Perhaps it is always best
to start things in the spring,
matching our rhythm to the Earth's clean beat,
moving in sympathy with nature's good intentions.
Small beginnings.
Time to grow,
sunshine to feed from
and drink.
I have to keep checking the calendar
to make sure it's March and not September.
There's a real back-to-school feeling in the air.
One way or another, we'll all be learning something.
The training regulations seem to be so very stringent.
Meanwhile, Pupil Midwife Downes, Katherine Violet,
has neglected to forward her vaccination record,
and they start tomorrow.
That's one copybook already blotted.
Have you spoken to Miss Higgins?
Miss Higgins is outside
supervising Cub Scouts clean her windows,
and Nurse Crane is watching Cub Scouts wash her car.
They'll be finished soon enough.
It's always all hands to the pump on bob-a-job week.
Oh, is everything in hand as regards the tea, Sister?
I've erred on the side of frugality,
given it's still Lent - only two types of cake.
And one is Madeira.
Pant, please, mother.
Congratulations - a son.
Two minutes past two. Deep transverse arrest.
Kielland forceps deployed and demonstrated.
All midwifery students may leave the room.
Obstetric housemen, stay for suturing, please.
Are you an obstetric houseman?
No, sir.
I can see salad cream.
It's a most frivolous accompaniment during a season of fasting.
The new girls might not be religious, Sister.
They might have given up something
other than food for Lent, such as grumbling.
Two chapel chairs.
Not especially comfortable, but they're sturdy.
We'll have to put the children on the floor
and pretend it's a picnic.
I hope it won't give the wrong impression
of district midwifery. No.
Oh! Excuse me. I'm awfully sorry.
Could you possibly direct me to Nonnatus House in Wick Street?
Ah.
Good afternoon, ladies. Welcome to Nonnatus House.
Did you all travel together?
No, we just met on the step. I'm Joyce Highland.
I'm Kathy Downes.
And I'm Norelle Morris.
That means we're only waiting for Rosalind Clifford.
Hello! I'm so sorry!
Am I late?
I was supposed to be in the approved lodgings,
where Kathy and Norelle are.
But when the landlady found out I was a vegetarian,
I got swapped over here.
Because you've got one on the premises already.
Well, that would be me.
Is it because
you're sentimental about animals?
It's because I can't abide the taste of them!
I hope you're going to be happy with your new room.
Used to be our room, didn't it, Nancy?
But you have much better wallpaper than we had.
My sisters and I spent quite some time selecting it.
Numerous saints were asked to intercede.
I'm afraid we do ask that you refrain from smoking
in your quarters.
We're concerned that the nicotine
might stain the decor.
Mm. Terrible.
I've had worse.
Where have you had worse? I grew up in a boys' boarding school.
My father was the headmaster.
Some of the beds were Army surplus,
left over from World War I.
A boys' boarding school?
I bet you play a mean game of cricket.
I AM a competent batsman,
but never got the hang of bowling.
Gosh!
What did you win those for?
Mm. This is the Sister Dorothea Headley Medal
for Student Nurse Excellence,
awarded by Birmingham Teaching Hospital in 1968.
And the Astonbury Cup
for an essay I wrote about the history of antiseptic.
Your family must be very proud.
My grandma in Trinidad would be,
if she was still alive.
But I never really had any family apart from her.
That's a shame. I suppose I just have to be proud of myself.
I shouldn't think that's very difficult.
Do you mind if I put my CND poster up?
It isn't very big.
Child...
You didn't hear the nuns going on about their new wallpaper?
You would think they mixed that paste with angel sweat
and their own tears.
If you want to save the world, you save the world.
But you stick pins in that paper at your peril.
Thank goodness you can drop me off
and pick me up at Nonnatus so much of the time.
I'm turning into one of those people
who has a favourite seat on the bus,
and glares at anyone who sits in it.
The sooner you decide to learn to drive,
sooner there'll be a fetching little sports car
parked outside for you.
Please can it be red to match my cardigan?
I have to say, I was delighted
when the borough announced this new scheme.
I think GPs delivering district patients in hospital
is the only way to take pressure
off the maternity wards.
