The ordinary seldom seems miraculous.
The slow, steady circling
of the hands on the clock face,
each time of day with its appointed task.
To ask us if we love the daily round
is like asking if we cherish breathing.
We let our routines nourish us
without a second thought.
This is who we are. This is what is needed.
This is what we do.
Ah... Tea.
Best drink of the day.
Oh! Fetch a packet of Eccles cakes.
Cyril's back from his conference today,
so I've ordered in his Guardian...
Fred... There's water coming out of the ceiling.
Oh... Flippin' 'eck.
FRED SIGHS
- It's one minute past. - Sorry, Nurse Crane.
It's my fault. I went to see if there was any post...
..and we've had a card from Sister Veronica in Hong Kong!
Post on a sterile surface?
PHYLLIS TUTS
Hm. "Christopher doing nicely.
"New Hibiscus Clinic thriving.
"Sister Hilda in her element."
"Element" underlined.
We may now turn our attention
to the particularly trying day we have ahead.
Do we really have to
move clinic to the annexe at St Cuthbert's?
The Board of Health have given us no notice.
Dr Turner has tried his utmost, but there's been no reprieve.
I know that annexe.
The screens and equipment are totally inadequate.
We'll be taking our own accoutrements, don't you worry.
Meanwhile, we do have
both Nurse Aylward and Nurse Clifford coming back today.
Will you get a chance to go to bed this morning
and catch up on some sleep?
No. I'm going to meet Miss Higgins
and try and lick these new arrangements into shape.
You do have to wonder what it all bodes.
I keep thinking about how we counted every step
all the way to the top of York Minster.
And now I'm counting every step all the way back
to your front door and Nonnatus House.
Cos there are hardly any left before it's over!
It was a beautiful view from the top of York Minster,
and nothing is over.
It felt like another beginning, didn't it?
Yes, it did.
Let's go and make another cup of coffee
before we go back to the ordinary world.
You think it's rats, Mr Buckle?
Nasty, greedy things gnawing at things with their incisors!
It's lead pipe. If they gnaw at that, they'd get poisoned.
I want them poisoned!
I use this flat for prayer meetings.
It's not rats! It's just the solder's perished.
It's like tissue paper, this, Fred.
- Oh! - Oh!
PLUMBER LAUGHS
Here you are.
Look, I reckon you need to pull all these out,
refit it with proper plastic.
I just put some in our new house.
Did you hear? We're moving back to Poplar. Moss Street.
- Oh, Walthamstow didn't reign long, then? - No!
Never mind your geographical chitchat!
This young man is wheezing like a creaking gate.
Hey, use your inhaler, son. It's all right.
He just gets like this every time we pull up floorboards.
He's... He's all right.
He's all right.
ROSALIND LAUGHS
Hello, Mrs Wallace.
Fred?
What's all this?
Greetings, Pastor Robinson.
And greetings, Rosalind.
You didn't see the plumber's van outside?
Perhaps your mind was on other matters.
Good afternoon, Miss Higgins.
I've been sent to hold the fort while you're at clinic.
Master Timothy Turner!
Or...should that be Doctor?
A little bird informed me
that a certain set of examinations
have not only been passed, but passed with flying colours.
Yes. That pen you gave me stood me in very good stead.
Of course, I won't be writing any prescriptions out with it
until I'm formally qualified.
All good things will happen in time.
BABY CRYING
Mrs Hennessy, we discussed the merits and demerits
of peanut butter jars last week.
Leave your sample with me.
And if you cannot find a seat, you may queue against the wall.
I'd be extra alert for signs of protein in that one.
Oh, and diabetes in the rosehip syrup bottle.
Honestly, Aisha, I'm still a bit full from our lunch.
Feed mother, feed baby.
Er, maybe I'll just nibble on one while I'm waiting.
Ruth Khan?
Oh, hello. Ruth, dear.
I'm sorry, we're still finding our feet in our new location.
Sister Julienne will see you
behind the screens in the far corner.
I come?
I have to go in on my own.
You know the drill.
Is there somewhere I can put this?
Um... A paper towel, perhaps?
