MATURE JENNIFER: Some things are so easy to spring-clean.
Glass can be restored to sparkle,
tiles to a warm, smooth glow.
Cobwebs vanish at the duster's touch
and wood reveals its perfect grain once more.
The world itself appears to gleam, and, rendered spotless,
we can start afresh.
Right. If our newcomer can find one speck of dirt
in this clinical room,
I will personally eat my hat with a knife and fork.
I'm afraid we might have rather over-catered.
I wasn't sure how many would be sitting down. A simple afternoon tea
with those of us who will become her closest colleagues -
that's what we were told by Sister Julienne.
She didn't want her to feel overwhelmed.
It's the fact that she's a health visitor
that overwhelmed me. What was it?
"A specialist interest in children and families
"with particular regard to preventative medicine."
I thought we did that anyways. We do! We just call it nursing.
PASSER-BY: Sister.
WOMAN: Sister, good morning.
Welcome, Sister Veronica!
Well, it's a good thing I arrived feeling slightly peckish.
SHE CHUCKLES
What a tremendous amount of trouble you've gone to just for me.
Oh, it's always like this.
Oh! I almost forgot.
Marmalade. All my own work.
It is grapefruit, though, so I'm afraid it's out of bounds
for anyone taking Nembutal. I doubt you'll find anyone
on that medication round this table.
My first foray into medicine was as a trainee dispensing chemist.
I've kept a keen interest in pharmacy ever since,
although, of course, I seldom get the opportunity to work
with Chinese medicine, now the Lord has called me back to Blighty.
Sister Veronica was with the Order in Hong Kong for 13 years.
So you must have worked with Mother Mildred.
I was well prepared for it.
My father was a regimental sergeant major.
Can you sing?
I don't think you'll find me troubling the hit parade.
I do not refer to the performance of novelty songs.
I refer to the liturgy, to the raising of our voices in praise.
We have been somewhat challenged musically while Sister Monica Joan
and I have been the only sisters in choir...
..even though Mrs Turner is kind enough to join us at compline
from time to time.
I remember your voice in the chapel at the Mother House.
PHONE RINGS
Oh! Oh...
It is not coming?
Aaj nahi, Mrs Patel. Not today.
But I have so many pains! I know.
Your body is preparing itself for the work it must do
to bring baby into the world.
But these are not real contractions. Not yet.
Contractions?
Pains.
When the real pains start, they will be much stronger,
and they are going to push baby out.
But not today? No.
It was very kind of Sister Julienne to include me.
But it's always so hard to break the ice with sisters who knew me
when I was living the vowed life. Why do you suppose that is?
Because I don't have any regrets, and I think they think I ought to.
Why should you have any regrets?
Well, my old life was a good life. But this is better.
And I don't doubt Sister Veronica thinks the same
about the choice she made.
I just wish things didn't feel so awkward.
# Thou also shalt light my candle
# The Lord my God shall make my darkness
# To be light
# For in Thee I shall discomfit a host of men
# And with the help of my God I shall leap over the wall. #
You got a little headache?
Yes.
It's my time of the month. Again.
Maybe next time.
Yes. I can't believe I fell pregnant by accident the first time.
Now we're having to try so hard.
HE CHUCKLES
Sometimes the Lord just likes to take the scenic route.
We need everything in that toy box cleaned every week,
and I am taking the cowboy hat completely out of circulation.
It's my opening salvo in the war against nits!
I have good news, Sister. The GPO have agreed to install
an additional telephone line as a matter of urgency.
Oh, that is marvellous. I can use the one on the main desk till then.
Oh...
Sister Julienne will be first on call today.
Nurse Robinson, I've put you on the mid...
CLATTERING
DRAWER SLAMS SHUT
..the midwifery roster with me. I've given you Greta Pickard and her...
BANGING
..varicose veins. She will not wear...
THUDS
..her support hose.
Meanwhile, Nurse Corrigan, we have a new patient with terminal cancer.
