Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms

Lore & Background

The series is set in September 1939 at Nonnatus House, the beating heart of the East End community of Poplar. The nurses and nuns dedicate their lives to mothers, babies and the poor, but face a world without gas and air, penicillin, a cure for TB, or a welfare state. When war is declared, life becomes even harder as bombs rain from the sky, women give birth underground, families are shattered, and whole streets are reduced to ruins.

Reader's Guide

Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms is significant as a prequel to the long-running series Call the Midwife, expanding the narrative into the World War Two era. It highlights the courage and resilience of a community uniting to survive amid the hardships of war, including childbirth in bomb shelters and the destruction of homes. The series features a cast including Julie Hesmondhalgh as Sister Alice, Amy Booth-Steel as Sister Evangelina, and Helen Schlesinger as Sister Monica Joan, among others. Its legacy will likely be as a companion piece that deepens the historical context of the original series, showing the origins of the midwifery practice in a time of extreme adversity.

Did You Know?

• No official premiere date or format has been announced.
• Note: This prequel's 1939 setting is inconsistent with the characters' ages in the original series, which begins in the late 1950s—Sister Julienne, Sister Evangelina, and Sister Monica Joan would be implausibly older.

The World War Two Crucible

Set in the autumn of 1939, Sisters in Arms drops viewers into a Poplar, East End community where Nonnatus House stands as the emotional and practical centre of daily life. The nurses and nuns who staff the house pour their energy into mothers, newborns, and the destitute, yet they operate in a world stripped of modern medicine. There is no anaesthetic gas to ease labour, no penicillin to fight infection, no treatment for tuberculosis, and no welfare safety net to catch those who fall. Into this already precarious existence, the outbreak of the Second World War introduces a second, relentless threat. Bombs tear through the sky, reducing entire streets to rubble and shattering families beyond recognition. In the most harrowing moments, women deliver their babies in underground shelters while the community scrambles to keep itself alive. The narrative arc is ultimately one of collective endurance: ordinary people, armed with little more than grit and compassion, refuse to be broken by either poverty or war.

Production & Release Format

Sisters in Arms is an upcoming British period drama television series produced by Neal Street Productions. Heidi Thomas, who created the original Call the Midwife, returns to the project as both writer and executive producer, with Pippa Harris sharing the executive producer role. The series is explicitly positioned as a prequel, meaning its story will explore the Nonnatus House community during the years preceding the events of the parent show. Rather than launching as a standard multi-season commitment, the production will first air as a three-part mini series, scheduled for the Christmas 2026 broadcast window. A feature-length series is then planned for release at a later, undetermined date, giving the narrative room to expand beyond the compact mini-series format. This staggered rollout allows the writing and production teams to deliver a contained, focused story first, with the option to deepen the world and its characters in a subsequent, longer-form run. The Christmas premiere slot places the show squarely in the holiday television landscape, a natural fit for a drama centred on community, compassion, and survival against the odds.

The Ensemble Cast

The main cast assembles a diverse ensemble of nurse midwives and supporting figures who anchor the series. Julie Hesmondhalgh takes on the role of Sister Alice, a nurse and midwife, while Amy Booth-Steel portrays Sister Evangelina and Helen Schlesinger plays Sister Monica Joan, both also serving as nurses and midwives. Sister Julienne is a unique dual casting: Helena Wilson appears in the role, with Jenny Agutter providing the narration. The medical and nursing team is rounded out by Bally Gill as Dr. Kit Malhotra, Liv Andrusier as Nurse Marianne Siegler, Lizzie Back as Nurse Sybil Maxted, and Ellie Mckay as Nurse Olive Dobbs. The cast extends beyond the clinical world to include Ciaran Bowling as Fred Buckle, an army officer, and Ami Metcalf as Betty Buckle. Ben Rose appears as Dr. Patrick Turner, a general practitioner. In guest capacities, Martin McCann and Rachel O'Connell portray Tommy and Mary Moffat, adding another layer to the community tapestry the show weaves.

Prequel Legacy & Franchise Expansion

As a prequel to Call the Midwife, Sisters in Arms extends the franchise's narrative roots back to the pivotal year of 1939, the moment war was declared and Britain entered the Second World War. The series follows a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London, placing them squarely in the Poplar community where Nonnatus House serves as the emotional core of local life. This positioning allows the show to examine the origins of the institution and the ideals that define it: an unwavering dedication to mothers, babies, and the poor, even in the absence of modern medical infrastructure. The prequel format also offers a fresh entry point for new viewers while giving long-time fans a deeper understanding of the characters and community they have followed for years. By setting the story against the backdrop of wartime destruction—bombs, ruined streets, shattered families—the series amplifies the themes of courage and resilience that have always underpinned the franchise. The community's unity in the face of survival becomes the central emotional engine, echoing the spirit of the original while exploring a far more dangerous and uncertain era.