'Call The Midwife' Season 15 Nabs Early PBS Passport Release

Call the Midwife is heading into a banner year in 2026. The long-running fan favorite series is currently celebrating its 15th season on the BBC, with new episodes rolling out in the U.K., but that's only the beginning. Both a big-screen film and a prequel spinoff series will follow later in the year, with Season 16 to follow. Thus far, neither spinoff nor film has an American streaming home (yet), but that's expected to be rectified in the coming months. However, Season 15 will be heading to PBS stations across America, and as has been the case for the last few years, it will receive an early PBS Passport release for members.

Since the pandemic delayed season in 2021, Call the Midwife's new episodes have been steadily arriving on PBS Passport four weeks before their on-air broadcast (and their debut on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Channel). It's not the only British series to be granted that privilege; Sanditon, Annika, D.I. Ray, COBRA, Miss Scarlet, and Professor T have all had at least one season arrive on the member-based streaming service since PBS Passport was launched. However, Call the Midwife is the only one to consistently arrive early year after year, since its popularity is broad enough to benefit local stations' pledge sign-ups without hurting on-air ratings.

With the new season debuting on air alongside the series premieres of The Forsytes and The Count of Monte Cristo on Sunday, March 22, the early release will begin on PBS Passport on Friday, February 20, with new episodes streaming on Fridays for members through mid-April. This is only the second time two PBS spring premieres will be available via early release on PBS Passport, as Monte Cristo will also have an early debut, with all episodes arriving on PBS Passport and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel as a binge starting Sunday, March 1, 2026.

Due to the currently ongoing Great Telly Visions Relaunch, we unfortunately were unable to recap the 2025 Christmas special two-parter in December, which was set partly in Hong Kong. Season 15 will bring everyone back to London's East End as the 1970s gear up for one of the U.K.'s toughest decades.

Here's the PBS-provided synopsis:

The new season takes place in 1971 as several of the ladies embrace the Women’s Liberation Movement. Over the year, the team handles challenging cases including premature birth, placenta previa, kidney cancer, tuberculosis, and slavery.

For the first time in a while, there's been no major casting shakeups during the offseason. Season 15 will once again star series regulars Judy Parfitt (Sister Monica Joan), Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne), Laura Main (Shelagh Turner), Helen George (Trixie Aylward), Cliff Parisi (Fred Buckle), Stephen McGann (Dr Turner), Linda Bassett (Nurse Crane), Annabelle Apsion (Violet Buckle), Georgie Glen (Miss Higgins), Zephryn Taitte (Cyril Robinson), Rebecca Gethings (Sister Veronica), Daniel Laurie (Reggie Jackson), Renee Bailey (Joyce Highland), Natalie Quarry (Rosalind Clifford), Molly Vevers (Sister Catherine), Max Macmillan (Timothy Turner), Alice Brown (Angela Turner), April Rae Hoang (May Tang), and Edward Shaw (Teddy Turner).

As always, Call the Midwife is written, created, and produced by the team of showrunner Heidi Thomas, plus executive producers Pippa Harris and Ann Tricklebank. The trio will also helm the prequel, the forthcoming feature film, and Season 16.

Call the Midwife Season 15 will stream as an early release exclusively on PBS Passport for members beginning Friday, February 20, 2026, with one episode a week to follow on Fridays through mid-April. The series will officially debut on most local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET, ahead of The Forsytes at 9 p.m. and The Count of Monte Cristo at 10 p.m. ET. As always, check your local listings.

Season 14 is currently streaming on PBS Passport for members, with all episodes available for those who want to catch up on last season before the new one arrives. Seasons 1-13 are available in the U.S. on Netflix.