Sister Julienne Reaches a Fateful Decision in ‘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.