The Nonnatus House residents prepare for the big freeze in the Call The Midwife Christmas Special.

Temperatures plunge as the midwives plough on through the frostiest Christmas in decades. Jim Maloney reports on the Call The Midwife Christmas Special.

L ast Christmas they gave their heart to a small and impoverished mission hospital in South Africa – and sweltered in the blistering heat.

This year could scarcely be more of a contrast because the midwives and nuns are shivering back in East London during the nation’s coldest winter for 300 years. The Christmas special of Call

The Midwife is set during ‘The Big Freeze’ of 1962-63 in which temperatures plunged to a record low, bringing Britain to a standstill as rivers, roads and railways froze over, crippling transport.

Shops ran out of food and prices went up. Frozen pipes meant people had to get water from road tankers. Refuse remained uncollected and there were power cuts.

But in Call The Midwife, the midwives have a job to do and must battle these elements.

Valerie Dyer is in the thick of things helping a young couple, newly arrived in London, who experience a traumatic birth.

“The design team did a wonderful job to make the set look like winter,” says Jennifer Kirby, who plays Valerie. “The set designer hung plastic ‘icicles’ from the lamp posts and there was a lot of fake snow that they had to keep topping up.

“We were a little hot and bothered in layers of winter clothing. But then the temperature changed and it got cold and the next moment I was hugging a hot-water bottle between takes.

“The Christmas special is a big one for Valerie. She has a difficult case to deal with where she needs to get to a couple to deliver their baby but the Big Freeze causes her all sorts of problems.”

Valerie first appeared in the show as an ex-army nurse in the last series before turning midwife.

Landing the role was a dream come true for Kirby, 28.

“I’ve been a fan of the