Call the Midwife has almost finished filming season 14, and have shared an update with fans with a sneak peek of the new season - as well as hinting that the emotion that the stars brought to the screen in the hit BBC show.
Taking to Instagram with a snap of Zephryn Taitte, who plays Cyril, they wrote: "We're getting veeeeeeery close to the end of filming for Series 14 ! Our team are looking forward to taking a well earned break very soon!
"Not everybody of course - for our editing, sound and production teams, there is much more work still to be done once the cameras stop rolling, and even the actors will still be called in to add some extra sound and dialogue to the finished product. Yet the end is approaching."
The post went on to explain an important element of the filming process, pointing out that there was an upside-down clapperboard in the photo, which they explain are turned around at the end of a take to show the editor knows that it is the end of filming.
They wrote: "Normally when we begin a scene, we start by showing the board and clapping the 'clapper', so that sound can be synchronised with the picture in the edit, and the editor will know which scene and take it is a part of when it gets back to the editing suite.
"But sometimes we don't want to interrupt our filming by starting a new take with the clapperboard - maybe we want to go straight for a second try, or we don't want to break up the emotional mood the actors have built up. When this happens, we still need to mark things for the editor for later. So what we do is put the clapperboard at the *end* of the take, and then let him or her know that it's an 'end slate', not a normal slate, by turning it upside down!
© Neal Street Productions / Olly Courtney / BBC"Our actors are no strangers to end slates and emotional moods... and let's just say this last episode has been very full of emotional end slates."
Fans have been excited for the return of Call the Midwife, first for the Christmas specials and then for the new series, which will premiere in the New Year. The show will return for two Christmas episodes this year, unlike it's usual 90-minute offering.
The upcoming episodes are set to follow the fall-out of an escaped prisoner in the neighbourhood, while a funfair comes to Poplar and Hong Kong flu threatens to ruin the fun.
© Neal Street Productions / Olly Courtney / BBCThe synopsis continues: "The Turner children get caught up in the fever surrounding the latest Blue Peter Christmas appeal, but it's Patrick who ends up with the headache.
"Trixie is joined by brother Geoffrey, while Miss Higgins welcomes her grandson Harry... yet the Buckles’ preparations for Reggie’s homecoming are thrown into a sudden turmoil."