I was thinking more like the bin.
I love this sort of food,
but my mother-in-law keeps trying to feed me,
and I'm not that hungry.
We do advise small, frequent meals
at this stage of the pregnancy.
Nurse Crane said that in mothercraft class.
I had to translate it for my mother-in-law,
and I think she only heard "frequent".
I don't think it'll be too long
before baby puts in an appearance.
Have we delivered the home birth pack to you yet?
No. I'm so glad I'm having it in my own bed.
Babies are born at home in my husband's tradition,
and I was born at home with Nonnatus nuns,
so it's something that sort of makes us the same.
I'll pop by tomorrow with the pack,
and then we'll be all prepared.
- Cup of tea? - Thank you.
Kindly desist forthwith!
Those cards contain
confidential medical information.
I work for the National Health Service.
In which case,
I should not need to point out the proprieties.
I'm starting to think we were moved here for a reason.
Now we're on National Health premises,
can they just breeze in at will?
It's the thin end of the wedge!
If they want information about our district cases,
then they should put in a formal request.
The administrator claims they can demand access
without notice.
But as we have previously discussed,
we are under no obligation to do everything they ask.
I'm not sure she's any nearer to deciding.
Whether to accept the new rules or close Nonnatus House?
Shelagh, if she delays any longer, it won't be up to her.
And what happens after that will happen to us all.
Are you not partaking in pudding, Sister?
Can it be preserved?
I find my appetite does not keep the hours
that once it did.
I will put some foil on it.
Standard of cakes has gone right down
while Sister Veronica's been away.
This is the second time this week I've made a sponge so bad
we've had to pour custard on it.
You pour away. Custard's one of the things I miss most
when I'm in America.
Is there anything else you yearn for
whilst you are overseas?
I could be flippant and say lemon curd
and electric kettles,
but above all else I miss the respect for midwifery
we're so used to over here.
May I suggest we turn our attention
to the matter of St Raymond's feast day?
There will be the usual Eucharist in the chapel
in the morning.
And then I thought,
as the holiday falls on a bank holiday Monday,
a strawberry tea might be appropriate.
Mm!
Thank you.
Oh! Good evening, Mrs Barrowman.
Now, you look like a woman on a mission.
I'm a woman in search of comestibles.
Ooh!
My Ivan and his family, they're moving house tomorrow,
so I'm going to christen the kitchen by making their tea.
Ivan did me a favour and a half this morning.
Sorted a burst pipe inside an hour.
Oh, good.
Um...have you got any luncheon meat?
Er...bottom left, dear, next to the soap powder.
Oh.
I'm going to take three tins.
Oh, I hope you're planning fritters.
There's nothing like the smell of frying
- to make a house a home. - Yeah, well, all I can smell at the moment
is wet paint and plaster dust.
Still, it's on a better bus route...
..now Suzanne's got into the grammar school.
Gran, they've got rulers and protractors!
Grammar school?
Well, let's hope this is the beginning
of great things for you. Pick yourself out a rubber.
I'll let you have it half price.
Oh!
Last orders for Ovaltine.
DOOR CLOSES
I can't drink anything.
My face is lathered in complexion food.
Why didn't you come down and join us in the parlour?
SHE SIGHS I can't seem to settle, Phyllis.
I knew all this constant toing and froing
would have you all frayed around the edges.
I wish I was the only thing that was frayed.
My marriage isn't exactly thriving
under the current conditions.
Are you spending too much time apart?
We're certainly not doing enough together.
He has his business interests, and I have...this.
You say that as though "this" weren't enough.
It won't be enough for anybody if it all comes to an end.
If you know more than you're cracking on, Trixie,
then that's your business, and I'm not going to press you.
But there's been a Sword of Damocles
hanging over Nonnatus House
for almost as long as I've been here.
And we've always lived to fight another day...
..and deliver another baby.
Things have been changing all the time, haven't they?
Yes.
And we're still here.
SHE CHUCKLES
Though I can't answer for your epidermis
if you leave that face pack on much longer!
Midwife calling.
You're welcome.
You've certainly got everything -
and everyone organised, Ruth!
