Call the Midwife aired a deeply moving series 15 earlier this year, leaving devoted viewers wondering when new episodes would arrive. Set in 1971, the latest instalment of the beloved BBC period drama presented fresh challenges for Nonnatus House amidst significant advances in the National Health Service. Social transformation came courtesy of the women's liberation movement, but heartbreak followed as Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) died from chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal failure.