Filming underway in South Africa on Call the Midwife

The BBC has now revealed more details of its 2016 Christmas special and sixth season, due in 2017.

The Christmas special is currently on location near Cape Town, South Africa.

As previously reported Miranda Hart (Chummy) makes an appearance in the Christmas Special, and returns to Nonnatus House for the next season.

The Christmas Special this year will see Call The Midwife transported to the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Nonnatus House receives an SOS from a tiny mission hospital. Understaffed, underfunded, and with a poor water supply, struggling Hope Clinic is faced with closure. Can our much-loved medics and midwives make a difference to the people whose lives depend upon its work? Far from home and everything familiar, the team are both shaken and exhilarated by the challenges they face – and by the time the mission trip is over, some lives are permanently changed.

Sinead Cusack joins the Christmas Special cast, playing Dr Myra Fitzsimmons who runs the threatened Hope Clinic. Regular cast currently filming near Cape Town are Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne), Linda Bassett (Nurse Crane), Victoria Yeates (Sister Winifred), Laura Main (Shelagh Turner), Stephen McGann (Dr Turner), Jack Ashton (Tom), Helen George (Trixie), Charlotte Ritchie (Barbara) and Cliff Parisi (Fred).

The sixth series of eight episodes returns to the historic Chatham dockyard, London’s East End, and Call The Midwife’s studio base in Chertsey, Surrey.

In season six it is now 1962, and the Nonnatus House team are as committed to caring for the people of Poplar as always. However, the social revolution in the outside world is mirrored by change and challenge much closer to home. As they strive to help mothers and families cope with the demands of childbearing, disability, disease and social prejudice, our beloved medics must make choices – and fight battles – of their own. Series six will see them laugh together, cry together, and pull together, supporting each other as never before.

Pippa Harris, Executive Producer says: “With our Christmas Special set against the dramatic backdrop of South Africa, and the return of our beloved Chummy to Poplar, series six is shaping up to be our strongest yet. It’s a testament to the great skill of Heidi Thomas’s writing that the series continues to evolve, whilst maintaining its hugely popular mix of social history, babies, laughter and tears.”

Heidi Thomas, creator, writer and executive producer, says: “My passion for the world and characters of Call The Midwife grows stronger with each passing year. Every season brings new stories, new challenges and new triumphs – yet each one feels like a return to a much-loved home, and series six will be no exception. As the team settle back into Poplar after their South African adventure, we‘ll see them grappling with all the contradictions and opportunities of the early Sixties – the beacon of the pill, the shadow of the Kray twins, the lure of independence and the call to duty. And time and time again, in a age of change and danger, we will be reminded of the simple power of love.”

Series six stars Jenny Agutter, Linda Bassett, Miranda Hart, Judy Parfitt, Helen George, Bryony Hannah, Laura Main, Emerald Fennell, Charlotte Ritchie, Victoria Yeates, Kate Lamb, Stephen McGann, Jack Ashton, Ben Caplan, and Cliff Parisi.

In Australia BBC First has aired S5 while ABC is concluding S4.