Helena Bonham Carter

Call the Midwife Christmas Special

BBC One, 7:40pm

This year’s Call the Midwife Christmas special re-joins the midwives at Nonnatus House in December 1965, where they’re preparing for some joyfully traditional celebrations.

The hour-long festive treat will see Olivia Colman (The Crown) make her panto debut as Fairy Godmother, alongside an all-star cast including her on-screen sister Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Devilia, Guz Khan (Man Like Mobeen) as Buttons, Tom Hollander (Us) a Baron Hardup and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) as Cinderella.

Produced by Eagle Eye Drama, the special is based on Blake’s book of the same name and follows a toy clown’s journey to find a new home for him and his friends after he is thrown out with a load of discarded toys.

Blake said: “Clown has always been one of my favourite characters, and it’s wonderful now to see him off the page and running about on his own.”

The special will be animated traditionally, with hand drawings in imitation of Blake’s unique style.

Gillian Anderson (Sex Education) will play Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, while Emma Corrin (Pennyworth) will play Princess Diana.

The fourth series is set to cover Thatcher’s term and her relationship with Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman), as well as the courtship between Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) and Lady Diana Spencer and their wedding in 1981 where she becomes Princess.

Netflix has also released images of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh (Tobias Menzies), and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret.

A short trailer accompanied the announcement, in which Olivia Colman’s Queen Elizabeth II declares: “Something as important as the monarchy simply cannot be allowed to fail.”

The trailer also introduced the characters of Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana, played by Gillian Anderson and Emma Corrin.

The coming series will follow the arrival of Thatcher as Prime Minister and Diana’s turbulent relationship with Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor).

The series takes place during a rapidly changing Britain that faces a failing financial climate and the rise of political agendas against royalism.

The new trailer opens with The Queen reflecting on her reign and the inner tensions within the Royal family as they endure personal struggles in service of their subjects.