A Wedding & a Funeral Bring in a New Era for Nonnatus House
Sister Monica Joan's departure heralds the end of an era for 'Call the Midwife.'
Call the Midwife is used to bittersweet goodbyes almost every season, as nurses and nuns end their chapters in Poplar, but the final episode of Season 15 came with a permanent farewell that will sting for a while. Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) officially passed on after falling ill with kidney issues a few episodes ago. She’s been a mainstay of Nonnatus House since the beginning of the show, and it’ll be strange to see how things change now that she’s no longer around to offer sage advice or a caring hand.
Her death signals big changes to come for the nuns and the rest of Poplar. The clinic saw its final patients after losing government funding. Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) informed the rest of the order that Nonnatus House would be pivoting from midwifery to other acts of charity and service while they evaluate their next steps. The idea is that they will venture into the world to share their birthing expertise, and their missionary trips could take them anywhere from British Columbia to remote parts of Australia.
That doesn’t mean there won’t still be a need for midwives in Poplar. The setting in which we find them is changing. Joyce Highland (Renee Bailey) landed a position at St. Cuthbert’s just as the first ultrasound was brought to Poplar. Rosalind is also expected to continue her nursing career in some capacity, though she’ll first be enjoying wedded bliss with Cyril (Zephryn Taitte). They are also expecting their first child in the coming months, so Rosalind’s plate is quite full. Maybe there could be room for her at Trixie’s (Helen George) new clinic when Rosalind is ready to return to the workforce.
Trixie and Matthew inherited the full power (and funds) of the Aylward Estate after Matthew’s mother passed away from a heart attack, allowing her to buy a majority stake in the Lady Emily Clinic to run and continue nursing in Poplar.
It will be a long minute before we see how these massive shifts manifest on the show. In the meantime, series creator Heidi Thomas is working on the forthcoming prequel series exploring the founding of Nonnatus House during the Blitz years of WWII. We’ll get to see younger versions of Sister Monica Joan (See? She’s already not gone forever) and Sister Julienne as they begin their journeys in Poplar. There’s also a Call the Midwife film in the works, which will follow our current nuns – including Sister Veronica (Rebecca Gethings), who returned to The Order when she realized during her sabbatical that there was no chance of her having a baby of her own — on one of the aforementioned mission trips.
(I am personally rooting for Australia, but I’ll take anything that lets us hang out with our favorite crew as they deliver babies and help mothers when they need it most.)
As bittersweet as it is to say goodbye to Sister Monica Joan (as we know her, at least), Call the Midwife is just continuing to do what it has always done best — change with the times. We’ve watched the nuns, midwives, nurses, and community around Nonnatus House grow up as the show has progressed from the 1950s to the late 1970s. Yes, we are officially in the era of the National Health Service (NHS), which means the tales of midwives as we’ve known them have ended, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more to tell. Women will continue to have babies in Poplar and abroad, which means there’s still a need for Nonnatus House and the people who call it home to spread their knowledge and goodwill to the world.
The world in the Call the Midwife universe is becoming more complicated, which means the show must evolve. The stories are changing, but that doesn’t mean they’re ending. As Sister Monica Joan implies, she is moving from one chapter to another. So we must do the same, in a much less tragic way, as Call the Midwife continues moving into the future.
Call the Midwife Season 15 is now available to watch on the PBS app and through PBS Passport. The prequel series is expected to arrive in 2027. More details on Season 16 and the upcoming film are still to come.
