Call the Midwife: One Character Won't Return for the Christmas Special

Miranda Hart; Call the Midwife TV show on PBS and BBC One: season 6 (canceled or renewed?).

Miranda Hart will not appear in the Call the Midwife 2016 Christmas special. (Photo: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com.)

The Call the Midwife TV show’s 2016 Christmas special and sixth season will not come off nearly as chummy as fans had hoped. Miranda Hart (Chummy Noakes) had planned to return, but her busy schedule has made that impossible. Hart last appeared in the eighth episode of season four — sitting out season five, entirely. The period drama airs on PBS in the US and BBC One in UK.

The apologetic actress broke the disappointing news on Twitter, saying, “News: it’s with a heavy heart that having shared Chummy’s return to CTM, I’ve not been able to birth (pun) the schedule to make it work. xx” She later added, “Truly sad not to be playing Chummy this year but fans are in for a treat with Dame Harriet Walter as a new cast member and more besides.” The cast also includes: Vanessa Redgrave, Helen George, Jenny Agutter, Laura Main, and Judy Parfitt.

News: it's with a heavy heart that having shared Chummy's return to CTM, I've not been able to birth (pun) the schedule to make it work. xx

— Miranda Hart (@mermhart) August 18, 2016

Truly sad not to be playing Chummy this year but fans are in for a treat with Dame Harriet Walter as a new cast member and more besides.

— Miranda Hart (@mermhart) August 18, 2016

Radio Times reports:

A statement from the show added: ‘We can confirm that Chummy will now not be returning in Series 6 of Call the Midwife. Filming has been going brillianatly [sic] over the summer, and we look forward to bringing our fans exciting and emotional new stories from Nonnatus House at Christmas, and in early 2017’.