Call the Midwife Christmas Specials 2024 episode 2 recap: Nonnatus House is under threat - but why?

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 2...

The second of the Christmas specials opens with Reggie still gone and Fred calls the emergency services to report him missing. Meanwhile, Roger sees Nancy at the carols and asks her out again, and this time she says yes, but worries becasue she hasn't told him about Colette.

As the news about Reggie spreads, the residents of Poplar get searching, with Cyril coordinating everyone. Rosalind bumps into Jock who is on the run and has a badly cut hand. Concerned about him and not realising he is an escaped prisoner, Rosalind follows him to a disused factory where he is hiding and offers to sort his wound. While she is helping him she realises that he has the present that she saw on the side at Gertrude's flat, and Jock tells her that Gertie is his mother. Rosalind then has the horrible task of telling Jock that Gertie has died and he is devastated.

Meanwhile, Cyril is looking for Reggie and sees Rosalind's midwife bike outside the abandoned factory and blood on the walls and fears the worst. When he gets inside he finds Rosalind comforting Jock and she asks Cyril to get something they can make into a bandage for his hand, but when he picks up a shirt nearby it has the prison logo on it and Cyril realises Jock is one of the escaped prisoners. He tries to make a citizen's arrest, but Jock doesn't struggle and asks that he can open his Christmas present from his mum before they turn him in.

Jock opens the present and it is a tie, He tells Rosalind and Cyril that his mum didn't know he was in prison and always had hope that he would turn out well. But despite Jock seeming like he regrets his dodgy ways they have no choice but to hand him in to the police.

Meanwhile, Reggie is still all alone and lost in London and finds a garage with a deckchair in it to sleep for the night. Back in Poplar, Violet and Fred are beside themselves as his description is given out on the radio.

Back in their rat-infested bedsit, Karen and her siblings are starving hungry, and now her mum their unwell with Hong Kong flu as well as their dad. Their mum sends them out for bread and candles but when Karen realises they don't have enough money, she buys the bread and then takes her younger siblings to the church where she steals some candles, but Shelagh catches her and asks what is wrong.

Elsewhere, Reggie is found sitting on a park bench by a woman who has heard all about him on the radio and soon he is taken home to Poplar and given a hero's welcome.

Shelagh goes back to Karen's bedsit with her and discovers her very poorly parents. She calls an ambulance for the father as she thinks he might have phenomena,

At the hospital, Sister Julienne is looking after Sid and Alma Curran from the funfair, whose baby, Richard, has severe jaundice and it is touch and go as he is given a blood transfusion to try and stop his fitting. He is in good hands, but they're told he might have disabilities following is trauma.

Cyril goes to the prison to see Jock under the pretense he is there in the capacity of a minister, but really he is there to tell Jock when Gertie's funeral is and says he will try and get the police to let him see his mother one last time before he is taken back up north and back to prison.

Doctor Turner discovers he has flu, but battles through his morning rounds on a bike because he has lost his car keys. The first stop is to see Reggie and check he is okay after his ordeal, which he is, especially as he has eaten half a tin of shortbread Santas to make himself feel better! Elsewhere, Shelagh is treating Mrs Shaughnessy when she realises she is in labour and calls Nonnatus House for backup - but the only person there to help is Trixie, who isn't officially working.

Just when Doctor Turner thinks his day can't get any worse, his three children track him down and ask which postbox he put their Blue Peter appeal parcel in... he is confused as to why they need to know, until they reveal that they might have accidentally put his car keys inside the box!

Later, Roger comes to give Nancy flowers after their date where they shared a kiss, but it is tricky getting up the steps to Nonnatus house because he has a twisted ankle, which he did at the end of the date. Colette answers the door and he is confused when she calls Nancy 'mummy' and the penny drops that Nancy hasn't told him the whole truth. Nancy dashes off, ashamed of being caught out, but Roger is like a dog with a bone and follows her in a taxi! In the end she agrees to a coffee and she's surprised when Roger wants to get to know Collette and tells Nancy he is falling in love with her.

Jock arrives at Nonnatus House for his mother's funeral chained to a prison guard and everyone is waiting for him. He is grateful for their kindness and Rosalind gives him the tie his mum bought him for Christmas to wear for the service.

Sister Julienne has a meeting with the board of health and she tells him that they now have the deeds for Nonnatus House from Matthew Aylward. But the health minister tells Sister Julienne that he was probably glad to get rid of it, becasue the building isn't fit for purpose. Sister Julienne asks for money to sort the wet and dry rot and for the roof but the minister turns her down and tells her that as far as he is concerned the future of Nonnatus House is bleak and she is left worrying.

Mrs Shaughnessy is in labour and Shelagh and Trixie are helping her deliver the baby, which is a boy. She is over the moon despite living in squalor and during the labour, Trixie realises that she has missed being a midwife and that this is where she belongs. She tells Sister Julienne she will be back in a year... and Sister Julienne tells her that as long as Nonnatus House is there, Trixie will have a job.

At Nonnatus House Geogffery is head of organising extra help for those in need throughout Poplar at Christmas and he has enlisted all the locals to help put together Christmas dinners for the poor and lonely. But Trixie isn't happy because she now needs to stay in London for the festive season becasue her flight to New York has been cancelled.

As Christmas Day arrives in Poplar, everyone gathers for a Christmas lunch at Nonnatus House and we are reminded that no matter how little some have, being around others at Christmas is what matters. And while the future of Nonnatus House might be under threat, it is the heart of the community as 1970 dawns and no health ministers can stop the magic held within its walls - no matter how much dry rot there might be in them!

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.