---
title: "Call the Midwife: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife"
critics_score: 69
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Call the Midwife (2012): what the critics said

Critics' score 69 from 7 reviews: 5 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative.

Most critics respond warmly to Call the Midwife, praising its sympathetic characters, strong performances and convincing sense of community in 1950s East End London. The favourable reviews find that stories of maternity and motherhood make room for joy as well as hardship. Praise also centres on the balance between comforting period detail and grittier stories about women’s lives. For these critics, the emotional pull is largely earned rather than imposed.

The spread is wide, however, and sentimentality is the main dividing line. What admirers find warm and reassuring, The Independent finds overly clean-cut and predictable, with messages about love and class that verge on patronising. Variety takes a more moderate position, valuing the supporting performances, particularly Miranda Hart’s, but finding the episodic drama less than compelling. The consensus is favourable, though the dissent raises a clear question about how much comfort these difficult stories can bear.

## The Times

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2012. 

The series is utterly winning, with sympathetic characters, honest plots and well-managed class themes that avoid sentimentality or snobbery.

[Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/a-drama-to-answer-all-our-prayers-lbrwmtxhg8l)

## The AV Club — Alasdair Wilkins, Brandon Nowalk

Rating B+. 30 September 2012. 

The series is a well-made, comforting period drama about midwives in 1950s East End London that excels through its characters and setting rather than deep ideas. It is recommended as cozy viewing with strong performances and nostalgic appeal.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/call-the-midwife-concussed-nonplussed-1798174370)

## The Telegraph — Neil Midgley

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 26 December 2012. 

The Christmas special made for perfect Christmas telly with its heartwarming nostalgia and mix of Christianity and dry comedy. It earned its emotional moments through gritty storylines alongside the sentimentality.

[Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9764776/Call-the-Midwife-Christmas-Special-BBC-One-review.html)

## The Guardian

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 26 January 2012. 

The series is cosy, sentimental Sunday night television in the vein of All Creatures Great and Small, with heart-warming stories and strong performances that balance grit and nostalgia effectively.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/jan/26/call-the-midwife)

## Variety — Brian Lowry

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 26 September 2012. 

The series offers a solid but not particularly addictive window into 1950s East London midwifery through episodic stories of women's lives, with strong supporting performances especially from Miranda Hart.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2012/tv/reviews/call-the-midwife-1117948428/)

## The Independent — Gerard Gilbert

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 15 January 2012. 

The drama feels overly sentimental and clean-cut despite its gritty subject matter, with predictable messages about love and class that verge on patronising.

[Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/the-weekend-s-viewing-call-the-midwife-sun-bbc1-sherlock-sun-bbc1-6289980.html)

## Collider — Allison Keene

Rating ★★★★. 28 March 2015. 

The series remains conflicted yet consistently delivers great stories in a fully-realized world, finding drama in joy as much as hardship. It excels at portraying maternity, motherhood, and community without saccharine manipulation.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/call-the-midwife-season-4-review/)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife.md