It's been so successful in other parts of London,
and the list of reasons for hospital referral
was just getting longer and longer.
So now the women in the risky categories,
they still go to hospital,
but you deliver the babies unless there's a problem,
in which case the consultants are on hand.
It sounds brilliant.
It will be if we can make it work.
Mum, have you got new glasses?
We wondered how long it would be before you noticed!
I didn't realise for two days.
I've done your list
for this dinnertime's cash-and-carry run.
I've underlined Handy Andys
and we've had a run on pixie hoods.
People will just start buying them at the hairdresser's
if we don't have them by the till.
You are going to have to stop all this seductive chitchat,
Violet!
There are young ears listening. Aren't there, Reggie?
I am glad someone's in a good mood.
I've just had a call to say that the mini fairground
that I booked for Easter Monday has had to cancel.
What?
We had a helter-skelter outside Nonnatus House
and a roundabout for the kiddies.
I came home especially.
Oh, Fred. Fred, have you got any more bike oil?
Oh, what's happened now? I lined them up all ready to go last night.
The chain on the Raleigh keeps jamming, and
none of the students have passed their cycling proficiency.
Well, all the oil in Texas won't solve that.
Ladies, please remember to pedal using the balls of your feet.
You must use your feet as if they were hands
and your ankles as though they were your wrists.
I really don't think that's going to help anyone.
It's advice from a public information film.
Oh! My chain's jamming again.
Cyril, can you do the honours with a bit more oil?
This is awfully good of you, but I'm worried
it's going to make you late for work.
Punctuality is important, but so is safety.
You'll be familiar with most of the equipment
in your bags from hospital work,
though things don't always work in quite the same way.
For example, we always carry a razor and enema equipment,
but these days, in the home setting,
the rate of patient compliance is very low.
And the language used can be extremely...educational.
Perfect.
A timely opportunity to demonstrate our phone drill.
As I approach the desk, I glance up at the board
to see who is first on call.
It's Nurse Aylward.
And then I check that the logbook is in situ
before picking up the phone and answering thus...
Nonnatus House, midwife speaking.
How may I help?
My wife's in labour.
Can a midwife come?
Miss Challis!
I really must apologise.
Young Mr Turner shouldn't have booked you in
for a surgery appointment.
Doctor always comes to see you at home because of our staircase.
I need to see him in private.
Don't suppose you've got a plaster, have you?
I've scraped my leg pulling the wheelchair up.
I've got a urine sample.
Do I give it to you?
Take it in when you go to see Doctor.
In the meantime, I will get the first-aid box.
I'm sorry, sweetie.
There really is no sign just yet that you're starting labour.
I've been having pains on and off since last night. I know.
Mother Nature can be a bit of a tease at this stage of the game.
You should try to get some fresh air.
Perhaps have a potter down to the swings
with your little boy.
It's getting rough down those swings, Nurse.
Dog dirt everywhere and teenagers...
I'll be glad when we move to Chigwell. When's that?
When they've built the house.
We put a deposit down, but when we last went to look,
the walls were only up to my knees. Snap!
We're buying a place in the new Barbican Estate.
That's only up to my ankles,
and our apartment's going to be on the fourth floor.
Will you be happy in a flat, Nurse?
I most certainly will.
It's so convenient for my work,
and it's a very exclusive development.
Growing up round here, I've always thought
you've not got anywhere in life till you've got your own staircase.
We'll need to check her urine and then take some bloods.
Also, Doreen's records only go back to 1952,
when the family registered with us.
She would have been about eight.
We'll need to speak to Miss Higgins. Yes, Doctor.
Talk about a carry-on.
You were right about being pregnant, Doreen.
And you were right to bring a urine sample.
But...
Will it show if there's anything wrong?
You said "but".
But what?
But I think you may have miscalculated your dates.
When I was feeling your tummy,
I was checking for the height of what we call the fundus,
the top edge of your womb.
From that, it seems to me
that you're due to have this baby
in the next two or three weeks.
Well...
I messed that up.
I thought I had longer.
We're out of time, Doreen.
We're going to have to tell Mum.
Everything feels better after a cup of tea.
