CALL THE MIDWIFE: Season 3 Brings Changes to Nonnatus House

Call the Midwife returns to PBS tonight with another season of love, loss, struggle, and triumph.

Season 3 opens in 1959, as the nuns and midwives of Nonnatus House find a new home in Poplar. The relocation is one of many changes the women are adapting to this season: Chummy’s attempts to be the perfect wife and mother leave her wanting more and feeling guilty; Shelagh’s transition from nun to Dr. Turner’s wife is smoother but has its own challenges; a new nun, Sister Winnifred, comes to stay at Nonnatus House; and, as the season progresses, administrative changes and political and societal upheaval touch our heroines.

As pragmatic as ever, the first episode highlights the ramifications of moving to a new building – unpacking, finding a place to hold the ante natal clinic, making sure the women of Poplar know where to find care. In the end, the new facilities are an upgrade and an unexpected opportunity provides the publicity needed to help the Poplar community accept (and find!) the new location. Meanwhile, Jenny is confronted with a case that seems to have no cure, and Sister Monica Joan’s ramblings appear to be even less lucid than usual causing the residents of Nonnatus House to express concern.

One of the things I enjoy about Call the Midwife is viewing the post-WWII world through the eyes of women, and as we begin moving into the turbulent 1960s, that perspective is again providing insight. From wives & mothers struggling to be fulfilled at home to the Cold War and nuclear weapons, Jenny and her colleagues provide a feminine counterpoint to the history books dominated by male accounts and opinions. This season begins to take a broader view of some issues, while yet making them relevant to the small community surrounding Nonnatus House.

Call the Midwife season 3 premieres Sunday, March 30 at 8/7c on PBS.