How to watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online

Character Trixie Franklin in Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021

(Image credit: BBC)

It’s that time of year when we bask in the warm glow of a Call the Midwife Christmas special. Snow is falling, wedding bells are ringing, and the nuns of Nonnatus House are celebrating – when they’re not dealing with tricky breech births, that is. Expect both consternation and jubilation as we explain below how to watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online from anywhere in the world – and 100% FREE!

Watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021

When: Saturday, December 25 at 8pm GMT on BBC One

Free stream: BBC iPlayer

International streams: PBS (USA) | WNED (CA) | BBC First (Aus)

Watch anywhere: tune in today with a 100% risk-free VPN

The beloved BBC drama is nearly 10 years old and it’s Christmas episodes still attract an audience of millions.

Prefacing the upcoming eleventh season, this 1966-set special features a baby boom that keep Sisters Hilda, Frances, Lucille and Trixie busy throughout the holidays.

Miriam Margoles returns as the inimitable Mother Mildred, making a big entrance on a milk float, while Doctor Patrick Turner’s son Timothy (Max Macmillan) arrives from Edinburgh to assist his father – only to find himself in the company of a couple of East End gangsters.

Plus, we'll see Lucille and Cyril finally tie the knot with a joyous Boxing Day ceremony – yay! But we don’t expect the happy day to go off without a hitch.

Expect lots of big-hearted moments in which the charitable nuns of Nonnatus House come to the aid of London’s most vulnerable - surely there's nought more Christmassy than that. Read on below as we break down how to watch Call the Midwife Christmas special 2021 online from anywhere, and completely FREE to stream.

Looking for more Christmas Day viewing? Watch The Great Christmas Bake Off

How to watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online in the UK for FREE

Festive cheer is in abundance at Nonnatus House. You can watch the Call the Midwife Christmas Special at 8pm, 25 December via BBC One with cable, satellite or Freeview. It has a run time of approximately 90 minutes – long enough to let that generous serving of cheese and crackers settle.

Alternatively, Call the Midwife can be streamed live via BBC iPlayer or on-demand at a later date. It’s 100% FREE, though you will need to have a valid TV licence. You can also find every prior season of Call the Midwife here and all the seasonal specials too – a Christmas miracle if ever there was one.

Whether you watch live or on catch-up, you can access BBC iPlayer on any of the following: desktop on Windows and Mac machines, on smartphone apps for Android and iOS, as well as media streaming devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Roku and more. You can also get BBC iPlayer on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Outside of the country? Don't worry – you can make use of a VPN like ExpressVPN to bypass geo-restrictions and stream BBC iPlayer as if you were right at home. We explain more on how below.

How to watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online from outside your country

If you're taking a winter vacation outside your country of residence, then sadly geo-blocking restrictions will stop you from streaming the Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online.

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution. By downloading a VPN – short for Virtual Private Network – you can alter your IP address to that of your country back home, and stream TV content that would otherwise be inaccessible.

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Three simple steps to using a VPN to watch Call the Midwife:

1. Download and install a VPN - we recommend ExpressVPN

2. Connect to the relevant server location - launch the VPN app, click on 'choose location' and select the right location i.e. UK for iPlayer

3. Head to the chosen broadcaster's live stream - in this case, head to the BBC iPlayer

Still from Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 — (Image credit: BBC)

How to watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online for FREE in the US

Cable viewers can get the best of British TV through the PBS channel, which broadcasts the 2021 Call the Midwife Christmas special on 25 December at 9pm ET/PT (8PM CT) – mere hours after its UK debut.

Plus, if you’re in the mood, you can currently stream all 7 episodes of season 10, too.

Alternatively, watch Call the Midwife live on PBS Online or on-demand for up to 30-days after its broadcast (after this time it’ll be removed from the service).

PBS Online is compatible with desktop computers/laptops running the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Alternatively, download the PBS Video app free of charge to devices like Amazon Fire, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung TV, and Apple TV.

Travelling over the Christmas period? Then you'll want to pack a good VPN so you can connect to your IPTV service back home and avoid missing the Call the Midwife 2021 Christmas Special.

How to watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online in Canada

Whether you’ve got cable or prefer an online option, the WNED channel will show the Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 on 25 December from 9pm ET (or 6PM PT). That means catching this festive favorite only hours after the Brit crowd do.

Registration isn’t necessary, but becoming a member will open up a wider range of content for you to stream. Furthermore, you can choose to make a monthly/annual “donation” ($60 a year in the US) to get extended access to local and premiere PBS programming and a library of previously broadcast on-demand shows.

The WND Passport streaming service is available through web browsers on desktop computers, laptops, tablets and mobile devices, and through the PBS Video App on Roku, Apple TV 4, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Android TV, Apple iPhone and iPad and Android mobile devices.

Fans of the show who’re abroad for business or leisure can simply purchase a VPN. This way you can connect to your preferred streaming service any time, no matter where in the world you are.

How to watch Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2021 online in Australia for FREE

Mother Mildred returns in the midst of a baby boom in this year's Call the Midwife Christmas special, and Aussies need only wait half a day longer to catch it. It’ll be broadcast on BBC First on the 26 December at 8.30pm.

If you don’t have cable package, Foxtel Now is an affordable, OTT alternative. On top of your Essentials base plan (AUS$25 a month), you’d need to add the Drama Extra package. For an extra AUS$10, this provides you with access to BBC First, BBC UK TV, Fox Showcase, Universal content, plus much more. But, before paying a cent, take their 10-day free trial for a whirl.

Finally, intrepid travellers abroad over Christmas will need a VPN to connect to their usual VoD services. They’re simple to install, and once you’ve done so you’re free to stream the 2021 Call the Midwife Christmas Special online from anywhere.

Daniel Pateman is a freelance writer, producing articles across the cultural spectrum for magazines like Aesthetica, Photomonitor, The Brooklyn Rail and This is Tomorrow. He also provides text-writing services to individual curators and artists worldwide, and has had work published internationally. His favourite film genre is horror (bring on Scream 5!) and he never tires of listening to Absolute 80s on the radio.