Call the Midwife became the unexpected smash hit of Sunday night television when it premiered all the way back in 2012.
Since the BBC took the risk of putting a show about midwifery based on the memoirs of a very little known former midwife in a primetime slot, it's popularity has never waned - in fact, it's soared, to become a globally adored phenomenon.
But recently, watching has become a little like tuning into other shows based on real life. You know where its headed, however much you're willing the inevitable not to happen.
With the series being rooted in the real history of community midwifery, the timeline moving into the 1970s from where it began in the mid 50s signals the end of Call the Midwife as we know it.
History dictates that the real nuns of Poplar moved out of the East End during the 70s as the NHS moved community maternity services into hospitals and absorbed the work done by missionary Orders like the Nonnatus nuns.
The season 15 finale, airing on March 8, also appears to wrap up many of the character's time at Nonnatus House, and has a distinct feeling of closure.
Is Call the Midwife ending for good?
Call the Midwife will continue, and the show's creators have confirmed its return for season 16. However, fans will be in for a long wait as the show takes a hiatus to focus on the film, announced last year.
While viewers usually look forward to a Christmas special each year and a new series of the show following early in each new year, there will sadly be no festive edition of Call the Midwife this year, and season 16 won't arrive until sometime in 2027.
Helen George (Trixie) and Laura Main (Shelagh Turner,) have been with the show since the very beginning, and it's a huge part of their lives.
In conversation with Radio Times, Helen speaks about how strange it will feel not to return to the set in April, which is when the cast have always come back together to film a new series.
"We’ve all been saying that we’ll feel it most in April because that’s when we usually start filming," she says, adding, "So when that comes around and we don’t, we won’t have the support network and community that work has given us," she says.
Revealing her feelings about the situation, Laura shares, "We’ve always known at the end of filming that we’d see each other again," continuing, "Even that first year, we found out after the second episode that the show would be coming back. We’ve had rare and lovely stability for 15 years. We’ve never had to be upset at the end before."
It's also been confirmed that the show will indeed look quite different when it returns, to truthfully reflect the rapidly changing landscape of maternity services in 1970s UK.
Speaking to Yours at this years TV Choice Awards, creator and writer Heidi Thomas hinted the show would take place in a different setting to the community one that's so key to its identity.
She even offered an update on what would happen beyond season 16, suggesting the show was still set to continue beyond this, despite uncertainty relating to what this will look like.
"I don't think it's the last series in the classic form," she shares, adding, "But we are going to take a break from it for a couple of years."
Heidi continues, "We are going to do a film that involves most the current cast, set in 1972, possibly 1973. We're going to do that first, then we'll return to the current style."
"Series 16 will have a slightly different setting because of changes in NHS. It'll still be in the East End of London but possibly something like a small community hospital or a GP practice, but that's something I'll be working on later this year."
All 15 seasons of Call the Midwife and all Christmas specials are currently available to view on BBC iPlayer.
