The Sunday evening drama series grew its audience by 600,000 to average 8.6 million for the second installment.
The episode saw comedian Miranda Hart join the cast and make her drama debut as Chummy.
Danny Cohen, the BBC1 controller, has now commissioned the team behind the drama to make a second series.
It will be composed of eight episodes and is expected to hit the small screen in 2013.
Danny said: ‘
Call the Midwife has had a huge impact with audiences.
‘It's a very high-quality drama series from a brilliant team. It manages to be both hard-hitting and emotional, gritty and warm.’
Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning, added: ‘
Call the Midwife is a totally original mix of comedy, tears, babies and nuns and it is fantastic to see this distinctive piece of British drama win such high praise and ratings.’
The third episode of the series based on Jennifer Worth’s memoires will be shown at 8pm on Sunday night.
It sees Jenny Lee, played by newcomer Jessica Raine, placed on the district nursing roster for a few weeks.
Her principle patient is a gentle old soldier called Joe who is suffering from appalling leg ulcers.
For those who have missed the previous two episodes, they are available to stream on line
here.