Dilwar's well on his way up the ladder at the factory,
but he had to start out as a garment presser.
A good manager must have experience of every department.
This not management. This woman's work!
It is all right, isn't it? The flat?
The flat is spotlessly clean.
And this is clearly a home full of love.
I inspect for that, too.
It's much more important.
You wouldn't have found that in the house I grew up in.
My mum ran off and left us when I was eight.
And my dad hardly knew what to do with us.
DOOR OPENS
Please.
We...wanted to ask you something, Sister.
Can Dilwar stay with me when the baby's born?
But of course.
I want it because I do not want Ruth to be afraid.
And I won't be if Dilwar's with me.
Madge!
- I found the tomato sauce. - Where was it?
It was in the tea chest
- with the bedding! - Here, give me that!
LAUGHTER
Susie, you'll have to go on the camp bed
until that new mattress is delivered.
You not having fritters?
Oh, she didn't like luncheon meat,
- apparently. - Mm.
It means she don't like your cooking.
LAUGHTER
Hey!
Shh!
LAUGHTER
Give her some more sauce.
Thank you for wanting to be with me.
I don't want to be outside the door,
waiting for my mother to come out
and tell me how you're doing.
At least that's not going to happen now.
The mother is always in the room with the mother.
I do everything I can to respect your customs, Dilwar.
But if we don't do some things our way,
we aren't going to know who we are.
Please...don't let her in the room.
RETCHING NEARBY
DOOR OPENS
TOILET FLUSHES
Oh, Suzanne, love!
I need you to go to the phone box and ring the doctor.
It's dark.
The phone hasn't been connected,
and nobody else is well enough to go.
Paul's still in the outside lav, and his asthma's bad.
The operator will help you find the number.
Put your coat and shoes on.
Ivan?
IVAN GROANS
Can you let me in?
Five... Five minutes.
HE INHALES
Just keep puffing on it as often as you feel you need to.
The stress of the vomiting has aggravated your asthma.
Oh, I'm hoping that's wearing off.
You know, I haven't worn the old porcelain turban like that
- in years. - Look, I know it's tough,
but if it is something you've all eaten,
then the best thing is to let your body
clear itself of the poison.
I knew me mum's cooking would get us in the end!
HE COUGHS
You're shivering, Ivan.
I can see your goose bumps from here!
You can take paracetamol for fever.
- Lovely. - Then go to bed and keep yourselves warm.
Tea's up!
And Suzanne's busy putting water beside your beds.
Hey, you're a bit overqualified to be a waiter, ain't you?
Chip off the old block, eh?
Nothing like a lad following in his father's footsteps.
Paul's working with Ivan now.
They did half the renovations to this house.
All mod cons.
Central heating, if you please!
Put it on if need be.
This is going to seem like a bad dream by tomorrow teatime.
Dilwar!
DOOR OPENS
Shh. Dilwar's sleeping.
Oh... Oh!
You... You sit. You sit.
RUTH GROANS
I need him to go to the telephone box
and ring Nonnatus House, Aisha.
I telephone. You sit. You rest.
Are you heading out already?
Angela and I are practising her bus route
for the grammar school.
She's a bit worried about the change
at the top of the Commercial Road.
It'll soon become second nature.
Aren't you wearing your blazer to get you in the mood?
It's a rehearsal, not a dress rehearsal!
They should put you two on the television.
It's like watching a dance routine.
London Palladium, here we come!
Let's get you into the bed, honey.
Hello. Um... Are you the lady who's about to become
- a grandma? - Yes.
Tell...her.
CRIES OUT
Mother! Go!
Ma!
HE GIVES ORDERS
RUTH GROANS
DOORBELL RINGS
Is it because of Paul's asthma
that you're making a return visit?
He was the one that worried me.
But everyone in the house is affected,
apart from Suzanne,
which makes them vulnerable.
The bedroom curtains are still drawn.
Doctor calling!
FAINT GROAN NEARBY
BREATHING RAPIDLY
HE COUGHS
I stopped being sick.
But I've used up nearly all my inhaler
and my head's splitting.
You're dehydrated, which won't help.
