Sister Julienne Reaches a Fateful Decision in ‘Call the Midwife’
Brace yourself, it's a triple tragedy when Dr. Turner’s medical advice ends in unexpected deaths on 'Call the Midwife.'
In the ongoing battle between Nonnatus House and the Board of Health, the halfway point of Call the Midwife Season 15 sees the midwives and Dr. Turner forced to relocate to an inadequately outfitted annex of St. Cuthbert’s Hospital. After a Board inspector shows up and starts poking around, Shelagh realizes the location shift was a veiled attempt to arrange access to their patient files. The administrator says they can demand files without prior notice. Sister Julienne tells the Turners they’re “under no obligation” to comply.
The eldest Turner son, Timothy (Max Macmillan), returns to cover Miss Higgins’ post while the practice is temporarily at the hospital. Following in his father’s footsteps, he’s just passed his medical exams but isn’t formally a doctor yet.
When Dr. Turner’s medical advice ends in the unexpected death of three family members, his confidence suffers, and he is blamed for their demise. Though initial evidence suggests they died of carbon monoxide poisoning, waiting for the official coroner’s report inflames tensions. Someone defaces the maternity home, scrawling “murderer” on the door in bright red paint. Dr. Turner feels only compassion for the grieving family. He is eventually exonerated and able to relieve the family’s surviving son of his self-imposed guilt.
A Triple Tragedy
We meet the Barrowmans when plumbers Ivan (Lee Ross) and his son Paul (Jack Alldridge) repair a leak. Later, nearly the entire family gets violently sick after eating tinned meat from the Buckles’ shop. Dr. Turner attends to them at home and believes the food was the likely cause. He prescribes bed rest, paracetamol for fever, and turning on their brand-new central heating system to keep warm.
In the morning, when Dr. Turner and Timothy return to check on the family, no one answers the door. They find asthmatic Paul in respiratory distress and complaining of a headache. Upstairs, Timothy discovers Ivan, Madge (Barbara D’Alterio), and Suzanne (Lily Crawford) dead in their bedroom. When Dr. Turner pronounces them, Timothy starts getting woozy, and his father rushes to get them both some fresh air.
Later, a heartbroken Paul begs Dr. Turner to tell him how his family died. The doctor suspects a fault in the heating system led to carbon monoxide poisoning. Paul and his father just installed the new boiler; the poor guy feels personally responsible. Dr. Turner is later accosted on the street by the enraged grandmother, Hilda (Penny Ryder). She blames Dr. Turner solely for her family’s deaths and hopes he loses his license. If he’d sent them to the hospital, they’d still be alive. She’s not wrong.
Finally, the coroner’s report confirms the cause of death was due to a defective valve on the boiler, not a faulty installation. Further, the contaminated meat was not the ultimate culprit, but the cash-and-carry where Fred bought the tins will be prosecuted.
Paul’s guilt is lifted, and Hilda’s anger subsides. They comfort each other in their grief and try to move forward. There’s a poignant scene between Paul and Timothy as they speak of honoring their fathers by taking up the family trade.
Accepting a Mother’s Love
Our expectant mother this week is Ruth (Annie Kingsnorth), who is shadowed by her caring, if slightly suffocating, mother-in-law, Aisha (Oishi Das). Ruth privately expresses that her husband, Dilwar (Akib Ahmed), should be by her side during the birth instead of Aisha.
Aisha is very upset at being excluded, especially since a healthy baby boy is born. A mother needs another mother – someone who understands her pain and can comfort her. This is something of a foreign concept to Ruth, whose own mother abandoned her. The following day, Ruth looks pale and sickly. She insists she needs fresh air and heads out with the baby. Undeterred and worried, Aisha follows Ruth.
Ruth makes it to the park but suddenly feels faint. Aisha rushes up when Ruth’s knees buckle. Afraid to leave her, Aisha grabs the baby and props Ruth up as they walk to Dr. Turner’s clinic. Ruth collapses just outside. Aisha alerts Dr. Turner in a panic, who diagnoses very serious stages of preeclampsia. Though it’s too late to wait for an ambulance, Dr. Turner gets Ruth to the hospital in time to save her life.
As Ruth recovers, she apologizes for pushing Aisha away, explaining that her own experiences made motherly love hard to trust. Aisha reassures her that a mother is “always at your shoulder.”
Cyril Proposes to Rosalind… Sort Of
When Cyril and Rosalind get back from their weekend away, church elder Mrs. Wallace (Linda Hargreaves) gives them both the stink eye. The optics of Cyril, as pastor of the church and still a married man, returning from a weekend away with his girlfriend, are too indecent. Mrs. Wallace threatens Cyril’s position if he doesn’t curb his behavior to her liking.
Cyril tries to suggest to Rosalind that they slow things down, and she loses it, loudly insisting she doesn’t regret losing her virginity but is angry at being cast aside. They’re on a public bench, so Cyril tries to calm things down with a clumsy marriage proposal, which is more of an offhand comment. Rosalind tells him where he can stick it.
Later, she apologizes for losing her temper. Cyril agrees that the proposal was awful and seeks a second chance to ask her properly, which she grants on the condition that he’ll take her (discreetly) on another weekend away. It’s agreed!
Sister Julienne’s Faith is Restored
A concerned neighbor fetches Sister Julienne to the squalid flat of expectant mother Lana (Milly Zero). Lana is furious and nasty, insisting she doesn’t need a midwife; she needs an ambulance. Sister Julienne tells her it’s too late.
The sister delivers Lana a girl and tries to impart the importance of cleanliness. Lana is offended at the implication and insists on holding the baby, but won’t put down her cigarette. When Sister Julienne instead lays the baby in the makeshift crib, Lana attacks. She rips the sister’s wimple and shoves her, screaming about not wanting her help. The sister’s neck is bleeding.
When Trixie tends to her wound afterward, Sister Julienne says Lana needed “every ounce of love” she could spare. Knowing she was there as an “act of Christian witness” gave her purpose. It reminded her why the order performs its mission and set her resolve.
Late Deliveries
- Sister Monica Joan is showing signs of illness and has lost her appetite for sweets – seriously alarming. When Sister Julienne aids Sister Monica Joan with her ablutions, she notices the elder woman’s legs are swollen. Dr. Turner sadly suspects kidney failure.
- Bolstered by her own experience, Sister Julienne attempts to counsel Sister Veronica through her crisis of faith. Sister Veronica cannot be comforted, expressing her deep yearning for a child and removing her wimple. She was granted a 6-week leave of absence from the Motherhouse to decide whether to give up her vows. The episode ends with her in plainclothes, uncertain and scared, heading to the train as Beryl.
- Meanwhile, Sister Julienne has finally decided her response to the Board of Health: If the order is not allowed to practice in a missionary capacity, they will leave Poplar at the end of the year. Will National Health blink?
Call the Midwife Season 15 continues Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on most PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. The series is available in full streaming on PBS Passport for members. The series will stream on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Channel weekly through mid-May. As always, check your local listings.
