Downton Abbey may be coming to an end this Christmas, but BBC One’s Call The Midwife is just gearing up for their fifth series.
Next year, we will arrive back in Nonnatus House in December 1961, where, all over the country, pregnant women are clamouring to try a brand-new wonder drug, which promises to put an end to their morning sickness.
The drug’s name is Thalidomide.
While the midwives and the patients are blissfully unaware of the dangers this drug posed, viewers at home will no doubt be aware that thalidomide famously caused unexpected and serious damage to the development of unborn babies in the 1960s, especially if it had been taken in the first four to eight weeks of pregnancy.
The drug led to the arms or legs of the babies being very short or incompletely formed - and more than 10,000 babies were affected around the world.
Throughout season five, viewers will watch the fallout from the drug, as babies start being born with deformities.
But, tragically, nobody will realise that it is Thalidomide which is causing the birth defects until it is too late for many young mothers.
Watch the new trailer for Call The Midwife: Series 5 below
But, before the new series, we have the Christmas Special to look forward to.
In this, we will witness the disappearance of Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt), as well as Nurse Trixie (Helen George)’s struggle with alcoholism.
We have also been promised a reunion between midwife Patsy (Emerald Fennell) and her secret lover Delia, who was left brain damaged following a car accident at the end of the last series, and a reminder that Christmas isn’t always about mistletoe and wine.
After all, it can be the loneliest time of year for many people.
Despite this, Laura Main, who plays Shelagh in the show, told the Express that the episode is still ‘full of joy’.
She said: “Most of us are back for series five. It’s always evolving and every year the tone of it changes, but it’s still made with love and care … Call The Midwife can be tough to watch at times and really upsetting, and then there’s lightness and hope in there as well.
“I just adore Heidi’s Christmas script – it’s full of joy and I just think it’s perfect for Christmas.”
Call The Midwife will air on Christmas Day at 7.30pm, BBC1.