Call The Midwife named best show of the past 25 years

Call The Midwife has been voted the best show of the last 25 years in a recent poll.

The BBC period drama, which is loosely based on real life events, follows a group of midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s as they cope with the pressures of their everyday lives as well as the changing times they are living through.

In a poll to mark the 25th anniversary of RadioTimes.com, the website’s readers were asked to vote for the best show of the past 25 years from a list complied by the website’s TV experts.

Call the Midwife triumphed, leading the poll with 25% of the vote.

The BBC were also successful in securing the second place spot with Doctor Who after the cult sci-fi programme garnered 13% of the total vote.

Taking joint third place were Line of Duty and Sherlock with 7% of the vote, while Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones took 5% and 4% of the vote respectively.

Speaking about the achievement, Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas said: “All of us on the show are absolutely delighted to hear that RadioTimes.com readers have voted for us. It was just a really lovely surprise.

“When you’ve been going on for as many years as we have, you know you’re not the thrill of the new any more, so I think it says a lot about our audience’s loyalty. But also about the fact that we’re doing something right in keeping the show fresh as we move forward. That in itself, I think, is the most encouraging thing.”

She added: “In terms of beating other shows, I don’t think drama should be a competition. I think all dramas of note have something to offer their audience and there’s such a variety of programmes coming at viewers these days from all the different streamers.

“I’m just really proud we’re still up there with shows which are very recent and very heavily promoted.”

The first series of Call the Midwife, set in 1957, aired on BBC One in 2012. There have subsequently been a further 10 series and an annual Christmas Day special each year.

The show has featured a variety of stars in its casting line-up since it’s launch, including Miranda Hart, Helen George and Jenny Agutter.

Other shows readers were given the chance to vote for included Fleabag, Gavin and Stacey and The Wire.