And I've a Mars bar in the pocket of my cape,
if you need a proper pick-me-up.
Mum doesn't even know about Graham, Doreen.
She would have gone mad.
She'll go even madder now.
Music club was the only thing you ever left the house for.
She trusted us to sit and listen
to a bit of Beethoven and drink tea.
She trusted you. No.
She didn't think anyone would look at me.
It's not the same.
And I hate Beethoven.
Do you need to use the telephone? Yes.
I need to ring my boyfriend.
Really hard, concealing a pregnancy
for nearly nine months.
Doreen's sister has to help her with everything.
She's obviously helped her with that too.
It's easier to hide an expectant tummy if you're sitting down.
The wheelchair could have been to her advantage.
I suspect the wheelchair was to her advantage
because nobody expects to see a pregnant woman IN one.
But why should that be?
I mean, not every part of the anatomy is affected.
Every part of her life is affected.
I've seen Doreen Challis out and about with her mother.
The whole family revolves around her.
Once, a child such as she would have been consigned
to an institution to be cleaned and fed,
to watch the world through a window,
to be a stranger to her family...
...and to love.
Doreen's mother clearly made an extraordinary choice.
I, for one, admire her greatly for it.
Doreen, you can't be in the family way.
You can't.
You never go anywhere,
only to that club for musical appreciation.
The father goes there, too.
He's a piano tuner.
The piano tuner who comes here...
..and tunes your dad's piano? The one you make me play.
His name is Graham.
Did YOU know about this?
Is that why you've been helping her get dressed,
helping in the lav and the bath?
Yes.
And I thought you were pushing me away
because you were growing up.
I grew up years ago!
I was more scared to tell you that
than I was to tell you this.
You're not well, Doreen. You were born not well.
You need looking after, not...
..molesting.
Graham did not molest me.
He loved me.
And he loves me now.
He's waiting out the back, Mum.
How could you? How could you?!
That girl's been my life's work, and you've destroyed her!
Mum, stop it. Leave him alone. He should have left HER alone!
I'm going nowhere, Mrs Challis.
Hey...
Did you hear that?
I'm going nowhere.
Neither am I.
It's OK. It's OK.
It's OK.
So...this is recreation.
The opportunity to enjoy one another's company
and to create things of worth via the medium of handicrafts.
Jigsaws are not things of worth.
I would also venture to suggest
that they are not handicrafts.
Well, they still make a very productive alternative
to watching television.
Do either of you knit?
I'm quite good at Airfix models. Mm!
Les? What are you doing?
Go back to bed, Iris.
You just got in? Yes.
And I'm about to go out again.
It's 2:00 in the morning.
I've got things to do.
People to speak to...
..and pay.
Before the whole ruddy thing goes up in flames.
I thought it already went up in flames -
when the lads got sent down.
Some fires have only just started.
Are your bowels normal and regular, Mrs Melia?
They're all right.
And you're managing to sleep well?
I wake up sometimes,
but you do when you're this size.
Of course.
Now, if you could just slip your arm out of that sleeve,
I'll have a little look at your blood pressure.
I'll take over, Nurse Highland.
Could you run to Miss Higgins
and see if Mrs Melia's co-op card needs updating?
Off you pop.
The tempo we strive for in clinic is a quickstep,
not a slow fox.
What's all this, lass?
My husband's been having some bother at work.
It's made him a bit short-tempered.
It's you who we're concerned with here, Iris.
The mother-to-be.
And we never pry...
..but we do listen.
I'm not sure there's anything to say.
He works funny hours in places where he's never taken me.
He's a good provider.
Doreen Challis.
This way, please.
I'm going to walk.
Are you sure?
There'll be no room in there for the chair.
Would you like to stay with Doreen?
No, thanks.
I don't need him fainting.
No problems there.
Strong and steady.
And at the moment, young sir or madam seems to be head down.
Is that good?
I haven't been to any classes.
We can arrange for a midwife to come and see you at home
to help you to prepare.
I have to get it right.
I am the way I am
because of lack of oxygen at birth.
Where were you born, Doreen?
Neptune Street.
Lying-In Hospital.
