From England on the verge of the First World War to England on the cusp of the Swinging Sixties, PBS has an evening full of period drama when it premieres the new seasons of Mr. Selfridge and Call the Midwife tomorrow evening!
Call the Midwife: Season 3
As soon as the first episode of Call the Midwife aired in 2012, the accolades started rolling it. Now that the third season is about the premiere, they bear repeating, because its eight episodes are as “absorbing” (The Wall Street Journal) and “poignant” (San Francisco Chronicle) and as much “a delight to watch” (TV Guide) as those in the first two.
The move to a new Nonnatus House isn’t the only change — or challenge — the midwives and nuns experience in 1959. They also have new housemates, including Sister Winifred (Victoria Yeates, Holby City) and Patsy Mount (Emerald Fennell, Murder on the Home Front), who leaves her nursing position at the hospital (from Season 2) to join the midwives in helping Poplar residents through their pregnancies and births, as well as other medical and even domestic issues.
Speaking of issues, PC Noakes (Ben Caplan, Band of Brothers) isn’t thrilled when wife Chummy (Miranda Hart, Miranda) wants to return to midwifery, and both are stressed when her ever-so-proper mum, Lady Browne (Cheryl Campbell, Breathless), comes to visit. Sister Evangelina (Pam Ferris, Rosemary & Thyme), too, has a family member “visit,” which pleases her not at all.
Relationship-wise, there are life-changing events in store for the officially-dating Jenny (Jessica Raine, Line of Duty: Series 2) and Alec (Leo Staar, Dancing on the Edge), as well as for Dr. and Shelagh Turner (Stephen McGann, Emmerdale, and Laura Main, Murder City). And Trixie (Helen George, The Three Musketeers), sporting a chic and short new ‘do, has caught the eye of the young vicar.
There is much more in store (get your tissues ready) when the third season of Call the Midwife
Ditto when its fourth season, recently commissioned by the BBC, transmits in 2015.
Described as “charismatic” by The Daily Telegraph, “sumptuous” by MSN, and “addicting” by the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Selfridge returns with ten new episodes filled with drama amongst the plebeians and the posh alike.
It’s 1914 — the year that Selfridge’s celebrates its fifth anniversary and Great Britain enters the Great War. Harry (Jeremy Piven, Entourage) has more than business as usual to deal with. Employees are enlisting, sales are down, and estranged wife Rose (Frances O’Connor, Madame Bovary), who has returned from Chicago, isn’t buying his “those days are over.”
Also back in London are former lovers Agnes Towler (Aisling Loftus, Page Eight) and Henri LeClair (Grégory Fitoussi, Spiral). She’s been promoted to Head of Display after training in Paris, while his stint in New York has left him the worse for wear. Then there’s Lord Loxley (Aidan McArdle, Garrow’s Law), whose return to the city wreaks havoc on Lady Mae’s (Katherine Kelly, Coronation Street) life and impacts Harry’s, too.
New to Selfridge’s are Bohemian nightclub owner Delphine Day (Polly Walker, Prisoners Wives), whose friendship with Rose translates into business with Harry, and uptight Head of Fashion, Mr. Thackeray (Cal MacAninch, Wild at Heart), whose wariness about Agnes and Henri turns ugly.
And elsewhere in the Selfridge’s sphere are, amongst others, Victor Colleano (Trystan Gravelle, Anonymous), who has put his relationship with Agnes behind him and is now Manager of the Palm Court Restaurant; Miss Mardle (Amanda Abbingdon, Sherlock), who has moved on from her affair with Mr. Grove (Tom Goodman-Hill, Spy) and is now a woman of means; and journalist Frank Edwards (Samuel West, Fleming), whose coverage of the good, bad and ugly about Selfridge and the Loxleys affects his growing relationship with Kitty (Amy Beth Hayes, The Syndicate).
Noble and dirty deeds, truth and lies, generosity and greed. They’re all in there, and more besides, when the second season of Mr. Selfridge
What will be in store in the third series, which ITV recently commissioned? We’ll find out when it airs in 2015.
Note: Each new episode of Call the Midwife and Mr. Selfridge will be available for streaming the day after it is broadcast at the PBS video portal and via the PBS channel on Roku,
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