and see what love can do.

"This change of energy reverberates throughout series 15. The new series kicks off in 1971 with several of the ladies embracing women’s lib and burning their bras outside Nonnatus House.

"As the year unfolds, we see the team handle cases including premature birth, placenta previa, kidney cancer, tuberculosis and slavery."

Call the Midwife season 15 arrives on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 11th January 2026 at 8pm.

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