That was a rough old place.
I don't think anybody got the best of care there.
I've never, ever seen an expectant mother
with such a degree of brain damage.
She strikes me as being extremely bright
and sensible.
She is.
I'm torn between wondering what went on in that room
when she was born and...
..what will happen when she gives birth herself.
Nurse Crane,
I feel I didn't give the best account of myself
with Iris Melia this afternoon.
I should have noticed how subdued she was.
You'll get the hang of it.
In hospital, you deal with cases.
On the district, you deal with people.
When mothers come to us,
they bring everything they are with them,
even their shopping or their washing
if they've been to the market or the laundry.
I saw Miss Higgins refusing entry to an Alsatian
this afternoon.
And sometimes they bring us their problems.
Oh, Nurse Crane, I hope we're not interrupting.
Not at all.
Ladies, this is Councillor Buckle
and her young relation, Reggie,
both very good friends of Nonnatus House.
How do you do, Councillor Buckle?
Very pleased to meet you both.
Hello, Reggie.
Are you new?
Brand-new. We've got a lot to learn.
What can I do to help you, Councillor Buckle?
Reggie, give the leaflets to the nurses.
Thank you.
Oh!
A decorated pram competition? That's tremendous.
Who thought that up?
Me. Yeah, it's for Easter Monday.
People will have a lot of fun with this, Reggie.
I dare say Nonnatus House can come up with something.
And it will help you two with your handicrafts.
So the long and short of it is
Doreen will have to give birth at St Cuthbert's,
but I am going to be her deliverer
under the new scheme.
I can't help wishing our first case there
wasn't quite so sensitive.
I could hardly engage the consultant's interest.
You've piccalilli on your face.
Any luck at the records repository?
One never has luck at the records repository.
One succeeds through diligent application,
or one fails through lack of it.
I succeeded.
Doreen's mother was unmarried when she was born,
and she and Doreen both went by the surname Waterlow.
When she registered with us, she was married
and the whole family went by the name of Challis.
These look a bit of a mess.
Do not touch them.
Doreen was diagnosed with cerebral palsy
at the age of 14 months.
Her clavicle had been broken at birth,
indicating traumatic delivery.
And there is an additional piece of information
of which I feel you ought to be apprised.
What is it?
Doreen was born in Neptune Street
Lying-In Home.
But she was delivered by Sister Julienne.
You haven't found another home for that cat yet?
I keep trying, but he keeps coming back.
Maybe he just likes hearing the word of the Lord.
Having that animal in here is ungodly,
rubbing round people's legs all through the choruses.
There are no cats in the Bible.
I think the problem isn't so much that Nigel is a cat
as that this flat is trying to be a church.
There are services almost every evening,
but we can't fit people in.
We're growing all the time,
and we either have to find new premises
or stop evangelising.
No, Pastor Robinson, we keep spreading the word -
or we die.
Do you suppose smoking counts as recreation?
If so, we could do it every night
and call it handicrafts.
These smell nice. Mm.
They're mentholated.
My grandma got me onto them in Trinidad.
She used to smoke them for her asthma.
Greetings, ladies.
I am Mrs Wallace from the Shining Tabernacle Church.
And I have brought you a list of our services and meetings,
in case you want to come and join us, praising Jesus.
Oh. That's kind.
We always serve a bit of food afterwards.
Prayer fills the heart,
but there's no harm in filling the belly, too.
Thank you, Mrs Wallace, but I don't go to church.
Well, if you change your mind, you know where to come.
Upstairs, above Buckles' paper shop.
Gosh. You REALLY don't go to church, do you?
I delivered Doreen Challis?
I have no memory of it.
It would seem her handicap wasn't identified
until after her first birthday.
And the family still lived in Mile End
for a few years after that,
so by the time they moved to Poplar, with a new surname,
you simply wouldn't have made the connection.
But I delivered her.
July the 11th, 1944.
The notes are scanty, but you signed.
"Sister Julienne."
"OSRF."
How could I not have remembered?
How could I not recall a birth so difficult
it left an infant maimed?
Because you have delivered more than 1,000 babies.
In a cohort that size, complications get forgotten.
