10 TV Shows Like Call the Midwife That You Should Watch in the Future.
In its 15th season, the unexpected phenomenon “Call the Midwife” shows no sign of slowing down: a 16th season has already been confirmed, along with a feature film and a World War II prequel. It looks like there are still plenty of babies to come.
Originally set in 1957, the series moves to the 1970s and takes place in Poplar, London, one of the city’s poorest areas. With the advent of the National Health Service, secular midwives team up with the nuns of Nonnatus House, a convent that has provided healthcare to the area’s poor for decades. While the series occasionally veers into sentimentality, the melodrama is generally well-founded, often frankly addressing women’s health issues that other series are still hesitant to tackle. If you’ve already watched all the available episodes, here are 10 more series with similar themes.
Bletchley Circle (2012–2014)
Beginning, like Call the Midwife , in the mid-1950s, this series follows the women (mostly) who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II. Their job was to operate cryptographic equipment and decipher documents—critical codebreaking work that was largely forgotten by history and shrouded in secrecy. However, this series isn’t exactly about those events, but rather about a group of four women who reunite years later to use their skills to hunt a serial killer. It’s a gripping look at the true story of women serving the war effort, with a compelling plot, and the show’s verisimilitude is well-placed—contrasting women’s lives during the war with their more mundane expectations afterward. Watch The Bletchley Circle on Peacock and Prime Video .
All Creatures Great and Small (2020 – )
All Creatures is an updated version of the venerable British franchise based on the autobiographical novels by author James Herriot. Set in rural Yorkshire in the 1930s and ’40s (and also during and after World War II), the series follows a Scottish veterinarian (Nicholas Ralph) who moves to the small farming town of Darrowby to become an assistant vet. Animals find themselves in danger on a weekly basis, but this easy-going series rarely features heartbreaking moments—instead, there are plenty of calves and cameos from the local pampered Pekingese, Tricki Wu. Housekeeper Audrey Hall (Anna Madeley) and farmer Helen (Rachel Shenton) keep the often-struggling clinic running. It’s not quite a human drama like Call the Midwife , though it does touch on some real-life issues of the era. Watch All Creatures Great and Small on Prime Video and PBS.
Girls-farmers (2009–2011)
Flashback a few years to World War II, and we’ll discover another, lesser-known episode: the Women’s Land Army and the “land girls” who enlisted to learn farming skills and replace the male farm laborers who had gone to the front. Four very different women, with very different reasons, arrive at the Hawksley Estate farm to serve their country and also to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Like the best series of its kind, “Land Girls” also addresses issues relevant to women of the era, such as in the very first episode, when the women confront segregation among the American soldiers they encounter. “Land Girls” is available to watch on PBS or purchase on Prime Video .
Grantchester (2014 – )
Set in 1950s and ’60s Cambridgeshire, Robson Green plays the overworked, cynical World War II veteran Detective Geordie Keating, while James Norton, Tom Brittney, and Rishi Nair (alternating) play the good-natured but sometimes misguided local priests who help solve an inevitable string of murders. While generally adhering to the cozy mystery-of-the-week format, the series occasionally explores serious relationship dramas and some real-life situations, often involving priest Leonard Finch (Al Weaver), who grapples with the ecclesiastical and legal consequences of his homosexuality.Watch Grantchester on Netflix and PBS.
Virgin River (2019 – )
Virgin River isn’t set in late 20th-century London, but in contemporary Northern California, we still feel some of the life-affirming charm of Call the Midwife alongside modern midwifery. In Virgin River, Alexandra Breckenridge plays Mel, a nurse and midwife who faces unexpected challenges when she moves to the titular Northern California town on a one-year contract. That was seven romantic seasons ago, so you have years to enjoy high-quality, comfortable viewing.Watch Virgin River on Netflix .
Cable Girls (2017–2020)
Regardless of genre, many of these series share a recurring theme: women leaving their familiar surroundings and taking on roles and responsibilities in entirely new fields. Set in 1928, this Spanish series follows four women from different walks of life as they seek work at a telecommunications company in Madrid. Angeles is a seasoned telephone operator with children to support; Carlota is a socialite seeking to escape the oppressive confines of her overbearing family; Marga is seeking adventure; and Lydia is forced into criminal activity. The series combines an inspiring story with enough telenovela-style twists to keep viewers engaged throughout its five seasons.Watch Cable Girls on Netflix .
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023)
One of Prime’s first and most talked-about original series, this comedy-drama from Amy Sherman-Palladino ( Gilmore Girls ) follows Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a New York housewife in the late 1950s who discovers a talent for stand-up comedy. Inspired by the real-life careers of comedians like Totie Fields and Joan Rivers, the series is both warm and funny, with great performances and dialogue; it also achieves something rare: it’s a show about comedy that’s actually funny. A New York housewife aspiring to be a stand-up comedian might not be the perfect fit with a London midwife, but Maisel and Midwife share a thrilling sense of women’s expanding horizons in the mid-century. Watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime Video .
Crimson Field (2014)
Perhaps inspired by Call the Midwife itself, The Crimson Field takes us a bit further into the 20th century: specifically, to a fictional World War I field hospital on the French coast. Oona Chaplin plays Kitty Trevelyan, a somewhat sullen (even brash) new nurse, joined by several other women, mostly from high society, completely unfamiliar with both the realities of war and being told what to do. It’s a particularly glossy historical drama, with all that that entails (a medical drama set in World War I could use a little more grit), but it’s a very engaging take on history with some excellent performances. Watch The Crimson Field on Prime Video and Tubi.
Hour (2011–2012)
Featuring a stellar cast and impeccable period style , The Hour chronicles the development of a (fictional) female-presented BBC current affairs programme that debuted at the height of the 1956 Suez Crisis—a daunting task in itself, as the government is reluctant to have its mistakes reported (thankfully, such censorship would be impossible today). Producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) selects war correspondent Leakes Storm (a superb Anna Chancellor) as a foreign correspondent, along with less experienced anchor Hector Madden (Dominic West), while eager reporter Freddie Lyon (Ben Wislaw) struggles to make the team. The series features spies, assassinations, and plenty of contemporary events, covering them across two seasons. Watch The Hour on Tubi .
London Hospital (2006–2009)
In particular, in its early seasons , Call the Midwife highlighted the challenges of medical practice in London’s poorest areas at a time when medical standards were not yet what they are today. London Hospital could serve as a prequel of sorts, set among the nurses and in the emergency room of the real Royal London Hospital in the early 20th century. Each episode is based, albeit loosely, on actual cases from nurses’ journals and diaries, and each episode is presented at the pace of a modern medical drama, avoiding the glossy approach typical of period dramas. Divided into three sets of episodes set in 1906, 1907, and 1909, the series explores the challenges of early anesthesia, the world before antibiotics, and innovations in X-ray technology without fully understanding the dangers of radiation. Rent London Hospital on Apple TV+.