The lady discharged herself from hospital against medical advice.
Oh, God love her. Mmm.
Here you go. This one has got a brand-new chain on it.
No expense spared.
Ooh! No, no, no.
No, this saddle's far too high. I'm going to do myself a mischief!
POP MUSIC PLAYS IN OTHER ROOM
Knock, knock! Hi.
I'm looking for Mrs Greta Pickard.
Is she in? Bless you, Nurse.
Kenny would sleep in that box if I'd let him.
Right, come in. I've just made a cuppa.
I'm glad you don't take sugar. I'm clean out of it again.
GRETA SIGHS What do you want to look at first?
Do I need to take me knicks off? Not yet.
GRETA SIGHS
Oh, Mrs Pickard...
Nurse Crane said these veins were getting worse.
I've told my Wally I'll train them to grow in the shape
of his initials. Or maybe I should get some sort of dockers' motto -
"Arise ye workers." Might look quite good running down me shins.
Mrs Pickard, you really need to wear your support hose.
You must have knocked this one, and it's become infected.
Also, you need to rest.
GRETA CHUCKLES
I'm on me fifth, Nurse. And I've had to take on extra work
down the rag stall on the market.
Are you always on your feet? I have to be,
because my husband is always on his arse. He's either out of work,
on strike or sat down the Black Sail,
planning the revolution.
No. I'm so sorry. This one definitely keeps listing
to the left, and I just don't trust the brakes on it.
HE GROANS
I can always work on the brakes.
Also, I'm not keen on the handlebars.
District nurse calling. Is Dr Turner here?
I had to send for him. My poor lodger...
..she's in so much pain. Thank you.
SHE BREATHES HEAVILY
The anti-emetic is in your system now,
and so's the morphine. It will work - just give it a few minutes.
SHE PANTS
It's...like a knife. It's like being stabbed again and again.
It will ease off. And Nurse Corrigan and I are going to work out
a plan to pre-empt the pain and keep it at bay.
Oh, look at the state of you.
All right, let's put this to one side
and get you a bit more comfy.
It's Olive, isn't it?
Is the pain in your tummy?
It's in my breastbone and my ribs.
There are two types of morphine here -
injectable, which we'll see to when we visit,
and an oral suspension, which you can take as needed.
The sooner we can get this from the pharmacy, the better. I'll go now.
See? We'll be on top of this in no time.
I'm a lucky woman. Not many people have such an obliging lodger.
OLIVE RASPS AND WHEEZES
Poor woman.
Multiple myeloma is one of the most painful cancers there is.
The lesions are studded throughout the bone marrow.
And she's going to be desperately anaemic
so too weak to get out of bed.
We'll have to guard against pressure sores.
And we need to be alert to signs of kidney failure.
That's probably what will take her in the end.
How long does she have?
We never know.
But so often in these cases, for the patient,
it tips over from them longing for more time to begging for less.
All we can do is make sure the latter doesn't happen.
Fred, your mince is getting cold.
It's from the authorities. They're disbanding the Civil Defence Corps.
Well, they've been talking about that for months.
Well, now it's official.
I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.
I do. You can spend more time in the paper shop,
and the outside of this building needs painting.
I've had a uniform of one sort or another...
..since 1939.
I just feel...
..finished.
Hmm. These have got worse with every pregnancy,
haven't they, Greta? I'm shutting up shop after this one, Dr T.
Will they get better then? They may not get worse,
but even so, I think we're looking at surgery within a year or two.
You wouldn't have a look at my Anita while you're here, would you?
It's her mouth. It's got a great big lump in it.
Right, young lady. Open wide.
Hmm. It's an abscess in her gum.
I can give her antibiotics to tackle the infection,
but, really, you need to get her to a dentist.
We're not with a dentist, Doctor!
They cost money.
Matthew!
BICYCLE BELL RINGS
The caterers have to have agreed to all of our requirements.
The canape list will include miniature beef Wellington,
salmon mousse en croute and pea pods filled with swirls of Primula...