Are your parents upstairs?
They haven't come down yet.
RUTH GROANS
It's stuck. It's stuck!
I can't get it out!
Ruth, you're nearly there.
It's just all happened so fast,
you've hardly had a chance to catch your breath.
Listen to the nurses, Ruth.
- You know what I should be doing? - SHE GROANS
Well, you obviously do.
That's it, Ruth. Keep pushing.
Just like that.
Your wife's a quick learner.
SHE GASPS
Mr Barrowman?
Mrs Barrowman?
Dr Turner is going to come up and see you in a minute.
Dad!
DAD!
RUTH GROANS
That's it, darling. You did it!
It's a boy!
BABY CRIES
You've given me a son!
No pulse,
no pupil reflexes.
You poor little love.
I think Mr Barrowman has gone, too.
First, we need an ambulance for Paul.
He's in respiratory distress.
And then we need to call the police.
I've...I've gone a bit faint.
Deep breaths!
Then we need to get you outside.
I think I know what this is.
Why can't I go back inside?
You have to sit on the pavement
and wait for the ambulance to arrive.
I'll wait with you.
Where's my mum and my dad?
I-I can't go to hospital without them knowing.
SIREN WAILS
Dr Turner's in charge
of everything that's happening inside.
That's not an ambulance. It's a police car.
- Oh.. - Is this bad?
Not necessarily,
but the placenta should have come away by now.
We don't want you to go to hospital, honey.
I don't either.
I think you might have a full bladder.
And sometimes that gets in the way.
If you can pass water, that may help.
I'll get you a bedpan.
Can we have it ladies only for that bit?
BABY CRIES
I think you've seen enough for one day.
DOOR CLOSES
I hear your wife cry, and I cry.
I hear the baby cry, and I cry.
Why are you speaking in English?
You think like an Englishman,
You understand like an Englishman.
Ruth has just given birth.
It was not easy.
It's not easy now.
Not easy...
..because she need mother.
A mother has known her pain.
Mother gives ease.
Mother gives peace.
Husband can't give that.
She wanted me there.
DOOR OPENS
All's well that ends well.
Ruth passed water and then the afterbirth.
BABY CRIES
It's not for you to even hear such things!
We have a young man, asthmatic,
dehydrated from food poisoning
and suspected exposure to carbon monoxide.
Where's my mum and dad and my sister?!
Stay with him. Keep him on an even keel.
PAUL GASPS AND COUGHS
Oh... Ha!
I tell you,
there is nothing like a cream horn
after a successful delivery.
I'm more of a custard tart girl, really.
Honey, what are you fretting about?
Mrs Wallace phoned Cyril last night
and she wants to speak to him about his conduct,
and also his conscience?
Are you surprised?
He's a pastor...
..who walks into his flat, which is also his church,
with a woman who's not his wife,
carrying bags from a weekend away,
and bumps into the principal elder!
I had hoped you'd tell me not to worry.
That's not what friends are for.
Mm.
SHE SIGHS
PHONE RINGS
Where's my grandson?!
He's through there.
He's resting and receiving oxygen.
I could come in with you if you'd like that.
What I'd like
is to have my son and my daughter-in-law
and my granddaughter still alive!
I'd like them to have seen a competent doctor
who hadn't tucked them into their deathbeds
with kind words and no action!
Oh...
Oh!
Three deaths in one family.
Miss Higgins says if the statements are signed,
she'll deal with them immediately.
I don't think I've ever had to do harder paperwork than this.
SHELAGH SIGHS
Age 11.
She might have been in Angela's class.
I told them to go to bed and keep warm.
And when we found them...
..her little hand was hardly cold at all.
You're a good man, Pastor Robinson,
and you're doing a good job navigating this church
through some very choppy waters.
But you haven't come here to tell me what I'm doing well.
Have you, Mrs Wallace?
No, I have not.
I have come here to tell you
that you're compromising your position
and you're compromising that young girl.
Nobody at church knows we went away together.
Nobody at church?!
You don't think the Almighty go to church?!
The Almighty see everything!
And what's more, he knows his way to York Minster!
