Call The Midwife film and Second World War prequel series announced
The prequel series will be set in Poplar, east London, amid the backdrop of the Blitz, while the film will be set overseas in 1972 and feature characters from the existing TV show.
Cast members of Call The Midwife attending the National Television Awards in 2017 (Matt Crossick/PA)
The next series of Call The Midwife will kick off with a two-part Christmas special that sees senior members of the Nonnatus House staff head to Hong Kong on a mercy mission.
The two-parter will be followed by eight new hour-long episodes, transmitting from January 2026 on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
The series will kick off in 1971 with several of the ladies embracing the Women's Liberation Movement and burning their bras outside Nonnatus House.
Viewers will also see the team handle cases including premature birth, placenta previa, kidney cancer, tuberculosis and slavery.
Regular cast members returning for the new series, which is now filming, include Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan, Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne, Laura Main as Shelagh Turner, Helen George as Trixie Aylward, Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle and Stephen McGann as Dr Turner.
The new projects will be written, created and produced by showrunner Heidi Thomas and executive producers Dame Pippa Harris and Ann Tricklebank, who also produces.
The trio will also helm series 16 together.
Thomas said: 'The opening of new doors at Nonnatus House feels profoundly emotional, and yet just right.
'I have never run out of stories for our midwives, and I never will.
'But having wept, laughed, and raged my way from 1957 to 1971, I found myself yearning to delve into the deeper past.
'The Blitz years in the East End were extraordinary – filled with loss, togetherness, courage and joy. The bombs fell, the babies kept on coming, and the Sisters kept on going.
'There will be so much in the prequel for our wonderful, loyal fans, including the appearance of some familiar (if much younger) faces.
'As the classic Call The Midwife series moves further into the 1970s, it also seems the perfect time for our much-loved regulars to take a short break from Poplar and test themselves in an unfamiliar landscape.
'The rise in hospital births, and changes in the NHS, have clipped their wings, and this is their chance to take flight and work out what really matters.
'Whilst the location of the film remains top secret, I can say it is going to look absolutely fantastic on the big screen.'
Dame Pippa said: 'We have all been delighted by the way in which audiences have continued to embrace Heidi's imaginative and moving stories from Nonnatus House.
'In an increasingly competitive viewing environment, not only have our loyal fans stayed with us for 14 years, but they've been joined by a new, younger generation who have also fallen in love with our characters and the challenges they face.
'Emboldened by this warmth and enthusiasm, now feels like the right time to expand our world and take our nuns and midwives on to the big screen with our movie, and back in time with the prequel.'
Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said: 'Call The Midwife has been a jewel in the BBC's crown for well over a decade, and this feels like the perfect time to further expand on the glorious, perfectly realised world that Heidi, Pippa, Annie and the team have created for the show's millions of passionate and dedicated viewers.'
The first series of Call The Midwife was originally inspired by Jennifer Worth's books of the same name.
The hit TV series won the best family drama gong for a 10th consecutive year at the TV Choice Awards earlier in the year.
Further details about the prequel TV series and film will be released later this year.
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