Cords around the neck,
inhalation of meconium, delayed second stage,
they all get forgotten.
Doreen can't forget.
Sister,
no-one can ever be entirely sure
what causes a condition like Doreen's.
Her mother may have tripped and fallen
while Doreen was in utero, causing the injury that way.
Medical notes say her clavicle was broken at birth.
That indicates problems during delivery.
Whatever happened, whatever I did,
and failed to recall...
..Doreen has had to live with the results
every day of her life.
Doreen is also loved.
She will marry.
She's going to be a mother.
But none of that has been or will be easy
because she is injured,
and I must be the one who has injured her.
You have spent so long in conversation with the Lord,
I fear you will have little left to say to him at compline.
I have plenty to say to the Lord,
and questions to ask
that he has yet to answer.
Sometimes prayers do not suffice
and we are obliged to be our own detectives.
I have done well enough.
The date tells me that Doreen was born
at the height of the doodlebug raids.
I recollect days when we had to walk to our deliveries...
..when there was so much broken glass,
we could not use our bicycles.
And I recollect the misery of...
..births in buildings where the windows were boarded up,
the squalor of Neptune Street,
and the chaos of the Salvation Army home.
I just wish I could remember her.
We went where God sent us.
Even when we could not divine his will,
we did his work.
I know.
But Sister, tell me...
..did we do it well?
Ta-da! Handicrafts incoming.
Fred had this round the back of a shed.
There was a spider in it as big as my shoe...
Did you kill it?
I helped it to escape with an ice-lolly stick,
and then I scrubbed the whole pram out with Vim.
I just ran in to Napoli and got us some macaroons.
Would you like one?
Mm! Now you're talking.
That'll keep you going while you do your handicrafts.
Aren't you going to join in, Joyce?
You do your cutting and sticking.
I'll read out loud from the Nursing Times
and feed our minds.
Can I just play my new record first?
That's the third time I've heard that since yesterday.
Are you staying the night? Yes.
I'm first on call again.
I think my mummy's gone into the students' bedroom.
I think she has.
Go back to bed, sweetie. Let her have some fun.
"Voting members of the Royal College of Nursing
"have this week given their approval
"to the new Raise the Roof campaign,
"which aims to improve nurses' wages by up to 50%."
Did you know about this?
Yes.
And I'm fully in favour of organised protest.
Other professions do it. Well, other industries.
And let's face it,
our salaries really are a bit on the paltry side.
Aren't they just?
I trained for four years and still can't afford
to provide a home for myself and my daughter.
Mm.
For me, it's not just the money.
It's about respect.
My ambition is to be a hospital matron,
and I will want a wage
that reflects how hard I'm going to work.
Nonnatus House, midwife speaking.
It's Iris Melia.
Don't think it's a false alarm this time.
Oh...
I would have been entirely happy to see Mrs Challis -
and, indeed, Doreen - alone.
I need to talk to the whole family
about the medical and social services plans
we've put in place for Doreen.
And I don't want you to be without support.
Morning, Mr Melia.
She's upstairs.
And tell her, if anybody rings the flat,
I'm to be informed.
I asked him to take Kevin
to my mum's last night cos I reckoned things were hotting up,
and he did, but he didn't get home till 6:00 this morning,
and he is in that much of a temper
I don't know what he's going to do next.
Sweetie, what we're going to do next
is get you out of this wet nightie
and into what they'd refer to as something more comfortable
in a musical revue.
I don't want Les coming anywhere near.
Ooh...
It's not too late to transfer you
to the maternity home, Iris.
Ooh...
There's bolts inside the front door,
top and bottom.
I had Doreen in Neptune Street.
My mum said I couldn't give birth at home.
There were nine of us living in two rooms.
She said a woman needs her dignity.
The East End was full of tiny hospitals
before national health.
And during the war, the Order helped wherever it could.
I never knew it was a nun who delivered her.
I just thought it was a lady in white.
It was me, Ada.
You?
Yes.
We had a hard time of it, didn't we, Sister?
I...
I think we did.
You told me her shoulder was stuck.
You moved me around on the bed.
You had your hand inside me.