I'm sorry, Mrs Wallace.
MRS WALLACE SIGHS
We are modern people... living in a modern world,
wrestling with some very modern problems.
But sometimes, Pastor Robinson...
..the best way of protecting ourselves
and those we love
is by being a little bit old-fashioned.
You understand?
Because...I require you to understand.
How?
I-I mean, how?
Was it the food my nan cooked?
Paul... Everything is going to have to be reviewed
by the coroner.
Ultimately, they will pronounce a verdict.
I don't need a verdict! I just need to know!
Because if I don't know, I can't believe they're dead.
Paul, from what the lab tests tell us...
..the food your nan cooked probably made you all ill.
But that's a simple case
of bacteria with the tinned meat.
Not her fault at all.
Suzanne never had any, anyway.
Yesterday...
..I suspected
that the problem was...
..carbon monoxide poisoning.
And now the postmortem have said
exactly the same thing.
The signs are clear and unmistakable.
It's in the air, isn't it, carbon monoxide?
Only in very small amounts.
When there's too much, it becomes very dangerous.
Why would there be too much?
If a heating system develops problems.
It was a brand-new boiler!
My dad fitted it himself.
Oh...
I helped him, Dr Turner.
Oh... I helped him!
HE SOBS
Timothy said everything Daddy did
when he went out to that family was appropriate.
Why is he so upset?
SHE SIGHS
Angela, every so often when you work in medicine,
we say a case gets under our skin.
This case has got under Daddy's skin.
PHONE RINGS
Hello?
Oh, Mrs Turner...
I rang the surgery, but Dr Turner wasn't there.
We've just had the public health inspectors at the shop.
Public health inspectors?
We're under investigation for selling contaminated meat.
And they've taken I don't know how many tins off the shelf.
I only picked 'em up from the cash-and-carry two days ago.
SHE SOBS
I knew Madge Barrowman.
She was on the Play Streets Subcommittee.
And...and now they've gone,
possibly because of something that we sold!
I think we all have to remain calm.
Nobody really knows who or what is to blame for this.
How did you get on with Mrs Wallace?
We're going to have to go for a walk.
The gas inspector's nearly finished.
Well, once the boiler's stripped out,
I'd have no objection
- to Paul moving back in. - All right, sir.
I don't know where you get your flaming nerve!
You should be locked up for what you said to my grandson!
Telling him he'd killed his family
by fitting a dodgy boiler!
Mrs Barrowman, only the coroner can say what happened.
I hope he finds you guilty of criminal negligence
and strikes you off.
If you sent them all to hospital,
they'd still be alive.
We can't turn the clock back, Cyril.
Not in terms of morals.
And not in terms of what having sex has done to me and my body,
and for us and our relationship!
- Rosalind! - Stopping sleeping together
isn't going to turn me into a virgin again.
And I wouldn't want it to!
I wouldn't want it to either.
Because I feel just the same as you.
But I am not yet divorced, and I am still a pastor,
and I don't like putting you in harm's way.
I'm not in harm's way. I'm on the pill.
There is more than one type of harm, Rosalind.
Maybe we should wait now...
..until I'm in a position to put a ring on your finger
and do things decently.
I have two things to say in response to that.
A, I'm sure Mrs Wallace would be delighted.
B, if that's a proposal of marriage,
it's very poorly thought through and you can keep it!
Oh...
Ooh.
Thank goodness you went in so early!
Under no circumstances
must any patients be allowed to see it.
I'll root out some turps.
SHE SIGHS
Phyllis!
Whatever is this?
SHE SIGHS
No-one is to contact the police.
Patrick, this is a clear case of criminal damage,
and probably slander.
That family have suffered...
..and ARE suffering enough.
There's no proof at all that that...vandalism
is anything to do with them.
I, meanwhile, have had to give short shrift
to a reporter from the Gazette.
He asked questions about potential malpractice.
In front of patients? What did you say?
Well, I merely reminded him that it is against the law
to print, publish or speculate on any details
of a medical case whilst an inquest is pending.
Miss Higgins, that isn't true!
The man was very junior and knew no better.
No further rebuff was required.
