IT’S interesting that if you’d said in 2012 that a TV series chronicling the daily events of a group of 1950s midwives in London’s poverty-stricken East End would be a hit people would have been sceptical.

Yet, here we are six years later and Call the Midwife is the enduring flagship of Sunday night BBC viewing.

Heidi Thomas’s adaptation of the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth continue to shine a light on this time of post-war hardship and hope. Among the well-crafted storylines of traumatic births, demeaning social practices and prejudices are heartwarming stories of caring and a nation’s determination to make the world better.

The midwives and their religious colleagues at Nonnatus House create a fascinating patchwork of frailties and strengths, all with the ageless skills of midwives running through stories.

Add a very talented group of actors and actresses and pin-sharp settings in every respect and, although the idea still seems almost alien, Call the Midwife is set to run for several years yet. Still delighting weekend viewers.