It was like a fight.
I am sorry.
I believed in you.
And I was right.
I already knew I was right when I first came in...
..and you made that little joke about my name.
Waterlow.
Because of the mains being burst down the street
by the doodlebug
and hardly anything coming out of the taps.
"Low water...
"..for Miss Waterlow."
Yes.
We laughed, didn't we?
We did.
I...
I remember thinking how very young you looked.
Seems a bit daft buying a whole packet of needles
and a reel of thread just to sew on one button.
You can always pop round to me with a bit of mending.
Oh, that's very kind, Violet.
But I looked after myself before I got married,
and there's no harm in brushing up my skills,
now I'm living on my own.
That'll be two and 11. I did knock a bit off.
Oh, Violet, do you know anything
about this Sharing Of Church Buildings bill
that's going through Parliament?
Sharing of Church Buildings?
It does ring a faint bell.
Excuse the pun.
Shining Tabernacle needs to expand,
but, um, we can't afford proper premises of our own.
I just thought it might be worth investigating.
Oh!
We've got a visitor.
Aw! Look who's come to play!
Is that baby rabbit?
He's getting to be a proper big boy.
Hey! Fred, bring the pushchair in.
How are we going to work out how to decorate it
if you leave it in the street?
We're going to be in the pram competition.
Is that right? ANTHONY: Yes.
Hey! Mm.
For years, I kept thinking...
..what did I do wrong?
Did I not push hard enough?
Did I not listen to what the midwife said?
I'm quite sure that you did everything I said.
One of the hardest ways for a baby to enter this world
is with its shoulder trapped.
Doreen never did make it easy for herself.
Thank you for my daughter, Sister.
I mean it, thank you.
Thank you for saving her.
Thank you for putting her in my arms.
Thank you for letting me walk out of Neptune Street with her,
because...
..I walked out a mother.
And into a whole new world.
I even met a good, good man because of her.
Your husband? Mm.
The East End was full of bad men.
Men who'd drink all the housekeeping
on a Friday night.
Men who'd give you a black eye as soon as look at you.
No bad man was ever gonna love Doreen -
or me because...
..I loved her first and foremost.
And Harry wasn't a bad man.
Harry was the best.
Hello, love. Where have you been?
Down the registry office.
The wedding's in four weeks - all booked and paid for.
You're a decent lad.
My Harry would've liked him.
No!
No, no, no!
Iris. Iris, try to stay calm.
Nurse Aylward will have the gas ready for you in just a jiffy.
Ugh!
Absolutely kaput, I'm afraid. It can't be.
It can't be! I'm going to coach you
through some breathing exercises instead.
You're having me on!
I don't want to talk
about my birth any more,
and I don't want anyone to see me
as something broken,
because I'm not.
I break things -
sometimes cups,
sometimes promises -
and now I break people's ideas
of what a girl like me
can do, or have...
..or be.
Doreen,
if ever I saw you as less than you are...
..I know better now.
So do I.
You look washed out, love.
She's been like this on and off all morning.
Doreen, I think Sister Julienne should take a look at you.
What does it feel like
when you're in labour?
I think it feels very like this.
This is my home!
Denying me entry is a criminal offence!
Mr Melia, Iris has work to do
and she needs peace and quiet!
Nonnatus House, health visitor speaking.
All things considered, Sister, this mother is not coping well.
Pain relief would really help keep her on an even keel.
Understood.
I'll pop round on my scooter with a canister of gas.
Just be aware - Mr Melia is on the doorstep.
He's being very difficult.
I'm too hot.
It's like I can't catch my breath.
And I need the gas. The gas. I need the gas!
Oh, I'm going to be sick.
I'll get it. It might be Nonnatus House.
Let me in. I need to answer that phone!
Les?
I'm terribly sorry,
but I'm afraid Mr Melia isn't here at the moment.
What?! NURSE TRIXIE: Iris.
- Iris, just breathe. - Les?! What's he up to?
Mr Melia, did you do that?
Just breathe.
I tried to shoot the bolts off.
I need to be able to answer my phone.
If you put the gun away, I will let you in.
But you are to sit by the telephone
and do not move.