..for the vegetarians. Will there be many vegetarians?
Nurse Crane has a surprisingly hearty appetite.
And there's your cousin Venetia. Ah. Of course. Venetia.
I liked her when I met her, although I think she might
give us some of her pottery as a wedding gift.
HE CHUCKLES
Yeah. Sorry.
I will be placing a tasteful but comprehensive list
at Peter Jones. It should keep unsolicited gifts to a minimum.
Dinner service and bedding aside, is there anything you'd like me to add?
Do you know? I was actually thinking about a set of golf clubs.
Golf clubs? Mm. You can't mark our eternal union
with a set of golf clubs!
I'll put a lawnmower down. I expect we'll have a lawn eventually.
Now, how are we getting on with meeting each other's families?
I've crossed Venetia off the list. And my Uncle Ted and Aunt Maude
will be over from Singapore at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, there's, erm, afternoon tea with Fiona's parents.
It's already in the diary.
I know that you've met them before,
but, er, not as my fiancee...
..or even as my girlfriend.
I've bought a fawn two-piece and brand-new beige accessories.
Everything's in hand.
Right.
I always think I get five times the amount of information
about any given patient if I visit them at home.
Sometimes it's the level of overcrowding or untidiness.
Sometimes it's just the smell.
Does Greta Pickard's home smell?
There's a whiff of Stardrops around the sink,
so I know she's trying,
but the toddlers reek of urine, so I know she's overwhelmed.
This is exactly the kind of family a health visitor can help.
CHILDREN PLAY OUTSIDE
KNOCK ON DOOR
District nurse.
I come bearing gifts.
Look at this! Brought to you by beautiful technicolour prisms.
Yeah, Jessie put them there.
Are you warm enough with that window open?
I like hearing what's going on outside.
I grew up in Poplar, so when I hear the factory hooters
and the coal cart going past,
I know I'm home.
I was away a long time. Oh, did you run away to see the world?
SHE CHUCKLES
Sort of...
..except I joined the Land Army, so all I saw was ploughed fields
and potatoes and turnips!
Erm...am I right in thinking you're keeping on top of your pain, Olive?
A certain person is keeping me in line.
I shall be putting my prices up.
OLIVE CHUCKLES
Your children are entitled to free treatment, Mrs Pickard,
and so are you as an expectant mother.
If we fill in the forms now, it'll be that much easier
when you take Anita to the dentist tomorrow morning.
I can really see her as soon as that?
I told them she was at risk of blood poisoning.
Even with the antibiotics?
Now, you are up to date in terms of claiming your family allowance,
and you've been signed up for milk tokens since 1962.
Full marks! But according to our records,
you've missed out on vitamin tablets for the children.
DOOR OPENS
Daddy's home, kids.
Hello, my duchess.
Afternoon, Sister.
You must be Mr Pickard. Have you finished work early today?
Oh, there is no work, Sister. There's nothing to unload.
I come in every day and head for a swill at the sink.
And more often than not, my hands aren't even dirty.
Meanwhile, Paul and Anita are at St Mark's, I believe.
I've put the paperwork in place for them to have free school meals.
What? That way, they can be sure of meat and two veg every day
with a nice, robust pudding to follow. It also means
they can be sure of finger-pointing, stigma and ridicule.
Don't you dare raise your voice to the sister.
She's only trying to help. It's up to me what type of help we accept.
I don't mind getting what other people get.
That's called entitlement.
Getting free food is called charity. And we don't want charity,
cos we ain't poor.
What do you mean, you don't know what shade it is?
Well, there wasn't a label on the tin.
That's why it was half-price.
I mean, it was a bargain, even for cash-and-carry standards.
Anyway, the clue is in the name -
Purple Heart.
See?
Well, perhaps you'd better test it on a bit of hardboard first.
Er, it might look better in the daylight.
WHISTLE BLOWS
GROANING
OK.
I can't...even move.
I can't even roll over in bed unless someone helps.