I don't think anyone knows anything right now.
Until we hear from the coroner,
I'm not seeing any more patients.
# This feeling inside me
# Could never deny me
# The right to be wrong if I choose
# And this pleasure I get
# From say winning a bet
# Is to lose
# Nothing good, nothing bad
# Nothing ventured, nothing gained
# Nothing still-born or lost
# Nothing further than proof
# Nothing wilder than youth
# Nothing older than time, nothing sweeter than wine
# Nothing physically, recklessly, hopelessly blind
# Nothing I couldn't say
# Nothing why cos today
# Nothing rhymed... #
You know Cyril called again this morning, don't you?
Before you came down to breakfast?
Perhaps he had a sleepless night, too.
I don't know what we're supposed to say to each other.
The matter of my ablutions
generally falls to Sister Catherine.
Sister Catherine is standing in for Sister Veronica
at the head lice conference this morning,
and set off looking as though nothing could make her happier.
Do you recollect what it was like to be...
..at the beginning of all this?
Yes, I do. If only barely sometimes.
I've watched so much water flow underneath the bridge.
The question is, Sister,
do we watch the water or are we the water?
Because if it is the latter...
..you speak not of change,
but of we ourselves being changed...
..or changing.
Ah...
It is a riddle...is it not?
It is indeed.
Sister,
how long have your feet been as swollen as this?
It is a recent development.
Let us not speak of it.
Dad...
..what good is shutting yourself away going to do?
It'll do less harm than trying to treat patients
when I'm not trusted.
And I can use the time to study the latest statistics
on the rise in epidurals.
Trust is essential, isn't it?
It's like clean hands.
Or a steady hand with a lancet.
Like antibiotics.
Black coffee on the night shift.
Can't be a GP without it, son.
You're going back to factory and baby not named?
We can't decide on a name yet, Aisha.
When we decide, we'll do it then.
She white face. She's sick?
Are you sick?
Sick of being cooped up.
I just need some fresh air.
Miss Higgins?
Um, can I ask Dr Turner to make a house call
on Sister Monica Joan?
She seems to have developed some new symptoms.
I'm afraid that
until the Barrowman family situation resolves,
he doesn't feel able to see any patients.
I understand.
In the scheme of things, I suspect this is not urgent.
You stay home.
The baby needs fresh air, Aisha,
and I need to get into a routine.
Please don't go out.
I'm only popping out for an hour.
BABY CRIES
Shh. Sh-sh-sh-sh, sh-sh-sh-sh.
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh.
BABY QUIETENS
BABY CRIES
Sh-sh. Sh-sh-sh-sh.
BABY CONTINUES CRYING
I changed the sheets. I cleaned everything.
But he will not let me do anything with that pillowcase.
Paul, lad...
..do you really think
this is the best place for you to be lying
while you come to terms with everything that's happened?
How can I come to terms with it?!
I helped my dad put that boiler in!
It's my fault! And I'm the one that's still here!
It's not your fault.
There are plenty of others you could blame.
What about you?! Eh? And your cooking!
Come on!
You're both going through something
that no-one should ever have to endure,
alone or separately.
You'll face it better together.
I can smell my dad's hair on this pillowcase.
Oh...
Oh!
SOBBING
Ruth?
PRAM RATTLES QUIETLY
SHE GASPS
SHE GROANS
SHE BREATHES RAGGEDLY
SHE GASPS
I think I need the doctor.
I can walk there.
I go for doctor.
SHE GROANS
You walk. I walk with you.
BABY CRIES
RUTH GROANS
Every single person touched by this case is in torment.
Can we not do something
to at least get a preview of the details?
Dr Turner's on the police surgeon roster.
He feels he can't ask for early access to the documents
because he's perceived to have a vested interest.
The baby's mother lying in street! By fire stairs!
- I think she die! - Oh, no. No!
Dr Turner!
It's Ruth Khan. She delivered a few days ago.
She just opened her eyes.
Said something about seeing lights.
Her ankles are swollen. Looks like postnatal pre-eclampsia.
Ambulance?
She's on the brink of fitting.