Do you hear me?
Yes.
Your wife is having a baby,
and we are all too busy for a lot of theatricals.
Did I just hear what I thought I heard?
Mr Melia tried to shoot the bolts off with a gun,
so I let him in.
No! Everything is fine.
He only wants to use the phone.
Miss Higgins, it would appear Doreen Challis is in labour.
Sister Julienne is with her now,
and I'm about to arrange an ambulance.
I will inform Dr Turner and advise St Cuthbert's.
As it's our first delivery under the new system,
Timothy will be in attendance to supervise the paperwork.
Move! I need to call the police.
There's a man with a gun.
Promise me somebody's coming with the gas.
One of our most reliable and senior midwives
is bringing it by moped.
It's the police. They've come for Les.
Be that as it may, you have work to do, Iris.
He was running with the Kray twins.
It was only a matter of time once they got sent down.
We're going to breathe this pain away, Iris.
Breathe it away.
Stay in the bedroom.
Do you hear me? Don't come out.
We have no intention of doing anything else, Mr Melia.
Your wife is having a baby.
Nurse on call.
I require ingress to number 26, flat two,
if you would be so kind.
I'm afraid this cordon is here for a reason.
A man at that address is resisting arrest,
and he appears to be armed. That's not convenient.
There's a lady in labour in that building.
You're doing tremendously well, Iris.
With every push, I can see
a little bit more of Baby's head.
I keep thinking it's slipping back.
Not at all. Keep this up,
and we'll be celebrating in no time.
Mr Melia...
Shots have been heard.
Can you confirm they came from a gun in your possession?
Yes, but I'm not coming down.
Is anyone on the premises in need of medical attention?
No! For pity's sake!
His wife's having a baby.
There are two midwives with her.
It would be in the best interests of all concerned
if you gave yourself up.
I hardly think that's going to make him change his tack.
See, I told you.
Baby's head is resting in my hand
and has the sweetest mop of thick, dark hair.
Has it? Has it really?
It most certainly has.
Which is just as well, really.
Nobody loves a bald baby.
Just rest now.
You'll feel the head turning in just a moment.
I remember that from last time.
Sergeant, I'm sorry,
but your intentions are misplaced.
Never mind trying to get him to come down here,
you need to get me up there with this gas and air.
Sister, this is what is referred to
as an entrenched situation.
Do you mean a stalemate?
Because stalemates need to be broken.
I'll take that. Thank you.
Mr Melia,
my name is Sister Monica Joan...
Success! You have a little girl, Iris.
Nurse Aylward,
the cord is really, really short.
Rub her. We need to get her breathing.
You can hold the police at bay, Mr Melia.
You can even hold me at bay,
but if I were to hand you over to the women
standing here in this street,
and tell them that you refuse
to let your wife have pain relief...
..I would not give tuppence ha'penny for your chances.
Breathe, poppet. Please. Please breathe.
Give her to me.
Is this because of the cord?
Quite likely.
I don't doubt you have regrets about the path you've taken
and the things you've done to get here.
This isn't the way to negotiate.
But what you do today can be a new beginning.
Your wife is about to bring your child into the world,
Mr Melia.
Do you not owe it to them to do what's right?
I think I can feel the afterbirth.
I think it's born! I can hear it crying.
Just a little push, Iris.
Am I...weeing myself?
No.
You're just...bleeding.
Syntometrine, Nurse.
Mr Melia...
..Iris has given birth to a daughter...
..and I don't know which of them
has had the harder time.
The little one had problems with her cord.
We think she may have haemorrhaged into it,
and now her mother is bleeding -
very badly.
But you're here, the two of you.
There's another one down there, with the gas.
That's good, isn't it?
No, it is not good!
It's far too late for the gas
to be any good to your poor wife.
And both she and her baby need specialist attention -
in a hospital!
Are you a man, Mr Melia, or an animal?!
How will I know when it's time
for me to push?
I've never met a mother yet who couldn't tell me
exactly when she felt the urge.
There's no reason to suppose you'll be any different
from anyone else in that regard.
I love you, Iris!
Do I have to answer him?
No.
In.
