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A Midwife’s Most Challenging Night | DELIVERY - BIFA-Nominated Short Film

Short of the Week

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Midwife Mary experiences the most physically and psychologically challenging night shift of her career as she oversees life-and-death pregnancy cases on a critically under-resourced NHS maternity ward.

DELIVERY
Dir. Ben Lankester
https://www.kingdomborn.co.uk/delivery
Instagram: ben.lankester

Review the film at https://letterboxd.com/film/delivery-...

"Child birth can be one of life’s most joyous moments - but for some, it can also be an experience marked by heartbreak and loss. Guiding families through these moments are midwives, whose work and emotional resilience often go unseen. That’s why films like Ben Lankester’s DELIVERY are so vital, as they pull back the curtain on this world offering important insight into such a challenging role" - S/W Curator, Rob Munday

Read the Full Article: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2025/1...

CREDITS

Written & Directed by — Ben Lankester
Produced by — Bophanie Lun & Joe Binks
Director of Photography — Rachel Clark
Production Designer — Jason Synnott
Editor — Sacha Szwarc
Music — Sarah Warne

CAST
Mary - Rosie Chappel
Charlie - Jordan Kouamé
Isla - Emily Laing
April - Alita Simpson
Midwife in Charge - Alison Rose
Olivia - Aoife Gaston
Helen - Christina Balmer
Dr. Shah - Shri Patel
Theatre Staff — Stuart Cooke, Michael Ahfong
Midwives — Tammy Heath, Renata Kundrat, Richa Prakash
April’s Baby — Zaccai Osei Akoto Tawiah
Babysitter — Ruhthie Durang
Mary’s Children — Roux Horner, Clara McDonagh

Casting by LANE Casting
Casting Director — Hannah Ashby Ward
Casting Associate — Priyanka Patel
Production Manager — Charlotte Sinden
Script Supervisor — Giuditta Natale
Script Consultant — Rosie Chappel
1st AD — Tom Rye
2nd AD — Francesca Kaimer Millea
Make Up & Hair — Caitlin Ross
Wardrobe — Samantha Hobart
Art Assistants — Lisi Fellinger, Charlie Runham

Focus Pullers — Daniel Glazebrook, Eve Carreño
Clapper Loaders — Hannah Green, Lina Rasmussen, Dragos Czinjepolschi, Jeff Celis
Sparks — Aoife Goldsmith, Marton Gosztonyi, Christopher Greenaway, Bruno Inacio, Tom Murtagh, Cristian Trujillocelis
Sound Recordist — Marina Fusella
Production Assistant – Catherine Blackman
Runners — Morgan Jones, Nithiyasri Kasiviswanathan, Andréa Lino, Hailey Kuri O'Reilly, Anna Symonds

Edit Facility STITCH
Edit Producer — Angela Hart
Edit Assistant — Joe Bolger
Supervising Sound & FX Editor — Maiken Hansen
Dialogue & ADR Editor — Isabel Derr
Foley by Sonicular
Sound Re-Recorded at Bleat Post Production
Re-Recording Mixer — George Elliott
Audio Post Producer — Max Norwell
Cello — Ashok Klouda
Violin — Matthew Kelly

Digital Intermediate by HARBOR
DI Colourist — Jateen Patel
DI Producer — Abigail Duncan
DI Editors — Aiden Tobin, Justin Drew
VFX by PUSH VFX
VFX Executive Producer — Manuel Santiago
Creative Director — Pedro Motta
VFX Producer — Hugo Rosado
Lead Compositing Artist — Duarte Gandum
Compositing Artist — Fernão Gonçalves
Titles by Lucia Garcia Studio
Designers — Coco Sohiez , Lucia Garcia
Post Production by ELMNTL
Post Producers — Jenna Le Noury, Rosanne Crisp
Flame Artist — Martin Waller

Camera & Lenses by One Stop Films
Lighting by SHL Lighting, Pixipixel

Reproduced on this channel with the permission of the filmmakers.

20 Comments

@AWlpsSHOW36 7 months ago

The actors who played the couple who lost their baby where absolutely brilliant actors!
Holy crap. The way they both broke down and cried when they found out about their baby not making it was absolutely gut-wrenching and soul shattering. I was really upset and devastated for them.

@Mictlantecuhtli 8 months ago

Every childbirth is like a dance between life and death and everybody who tells you otherwise is sadly lying.

@annecaunce 8 months ago

And then they have to go home, make a meal, maybe take the kids to school, do the washing and the shopping, get some sleep and go back to work to save more lives. We should never underestimate what any of our wonderful NHS staff go through on a daily basis.

@Nahuhnothanks 9 months ago

We honestly need to be kinder to midwives, especially when they’re kind and professional. Yes, giving birth is exhausting, painful and scary, but they know what they’re doing.

@paulabrown6840 9 months ago (edited)

My first daughter was stillborn at 38 weeks. My midwife was wonderful.
She was a light in my darkness.
Afterwords she came and said We will be back here in a while. She delivered my daughter a year and a half later. I just never forgot her compassion. 🙏

@donnaclement323 9 months ago

As an ex-NHS midwife I want to thank you for this film. We have all had shifts like this and sadly it really takes a toll on everyone involved. This is such a well-put together and impactful film.