I could get you a bedpan, if you need to go.
The day I give in to a bedpan,
you'll know I'm dying.
Do you want to see if we can get you onto the commode?
Yeah? All right.
OLIVE GROANS
OLIVE GROANS AND SOBS
So sorry.
I'm sorry. It's all right, love. It's what I do. I'm a nurse.
And I'm not, but she needs me more.
Come on, darling. No more secrets.
Come on.
Oh...
OLIVE SOBS
Can't we have them in a less tight size?
Or maybe fishnets? If they're not tight, they're not working.
I'm going to look like a right tragedy case with these on.
People already feel sorry for me cos I'm pregnant AND working.
My neighbour, Mrs Saeed, she brought me over a pot of stew this morning.
That was nice of her. She's a nice little woman.
I say stew...
It's actually curry. Lucky you! I love curry.
Oh, you eat it, an' all? Oh, you wouldn't take it, would you?
Only I can't throw it out cos we use the same bins.
I think it's got spices in it.
It certainly does.
I will take it home to my husband, with pleasure.
Maybe wrap it in your cardie. I wouldn't want to cause offence.
She's finally nodded off.
The liquid morphine does seem to help.
I'm going to get this sample tested, just to check her potassium levels.
But it...does look as though her kidneys are failing.
What does that mean?
She may start to have some trouble with her breathing.
It might be better to put her back into hospital.
No. Not under any circumstances!
SHE EXHALES
SHE SIGHS
We met in the Land Army.
She'd never been outside the East End.
She'd never seen a cow or an owl or a cabbage patch. I...
I'd never seen anyone like her.
We were both fish out of water.
Then we realised...we were both swimming at exactly the same pace.
I mean, after the war, the Government was crying out
for teachers, so we became Miss Macketts and Miss Parris.
I taught physics...
..and she had a flair for children's art.
That's where the prisms come from.
It was something we both had in our classrooms.
I knew the science.
She simply knew that they were beautiful.
We've spent the last 25 years hiding in plain sight.
Landlady and lodger, usually.
But we often forget who's who.
We didn't even get a dog
in case it would obey us both equally and give the game away.
Sorry. You didn't need to know this.
I think I do.
I'm her nurse, and...
..you make her feel better.
I tell you, Lucille, I don't know who Mrs Saeed is,
but I need to shake her hand. That was a magnificent curry.
I wish we had something for dessert.
I got something better than dessert.
The pictures from Celine's wedding?!
"Contains photographs. Do not bend."
THEY CHUCKLE
It's not that I was shocked. I've heard of lesbians before.
I've just never met any.
You probably have. The thing about people who lead unusual lives is
they tend to mind their own business,
and so should we.
Is it still illegal, like it was for men?
Lesbianism has never been illegal.
So why are they so scared?
Because it's not laws
that rule this country, it's attitudes.
There's no law against unmarried mothers, but you and I both know
more about that shame than most.
I suppose that's why Olive doesn't want to die in hospital.
Jessie can't be her next of kin,
so she wouldn't be allowed extended visiting.
She wouldn't be allowed to be there when she dies.
That's criminal.
Nobody ever forgets what happens at a deathbed.
It's like you feel everything ten times more intensely -
the hate and anger and resentment... as well as love.
Mm.
Auntie Priss said she was going to wear yellow with a turquoise hat.
The thing is, a photograph can't really show you
how yellow or how turquoise.
And I can't tell if Celine's bouquet has stephanotis in it.
And she is taller than Edwin.
No, I think it's just her headdress.
My mother kept hinting he was small in her letters,
and you can't see how short his legs are.
Lucille, a man's height has no bearing on his...
..on his character.
You don't know that.
And what I know is this.
Celine's my sister.
I haven't seen her for years.
I've never met her husband. She has never met you.
We used to plait each other's hair.
When she was a baby...
..she used to suck my thumb so she could go to sleep.
And now we just send photographs of all the things that matter.
