Call the Midwife

Series two, episode two
The hints have been dropping heavily that Miranda Hart’s Chummy might be on her way out of Nonnatus House, although she begins to have second thoughts as the strain starts to tell on PC Noakes. But the focus tonight is on Cynthia when a routine delivery goes badly wrong and she’s thrown into a personal crisis so deep that she can’t even ride her bicycle properly. ‘Call the Midwife’ has settled into the comforting Sunday-night formula of tragedy then redemption (with a sprinkling of larky humour, of course), but laces the sentimentality and inevitability of the plotting with just enough real-life grit to get away with it, while the uniformly impressive performances keep things on an even keel. But here’s hoping it doesn’t get too comfortable – that way, the graveyard of ‘Heartbeat’ and ‘Where the Heart Is’ lies…