Call the Midwife: Season Three

The third season of the BBC's popular period drama revolves around change and loss, but still finds the good in every situation, no matter how dire. Things begin promisingly enough with the relationship between Jenny (Jessica Raine), a nurse, and Alec (Leo Staar), a surveyor. Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) appoints Jenny as head of the new antenatal clinic, which obviously disappoints the more experienced Trixie (Helen George), but friendship overpowers any hurt feelings. The nurses also welcome back Chummy (Miranda Hart), who found herself ill-equipped for life as a housewife, while new arrivals include Sister Winifred (Victoria Yeates), a nun with a weak stomach, and Patsy (Emerald Fennell), a nurse who proves to be less intimidating than she initially appears. Throughout, the ladies tend to patients in town, prison, and a residential home, while continuing to work closely with Dr. Turner (Steven McGann) and his wife, Shelagh (Laura Main), a former nun who struggles with secular life. Their efforts on behalf of a pregnant woman with Down syndrome are particularly touching, although tragedy strikes when two of the midwives lose people close to them. Adapted from semi-fictionalized memoirs by Jenny Worth, series creator Heidi Thomas's Call the Midwife has been renewed for a fourth season. Compiling all eight episodes from 2014, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)