Jump directly to the content
EAST END LIFE

Is Call The Midwife’s Nonnatus House a real place and where is Poplar?

CALL The Midwife has become one of Britain's most watched programmes, thanks to it's endearing tale of babies being born.

The hit BBC show is set in the East End of London in the 1950s and centres around the nuns and midwives of Nonnatus House.

Nonnatus House plays a big part in Call The Midwife
3
Nonnatus House plays a big part in Call The MidwifeCredit: BBC

Is Call The Midwife's Nonnatus House a real place?

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it isn't a real place,

Nonnatus House is the fictional convent at the centre of Poplar's run down community and home to all of the hard-working nurses and nuns.

The building is actually constructed at the Longcross Film Studios in Surrey.

It is here the crew film interior and exterior shots of Nonnatus House.

Nonnatus House is actually filmed in a studio
3
Nonnatus House is actually filmed in a studioCredit: BBC

Where is Poplar?

Poplar is in the East End of London in the borough of Tower Hamlets.

In the 1950s - when Call The Midwife is first set - parts of the area was affected by poverty.

This was due to the damage that World War II had left.

Poplar was a part of London that was bombed heavily during the Blitz, which left people with no homes or food.

Call The Midwife often shows the slums that were still used by poverty-stricken people at this time.

The nuns and midwives all live together in Nonnatus House
3
The nuns and midwives all live together in Nonnatus HouseCredit: BBC

Is Call The Midwife based on a true story?

Call the Midwife is based on a series of memoirs by Jennifer Worth (nee Lee), who worked as a nurse in the East End in the 1950s.

The first volume, Call the Midwife, was published in 2002, and it was followed by Shadows of the Workhouse in 2005 and Farewell to the East End in 2009.  

Jennifer was a practising nurse and midwife, and so Call The Midwife is based on the stories from the job she did.

She decided to write her books because she wanted to tell the story of a community she felt had been ignored.

When does Call the Midwife season 10 start?

There isn't long to wait to get your fix of Call the Midwife.

The show kicks of THIS SUNDAY (April 14, 2021) and will run for eight episodes.

You can watch it on BBC One every Sunday for eight weeks from April 18, 20201.

First look clip from Call the Midwife Christmas special leaves fan in stitches as Trixie dealt brutal blow
Topics