We just got our first look at Call The Midwife Season 15, and 'it's not a cosy watch'

We’re still getting over the two heartbreaking Christmas episodes of Call The Midwife, but it’s not long until the show returns to our screens for its 15th season – and we’ve just been treated to our first look.

The first episode of season 15 will air at 6pm on Sunday 11 January on BBC One, transporting us to 1971 as our favourite characters, including Helen George's Trixie Franklin and Renee Bailey's Joyce Highland, lead a march for the Women’s Liberation Movement and burn their bras outside Nonnatus House in a protest.

The women's liberation movement is just one of the issues the new series will spotlight, with the show’s synopsis also revealing that we can expect storylines on premature birth, placenta previa, kidney cancer, tuberculosis and slavery.

These darker storylines mark a change for the usually 'cosy' show, with Jenny Agutter, who plays Sister Julienne, revealing that both the Christmas episodes and upcoming 15th season will be darker as they reflect the times when the 70s felt 'a little dangerous.'

Speaking to The Mirror, she revealed, 'I think the whole of the series is no longer cosy, because one's feeling in many ways, not unlike we are today, with the changes that are happening (in the world). One looks towards a future that hopefully will be better, but it feels a little dangerous.

'Of course, what makes it easier is this community that are actually cohesive and are actually supporting one another, which we look to and hope to have. But yes, it's not a cosy watch.'

While the show may be set to deviate from its usually cosy, heartwarming storylines, we can still expect all the usual excitement from our Sunday night episodes. Meeting them in the 70s, the midwives are carving out a new 'future' for the Order, the show’s synopsis reveals, and after 'battling change,' Sister Julienne “decides to embrace it, work with it, and see what love can do.

"This change of energy reverberates throughout series 15,” it adds.

The show’s showrunner Heidi Thomas promises that 'series 15 of Call the Midwife is one of our most exciting to date,' with it seeing “the dawn of a whole new era,” for our beloved characters before we get to see them in the Call The Midwife prequel and the upcoming Call The Midwife film.

While we’re rewatching our favourite episodes in anticipation of the new season (don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with our TV expert explaining the ending of Call The Midwife season 14), we can hardly contain our excitement at the news Helen George is returning for good as Trixie Franklin in the 15th season.

She will be joined by favourites including Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne and Linda Bassett as Nurse Phyllis Crane. Judy Parfitt is back as Sister Monica Joan, while a behind-the-scenes image also recently confirmed the return of Teddy Berriman playing Andrew Trottwood, who was left severely disabled after contracting measles as a toddler in season 14.

Season 15 of Call The Midwife will air at 6pm on Sunday 11 January, 2026 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Here's how to watch Call the Midwife Christmas special if you missed it first time around.