@SarahTre100 6 months ago

My second daughter was stillborn at 31 weeks gestation, her death had been discovered by scan 3 days earlier, so the midwife knew she'd be delivering a stillborn baby. She was marvellous. A year later I had a baby boy under a special clinic in Birmingham for high-risk ladies. During my labour, I was never left alone, not even for a break. One midwife would replace another. I had another girl a year after that, the same care and compassion. One midwife sat and held my hand all night during my last pregnancy. Zoe was stillborn on March 16th 1995, so 31 years ago now in this next week. I will never forget the midwives who delivered all my babies. Cilla, Sally, Dawn and Natalie. They might've forgot me by now, but their faces are ingrained on my heart for always ♥ ♥

@reemaj3776 9 months ago

All I can think of is that the midwife is also grieving, though maybe not to the extent the parents are, and she too needs someone to console her after going through such a shift.

@LClar2806 9 months ago

As a practicing midwife myself, I'd like to thank you Rosie for such a beautiful and haunting portrayal of our everyday experiences.
Being a midwife is such a privilege but it also takes an enormous toll on our mind, body, and spirit. We all go to work to give safe and compassionate care, and it breaks my heart to see maternity services demonised in the media and ignored by government. I hope this opens people's eyes to the fact that midwives are human and carry every woman, baby, and family in our hearts.

@AndreaRowe-z4p 9 months ago

After working as a midwife for 21 years and just recently left to start a new career, watching this has just reaffirmed why I have left!! No real support, expected to just carry on as if nothing has happened, being spoken to with disgust. Midwifery is probably one of the hardest jobs there is!! People don’t understand.

@elizabethpirie5050 9 months ago

To all midwives out there you don’t get paid enough god bless you all xx

@TASS1E-DEVIL 8 months ago

My brother in law was a midwife and I once asked him how do midwives cope when a baby dies. He told me that many midwives cry behind the door and then go wash their face and act professionally for the rest of their shift and go home and cry themselves to sleep

@elliewinters3191 9 months ago

Her screams are so haunting omg 😢

@misskuti3555 9 months ago

My sister had a stillbirth at 37 weeks , the deafening silence after birth is incredibly traumatic, she didn't get to hear her daughter cry or breathe , walking out of hospital with a rememberence box is something I don't think she will ever come to terms with, her midwife Amy was an Angel, I truly could tell she was grately impacted also...I'm sorry to anyone who has gone through this and I'm praying for strength. ❤❤❤

@victoriad.a.9922 9 months ago (edited)

This is so well done, I now work in Australia, but this film was every shift I worked in the UK, exhausting, emotionally draining. If it wasn’t for my colleagues not sure I would have made it. Thinking of all the amazing midwives I have worked with over the years with respect.

@el_barto187 9 months ago

Wow. If anything accurately portrays the highs and lows of midwifery....its this. I am a midwife, and I am shook. Sometimes the days are so long, so busy and so understaffed that you dont always digest the events of the day. This just hit me full on in the face and heart. We might be getting a bashing at present but I am so proud of us as a profession ❤

@shareey8303 9 months ago

As a midwife this is so triggering but also so revealing of the harsh reality of our job. Whenever I tell someone I'm a midwife 99% the time people say oh how lovely that must be such a happy job.
This film portrayed a shift very similar to one I had only 1 year into my career - present for an unexpected loss and caring for the parents, then sent to go look after a pregnant woman with stomach flu with no care factor from the senior. Such an intense experience that definitely impacted me in so many ways both personally and professionally. The fact that the government and politicians don't listen to us or fight for better pay and conditions is baffling.

@conniehopkins6105 8 months ago

I was a labor and delivery nurse in America for years, starting in 1976. Back then, we were very well-staffed, and all women had a one-to-one nurse if they had a Pitocin drip started. As the years passed, staffing changed, and I was often expected to attend to three or four laboring women at a time. None of us felt this was appropriate, and I just hoped that when a disaster occurred, it would not be one of my assignments. I had to leave labor and delivery because of the overwhelming fear that some precious mother and/or baby would die on my watch. I pity anyone who has to be hospitalized for any reason now. Nurses are stretched too thin in all areas of nursing. It is no longer possible to provide the care they need and deserve.

@rrr441 8 months ago

Almost couldn't watch until the end. I bursted into tears after the first couple lost their baby. I had a placenta abruption in the 27th week and the horrible pain, the fear were exactly like they are portrayed here. It was during covid and my partner couldn't be there, it was a horrifying experience... but fortunately my baby made it. He was so tiny and fragile. He stayed over 4 months in the hospital and is now relatively healthy (apart from frequent bronchitis and asthma due to the lung not being sufficiently developed). My midwives were exceptional that night and I couldn't be more thankful to them. They really are angels in scrubs.

@SammieC1983 9 months ago

I’m forever thankful I never had to leave hospital without a baby. I can’t imagine the pain of coming home to everything ready for your baby and there’s no baby. It was tough having one of mine in nicu for 8 days I can’t think how you’d cope with a loss. Makes you hug your children extra tight