We need Bromethol now.
Can you fetch some?
It's too late for 999. I'll drive her there myself.
Now, run!
It's all right, Ruth.
I'm not going to leave you.
You need a hand with those?
Yes. And we wouldn't mind a bit of fridge space
if you've got any to spare in your flat.
I'm sorry I lost my temper.
It was certainly a spectacle.
If you hadn't have been shouting at me, I would've quite enjoyed it.
And you're right.
It was a terrible marriage proposal.
Was it a marriage proposal?
Yes.
Will you give me the chance to do a better one?
This is better already.
But...why don't you take me away for the weekend?
Discreetly.
And...ask me then.
You know your own mind, don't you?
I'm a grown woman, and a feminist, and...
..there are cathedral towns
the length and breadth of England.
Mr Parry is still with Ruth.
He says you stopped her from tipping over
into full-blown eclampsia.
She hasn't had any seizures?
None.
That would have been a very different story.
We don't always get to write the endings we choose
in this profession,
but sometimes we do.
And sometimes there isn't an ending.
And those stories are the best.
I'm sorry for pushing you away, Aisha.
A mother cannot be pushed away.
Ever.
A mother always at your shoulder.
And it is good.
I never knew that before.
I didn't know what to do with that kind of love.
But I do now.
Thank you...
..for showing me.
It's all written down there in good, plain English.
It's as thorough as it comes, Mrs Barrowman.
And it states very clearly
that it was the boiler that was faulty.
Not the way it was fitted?
It had a defective valve.
What happened was nothing to do with
anyone who was there that night,
or anyone here today.
Meanwhile, all the tins of meat have been recalled
and the cash-and-carry will be prosecuted.
I'm sorry if I acted out of turn.
That's all right.
But I think if you did want to sue the boiler manufacturer,
there would be a case to answer.
No.
We've got a family to say goodbye to...
..and a life to build. Haven't we, lad?
It's Mrs Russell, isn't it?
What can I do for you?
Oh, it's not for me, Sister. It's for one of my neighbours.
Well, a sort of neighbour.
I reckon there's a baby on the way.
ARGUING NEARBY
I can remember you sisters coming out at all hours
and in all weathers.
WOMAN SHOUTS
We still do.
SHE YELLS
Midwife calling.
I don't need a midwife.
My dear, I'm afraid it seems very likely that you do.
I don't need a ruddy midwife!
WOMAN GROANS
WOMAN GASPS AND GROANS
What we'll do is take a gentle look at you,
and then we'll decide what to do.
I don't know why you're saying "we" this or "we" that,
like we're friends or somethin'.
Cos we ain't friends!
Don't you talk to the sister like that!
And we ain't friends, neither!
SHE SPITS
Um, Mrs Russell...
..I don't see any means of heating water in here.
Would you return to your flat and boil a kettle for me?
It's such a shame Sister Veronica missed the Eucharist.
- Mm. - But her plane from Hong Kong
must have still been in the air.
And it's also a shame that your brother can't join us, Trixie.
He's become quite a fixture on high days and holidays.
Oh, I know, but he's gone to Lido di Jesolo
with a friend from his National Service days.
At least I get to arrange some flowers in his absence.
SHE CHUCKLES
This is assault, this is.
Lana, the sense of pressure that you're feeling
is because your baby's head is descending through your pelvis.
It's almost ready to be born.
Send for a bloody ambulance!
Lana, it's too late.
How's things?
I'm sorting through my dad's tools.
Seems a first step towards what he would have wanted.
Following in his footsteps and all that.
Me, too.
Delivering insulin to a self-injecting diabetic.
This is a lead dressing tool.
He had it so many years, it's been worn to his grip.
It's old-fashioned, but...I'm going to keep it.
That sort of thing matters, doesn't it?
Could you organise a urine sample?
Next time she feels like getting up?
She has been needing a lot of rest lately.
I do not require repose.
It is almost invariably forced upon me.
If you feel like it,
I can bring you a strawberry scone to nibble on later.
Hm...
BABY GURGLES
She's a pretty little thing.
I'm paying particular attention to her eyes
as I bathe her, in case there's any infection.