SHE SIGHS
Oh, Fiona...
SHE YAWNS
Goodness me, Doctor. Are you up early or going to bed late?
I was called out to Olive Macketts'.
She's developed pulmonary oedema,
so she's going to need oxygen and diuretics.
Nancy's built up quite a rapport with them.
Do you want to give her particular instructions?
You'll need to be involved, as well.
Olive is going to need someone with her most of the time now.
It won't be for long.
Hmm.
I telephoned Phyllis.
I told her you were ill and you couldn't come in today.
Did you say it was a tummy upset?
I did.
But I don't like lying.
You're not sick, Lucille.
You're just sad.
And maybe that needs a different kind of medicine.
Oh, I'm sorry, Fred.
I mean, I've looked at it in the dark, in light rain,
under a street lamp and now in early-morning sunshine. And?
There is no way on this Earth that you're painting my shop that colour.
I mean, this is a respectable neighbourhood haberdashery,
not one of the fleshpots of Carnaby Street!
I sometimes have to remind myself that even moths are God's creatures.
And delayed GPO engineers.
BOTH CHUCKLE
Also bicycles.
Have you not found one that suits yet?
The problem isn't to do with any of the bikes.
It's to do with me. I have health concerns
that mean I must avoid all vigorous activity.
Mother Mildred said nothing about this.
I really think it might be best if the Order were to purchase
a car for me. A car?
Well, once my programme of home, school and nursery visits starts,
I could be covering 20 miles a day,
which would be quite a challenge... on one and a half lungs.
Sister!
Have you had... part of a lung removed?
Life in the Far East can take quite a toll.
SHOP BELL RINGS
Evening, Fred. Got any Turkish Delight?
Oh, you're trying to butter up that missus of yours, are you, eh?
I know it's her favourite. Here y'are, on the house.
Oh, no, Fred.
Here, have it.
And, er...got some free paint, too, if you want it. What sort of paint?
Purplish. You could give the flat a once-over, if you like.
We like it the colour it already is.
Fair enough.
HE SIGHS
There you are. Nothing like the good stuff to set you up for the day.
I think the oral morphine has stopped working.
I was telling Olive before you came
that it's like the difference between Ribena and neat whisky.
Are you going now? I just popped in to make the introductions,
but Nurse Franklin will stay with you for a few hours.
We're like the Windmill Girls.
Great legs?
No - we never close!
BOTH CHUCKLE
FRED: Oi! Over here!
Come on, then.
Yes! Bobby Moore!
Yes!
What a shot!
Yeah!
Nobody else about, Sister?
Everyone is engaged.
Saturday is not a holiday at Nonnatus House.
I have deliberately sought out honest toil,
lest I be accused of sloth.
You can give the woodwork a bit of a touch-up, if you like.
Just going to park this paint in the shed in case we need it.
But this is purple, a colour of intense ecclesiastical potential!
I shall require sandpaper, brushes...a rag and turpentine.
I have received a letter from Mother Mildred, and I quote...
.."Sister Veronica came to the Order in perfect health
"and has had no serious illnesses, hospitalisation or surgeries
"in the intervening years. Her propensity for tactical falsehoods,
"however, remains an enduring flaw."
She's saying I tell fibs, isn't she?
Yes, she is.
I never do it lightly. I do penance every single time,
but sometimes embellishment is such a useful tool.
SHE GASPS Suggesting the Order purchase a car
for you is not embellishment. It's highway robbery!
Part of my remit as health visitor is to convince the people of Poplar
to embrace everything that's positive, modern and new.
I can't do that on a 1930s bone-shaker.
Unless you can find some way of funding an alternative,
I'm very much afraid you will have to.
The minute I saw those photographs,
all I wanted to do was go home.
Jamaica felt like the solution to everything.
But you've a home here now.
You've a career and purpose and people who love you.
Hiding away won't help you to believe that.
I know.
And I'm going to go to church on Sunday and work on Monday
with a smile on my face.
