Call the Midwife Christmas special 2024 episode 1 recap: what has happened to Reggie?

The Call the Midwife Christmas specials 2024 are here and once again we are reunited with our Nonnatus House favourites for festive carols, mince pie contests and of course, babies!

But as always with Call the Midwife there is also a big helping of drama as the neighborhood is gripped by the news of an escaped prisoner and fears grow that he may be in the local area after a spate of break-ins.

We also have romance on the cards for Nancy, a Blue Peter Appeal for the Turner children and heartache for the Buckles when Reggie goes missing as he makes his way home for Christmas.

Here is everything that happened in the Call the Midwife Christmas specials episode 1...

The first of the Christmas specials opens with everyone getting ready for a mince pie competition, but while the residents of Poplar get baking, Violet and Fred are making their last-minute preparations for Reggie, who is coming home for Christmas.

At the maternity ward, Sister Julienne is worried that Rosalind Clifford is back to work too quickly after having the Hong Kong flu, but Rosalind is adamant that she is fine, while Dr Turner admits it is going through St Cuthbert's hospital like wildfire and his son Teddy is there after having an adenoidectomy.

At the hospital, Fred is in his element doing his annual appearance as Father Christmas but Teddy recognises straight away that it is Fred in a white beard and red suit. Things then take an awkward turn when Teddy tells Shelagh that he is going to ask Santa for a guinea pig for Christmas and she looks slightly panicked!

Meanwhile, a new mum, Lesley Abbingdon, comes into the clinic with infected stitches from her labour and Dr Turner and Nurse Crane promise that they are going to take good care of her - and elsewhere Sister Veronica is most put out to learn she lost out to Shelagh for the mine pie competition, especially when Shelagh's husband, Dr Turner, was on the judging panel!

In the depths of Poplar, a family is turfed out of their home by debt collectors and they're forced to go and live in a rat-infested room, but the mum is pregnant and their eldest daughter, Karen, is in the hospital receiving treatment for a hole in the heart. Teddy hears her crying in the children's ward one night and asks what is wrong., She says she doesn't want to go home, knowing she is going back to the rat-infested room and would rather be in hospital for Christmas.

Elsewhere, Sister Julienne calls Joyce into her office and tells her that St Cuthberts is snowed under with patients and needs help, so she suggests Joyce goes there for a two-week secondment. Joyce is thrilled but worries her paperwork isn't in order after it was revealed last season that she is actually called Claudine Warren and changed her name to escape her violent husband. Sister Julienne assures her she has sorted it and Joyce is happy.

Roger Nobel a tranquiliser salesman comes to the surgery and mistakes Nancy for Miss Higgins as she is covering the reception. There is a spark between them as Nancy makes him an appointment to see Dr Turner the following morning.

Teddy is home and recovering on the sofa when Shelagh switches on the television and there is a news report about four prisoners who have escaped from a Lancashire prison. She is nervous and tells the girls they won't be walking anywhere unsupervised again.

Karen is home from the hospital but complains to her mum that their bedsit smells funny and that her chest hurts. Her mum says it is just the stairs they have to walk up, but Karen looks really unwell.

Meanwhile, Dr Truner and Nurse Crane are visiting Lesley Abbingdon and her baby boy when Dr Turner notices flies coming from under the door of the house across the hall from her. Lesley tells him that an old woman lives there and Dr Turner fears the worst. They break into her flat and find the old lady, Gertrude, has died from Hong Kong flu, and Nurse Crane is sad that no one was looking out for her. Later the funeral home calls Phyllis to ask if she picked up Gertrude's dentures so she tells them she'll go back to the flat and collect them. While there she finishes the washing Gertrude was halfway through before she died and tells Rosalind that she will have a pauper's funeral. Later, when the flat is quiet and empty, we hear someone knocking for Gertrude at the front door.

Meanwhile at St Cuthbert's Joyce is working in her new role and an expectant mother from the traveling fair comes in with pains and it turns out she is in labour. Joyce is calm and collected and the baby arrives safely. But back at the bedsit, Karen's father is now unwell with the flu and his pregnant wife is looking after him.

Cyril sees Fred sweeping up glass from the front of his shop and is shocked to hear he got broken into the night before. As the police arrive two hours after Fred called them, Cyril is distracted when the postman gives him a letter with a Jamaican stamp. He goes to read it somewhere quiet but is upset when he sees it is from Lucielle and although she is police and sweet in her letter, she gives little away and clearly isn't coming back to Poplar any time soon.

Roger Nobel comes back for his appointment with Dr Truner to try and sell his tranquilizers, but Miss Higgins gives him short shrift and tells him he is going to have to wait - but really he is happy to hang around becasue Nacy is working and the pair flirt, much to Miss Higgin's amusement. Later Roger asks Nancy out, but she tells him she is busy with the lead up to Christmas and he is disappointed.

At Nonnatus House Phylis is horrified to see a coffin being taken in the front door, and she panics something terrible has happened, however, it is Sister Monica Joan's doing because she felt sorry for Gertrude dying alone and has brought her to sit in the chapel at Nonnatus House before her funeral.

While she is watching Colette enjoying the fair with Geofery and Joyce, Nancy reflects on how alone she and her daughter are in the world, while Miss Higgins and Nurse Crane knit a jumper together for Millicent's grandson, Harry. She tells Phyllis that he is coming for Christmas, and although it is bittersweet with her son no longer being with them, Millicent is excited.

Later everyone gets organised for the Christmas carol concert and while Geofery tries to get the fairy lights looking exactly how Sister Veronica has instructed, Fred is having trouble lighting the coal for the roasted chestnuts. However, what they don't realise is the escaped criminals from the news are hiding out nearby and planning an armed raid on a sub-post office to get money.

Everyone is thrilled when Trixie arrives back from New York and Geoffrey can't wait to tell her that she needs to sleep in the attic at Nonnatus House because he has the guest room as a thank you for helping Sister Veronica with her chutney!

Meanwhile, Fred is trying to get through a police barrier to collect Reggie from the coach station, but the road is closed becasue of the armed robbery that the escape prisoners were planning. The policewoman says one of them has been arrested, but the other one is at large, and we see it is Jock, who runs to Gertrude's house and it turns out she is his mum. He picks the lock and finds the flat empty and soon the realisation that she has died dawns on him.

Meanwhile, Reggie has been waiting for Fred for ages and starts to make his own way to Poplar, but he gets the wrong bus and ends up miles away on his own. Fred panics when he gets to a deserted bus station and finds nothing but Reggie's weekend bag. We know that Reggie is okay and just lost, but Fred fears the worst and thinks something awful has happened. Will he manage to track him down?

You can catch up on both Call The Midwife Christmas specials on BBC iPlayer after they have aired. And there isn't long to wait for Call The Midwife season 14 to start because that starts on BBC One on Sunday, January 5 at 8pm.