Rebecca Gethings and Renee Bailey, stars of Call the Midwife, have shared an update on the BBC drama's future as production begins on the World War II prequel Sisters in Arms. Series 15 aired in early 2026, but a sixteenth series has not yet been confirmed.
Cast Unaware of Renewal
Rebecca Gethings, who has played Sister Veronica since 2023, revealed that the cast remains uninformed about whether the show will secure another series. "We don't know! I hope at some point but they're busy doing the prequel right now," she told the Daily Express. Her co-star Renee Bailey, who debuted as midwife Joyce Highland in the December 2023 Christmas special, echoed the uncertainty.
Prequel Details
Despite the lack of confirmation for series 16, fans will continue to follow the lives of nurse-midwives and nuns of Nonnatus House through the prequel. Call the Midwife: Sisters in Arms is set in Poplar, London, at the outbreak of the Second World War. Gethings expressed excitement: "As a viewer I will be tuning in. I'm really excited. We've seen the casting, I thoroughly approve. Everyone looks brilliant." Bailey added, "It's exciting to see a whole new generation of midwife world. The world is expanding and it's very cool."
Same Heart, Higher Stakes
Gethings reassured fans that the prequel will retain the essence of the beloved drama. "I think it will have the same heart that the show has. It will have historic accuracy. Call the Midwife is a social historical document as well as a drama so it will be very well researched. We'll be seeing a different era where the nurses and midwives are in the front and centre of the community because we're phasing that out as it's becoming more medicalised in the 70s." Bailey added, "I imagine it's going to be really in the spirit of Call the Midwife, everyone getting stuck in. I think it's going to be exciting, especially with the backdrop of the war." Gethings confirmed, "The stakes will be very high."
Production and Synopsis
Production on Sisters in Arms began in June, with showrunner Heidi Thomas and executive producers Pippa Harris and Ann Tricklebank. The BBC's official synopsis reads: "In September 1939, Sister Monica Joan is in her prime, Sister Julienne and Sister Evangelina are young and zealous, and Nonnatus House is the beating heart of Poplar. Together with Sister Alice, and local GP Dr Kit, the nuns dedicate their lives to mothers, babies and the poor. But there is no gas and air, no penicillin, no cure for TB, and no welfare state. Then war is declared - and life gets even harder. The three young secular midwives who complete the team - Sybil, Olive and Marianne - receive a baptism of fire as the blackout and the Blitz take hold. While bombs rain from the sky, women give birth underground, families are shattered, children run wild, and whole streets are reduced to rubble. But courage, compassion and resilience triumph as the community unites in its efforts to survive."
Call the Midwife is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