Are you saying I'm dirty?
We take the same approach with every newborn.
I want to hold her.
When you've, um, finished your cigarette, perhaps.
I want...
..to hold her.
SHE EXHALES SHARPLY
Get your hands off my baby!
I didn't ask you to come here!
- Oh! - Get your hands off me!
Who asked you to come here in the first place?
BABY CRIES
SHE MURMURS SILENTLY
The mother was angry
and she was distressed.
She wasn't unusual in that.
And she needed...
..every ounce of love I could show her.
She spat at you and she assaulted you.
And the only thing that stopped me...
..turning my back on her and running out of that squalid room
was the fact that I was there as an act of...
..Christian witness.
Did that give you courage?
It gave me purpose.
And it gave me strength.
And it reminded me that we are missionaries...
..here in the East End.
And I'd rather go and be a missionary elsewhere
than be forced to pretend to be something we are not.
Sister...
Have you made your decision?
Sister Julienne?
Sister Veronica has arrived back from Hong Kong.
She's waiting in your office
and insists she'll see no-one but you.
I came back to Poplar via the Mother House.
I needed to confer with Mother Mildred
because I have been feeling increasingly...unhappy.
I wasn't...unaware of it.
But our work is not about...
..our happiness.
It is about seeking no reward,
other than knowing that we do His will.
If you are quoting St Ignatius of Loyola,
then you are omitting the bit about giving
and not counting the cost.
And I...can't keep on giving
and not counting the cost any longer.
But you must.
We must, Sister.
It is what we do.
It is what I have done,
and done for too long. I have...
..loved...
..and served.
And I have saved other women's children for decades.
If any one were mine
or...felt like mine...
..for a day or even an hour....
..I had to hand it back...
..and stand there trying not to scream
because my arms were empty!
Why didn't you tell me this before?
Because I hoped I could bear it,
and I can't!
I've been given permission to go away for six weeks...
..while I decide...
..if I want to give up my vows and leave the order.
CHATTER
Pull, then.
All right, I'm pulling, I'm pulling!
Push!
- Come on. - Down that way!
KNOCK AT DOOR
Come in.
DOOR OPENS
DOOR CLOSES
I couldn't let you go without coming to see you.
I've stood exactly where you're standing now.
Well, I hope you were standing in better shoes than these.
There are no lace-ups in the charity cupboard,
and I can only walk in lace-ups.
There is a knack to court shoes.
Please, don't put your arms around me.
I'm scared... I might break apart.
Beryl...
..do you have somewhere to go?
I've been offered a room in a Christian retreat house
near Gravesend.
There are no other religious there,
and I'm assured no questions will be asked.
Let me find you a pair of tights.
You'll feel more pulled together in a proper outfit.
You were right about Sister Monica Joan's oedema.
It points to kidney failure.
But tests will tell us more.
This was always going to come, wasn't it...
..in one form or other?
And when it does...
..it's going to feel like
the ravens leaving the Tower of London.
The end of the known world.
One could say that about so many things.
I'm telling the board
that if the order are not permitted to work
in a missionary capacity...
..we are leaving Poplar...
..at the end of the year.
And that is final.
Do you know what you want, Sister?
Apart from a baby to call my own?
No.
Sometimes I don't think anyone knows anything, really.
I'll walk with you as far as the post office.
This must go with the first post in the morning.
Some things bring joy
year after year,
summer after summer.
They have delighted us before, and they will again.
We trust the tides
and the rhythm of the seasons.
The tilt of the sunflower's face towards the sky.
When the wind blows a little colder,
do we even notice it?
Or if we do, do we think it will not be for long?
Because one day it may blow cold for ever,
but not yet...
..not now...
..while miracles are ordinary
and still within our reach.
- She's about to have the baby. - We think.
I just keep getting... Ooh, here it comes again.
Hello, Harmony. I'm a nurse.
I'm sorry you've been hurt.
There is no reason to treat me as an invalid!
Best ice cream in Poplar, guaranteed.
And if I win, you'll get that bike.
One would hope they were above such pettiness
when there is so much at stake.