BBC Drama 'Call the Midwife' Renewed for Season 5

The series, which in the U.S. airs on PBS, is set to start its fourth-season run later this year

BBC medical drama Call The Midwife, which in the U.S. airs on PBS, will return for a fifth season, the BBC and Sam Mendes’ Neal Street Productions announced Monday.

It has been one of the most watched dramas on BBC One, the flagship network of the U.K. public broadcaster. Season four is set to start in the U.K. with a Christmas special before the regular season run starting in January.

Production on the fourth season of the period drama about nurse midwives in East London starting in the 1950s just wrapped. Miranda Hart stars in the show.

Read more 'Call the Midwife' Season Three to Be Directed Exclusively by Women

The new season has been ordered by Charlotte Moore, controller of BBC One, and Ben Stephenson, controller BBC Drama Commissioning. The fifth season also will consist of a holiday season special and eight hourlong episodes that will air in 2016. The season will take the protagonists into 1961.

"Call the Midwife is one of U.K.'s most popular dramas, and in [season] four, Heidi Thomas' writing meets new heights," said Stephenson. "I'm delighted to be commissioning a new [season] from [executive producer] Pippa Harris and Neal Street."

Email: Georg.Szalai@THR.com

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