I can't get used to Doreen doing things on her own.
She'll need us afterwards.
The baby will need us afterwards.
Baby is going to have two parents.
Baby HAS two parents now.
Families change shape, Mum.
Families take flight.
The contractions are strong and she's fully dilated,
but she's struggling to co-ordinate her pushes.
Her problems aren't obstetric,
they're physiological.
You're as equipped to deal with them as I am.
What do you suggest?
Ventouse.
I favour forceps usually,
but there's no need to correct the position of the head.
Are they talking about me?
Have a few breaths of fresh air.
Soon we're going to have to concentrate.
Thank you for waiting.
Well, it's not every day
you end a shift at the police station.
It's happened before and it will probably happen again.
Nurse Crane's already collected poor Rosalind
and taken her back to Nonnatus for a lie-down.
The phrase "baptism of fire" springs to mind.
It isn't funny, Trixie.
And I wasn't joking.
Today may have been exceptional in many ways,
but we work with patients
who are in extremis all the time.
I just don't want you putting yourself at risk.
Can't you go back to work at the Lady Emily?
It's a private clinic. It's safe.
It's not even that far from our flat.
I work here, Matthew.
It's what I do and what I love doing.
And please don't ask me to stop.
Never.
Come on, Doreen.
Bear down now.
As hard as you can, now.
Dr Turner is pulling...
..and you must push.
You nearly had it then.
Come on. One more massive push with the next pain.
This is it. Come on now, Doreen. Hard as you can.
Give it everything you've got.
8:11.
Am I a mum?
Yes.
To a beautiful...
..beautiful baby boy.
In a moment, you'll hear him crying.
Listen to him, Doreen.
That's your son.
I did it!
I got it right!
Put your slippers on, child.
You don't want pneumonia.
When someone haemorrhages on a maternity ward,
it's all so beautifully managed.
An orderly comes with a mop,
and in a few minutes
it's as though no blood was shed at all.
But this...
I was walking it into the carpet.
I could wring it out of the towels.
Nurse Crane has scrubbed your shoes.
They're stuffed with paper now
and drying on the draining board.
I hope they'll be all right by tomorrow.
Don't really want to go on duty in my slippers.
Or my party slingbacks.
Oh, is that tea?
Tea...
..with a drop of rum in it.
I've never actually had rum.
Except in cakes.
Oh!
That's marvellous.
There's plenty more in the bottle.
You want some?
Oh, go on.
I've had a terrible day too, obviously.
Oh, and we've still got a flaming pram to decorate!
Oh!
I thought they'd keep me in St Cuthbert's with the baby.
It's purely a precaution.
She needs a bit of extra looking after for a few days.
As do you.
I'm not ready to go home...
..even if Les has been remanded in custody.
I know, lass.
I wanted to get ahead with the incubator
in case Little Miss Melia still needs it
when they send her here.
Meanwhile, it'll be Epsom salts for the poor mother.
She's too upset to even consider pumping
once her milk comes in.
The pair of them are lucky to be alive.
You could say the same about Trixie and Rosalind.
I think the National Health need to pay us
danger money sometimes.
Or they could just pay us better, full stop.
I hope you're not referring to this new wage campaign.
I am, as a matter of fact.
Nurses do an impossible job
for money that's impossible to live on.
It isn't fair, and it isn't right.
Our vocation is to care for others, Nancy.
And that is a privilege money cannot buy.
I don't want to hear anything more about it.
In the spring of 1969,
no-one at Nonnatus House knew what the future held.
They knew only that the future had begun.
Seeds had been sown and sap was rising.
There would be growth.
There would be opportunity.
There was so much hope.
They knew spring would turn to summer, and to autumn.
That leaves would brighten and fade to brown
and snow would fall and everything would change.
But at Easter, everyone was flying.
Come on, come on.
The sky shone with promise
and they could see forever.
Perhaps you might need to allow a little extra time
for your journey.
There may be more people joining us
on our journey of faith,
but we've still got people falling off the bus.
Bet you do a roaring trade.
No-one can ever have too many shoes.
That's what I said!
Why didn't you send for us sooner?
I was at work!