In the meantime, I'm going to clean this flat.
MUSIC: Love Is All Around by the Troggs
# I feel it in my fingers I feel it in my toes
# Love is all around me And so the feeling grows
# It's written on the wind It's everywhere I go... #
Whoops!
Afternoon, Nurse Crane.
You've got your hands full.
The girls have all been to dancing class.
I'm just dropping Colette off with Nancy.
OVER RADIO: And now some breaking news.
Shadow Defence Secretary Mr Enoch Powell
has today denounced the rising number
of Commonwealth immigrants in Great Britain.
Mr Powell's speech, coming just days before the Race Relations Bill
is heard in the House of Commons, has provoked criticism...
POWELL: In this country, in 15 or 20 years' time...
I don't want to hear this. We can't turn it off.
..the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.
We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation...
Incitement to racial hatred in this country is a crime.
Who is going to arrest a politician?
And who'll stop people from acting on his words?
..busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.
Mrs Turner! I was just about to make sandwiches.
Will you be staying for tea?
That's very kind of you, but we have to get back for The Monkees.
You have monkeys?
CHILDREN LAUGH
Oh, no. It's a television programme about a pop group.
It is quite wholesome.
I was wondering when I might see little May again.
Did your paths cross at the Hong Kong orphanage?
I was in charge of the Jasmine Room. That's what we called the nursery.
Gam daai go neoi laa, mui mui zai.
Is that Chinese?
Oh, don't worry.
I'll forget mine soon, too.
Thank you for looking after her.
Thank YOU. One way or another, we're both
still doing the same job, aren't we?
May the Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.
Amen. ALL: Amen.
# O God, make speed to save us
SISTER JULIENNE JOINS IN: # O Lord, make haste to help us
# Glory be to the Father and to the Son
# And to the Holy Ghost
# As it was in the beginning
# Is now and ever shall be
# World without end Amen. #
It is simple afternoon tea, Trixie.
There's nothing simple about it at all. They are Fiona's parents.
I understand that it might be awkward.
Painful, even. For them, as well as for you.
It isn't painful for me. Fiona was their only daughter.
To them, she was irreplaceable.
And for me to be meeting them as your future wife
suggests that we both think otherwise.
HE CHUCKLES They were...they were so lovely,
so generous about me marrying again. They think it's wonderful for Jonty.
"Wonderful" was the word that they actually used. I wish we had a...
..cleaner slate!
I wish that I hadn't have been with them when she died!
I wish I hadn't have seen them at the christening when...
..everything was still so raw!
I wish that I hadn't have been Fiona's midwife.
I wish that I hadn't have been there at her deathbed.
It makes for such a complicated story.
Yeah, well, not in my mind.
But it does in mine!
Don't stand up and just flounce out.
This isn't a row.
Well, I think it's a row.
Yeah, well, it takes two to tango.
And if you don't want to take tea with my former in-laws...
..then...then I respect your wishes.
It has a high-gloss finish.
It...merely requires a longer drying time.
I am responsible for the maintenance of this building,
and I expect to know what is going on inside it.
You are...fracturing the sanctity of the great silence.
Indeed. I am.
And I don't do it lightly.
I find myself under instruction to donate this to the wider community.
Have you any inter...?
Oh! Oh, lass...
What happened to best foot forward?
It's the news, Phyllis - the things Enoch Powell said
and the support he's getting. Lucille, he's been sacked.
It was on the news. The damage is done.
He has said that resenting immigrants is acceptable.
SHE SNIFFS
Listen, Enoch Powell or no Enoch Powell,
you're in no fit state to go out this morning.
I'll add your house calls to my list while you collect yourself.
Thank you for letting me know, Councillor Reed.
And if I am approached by the press,
either local or otherwise, you can rest assured
that I shall be telling them EXACTLY what I think!
Violet...
..got any brown paper? I'm going to wrap this up and put it away.
The dockers are going on strike in solidarity with Enoch Powell!
That is people from this borough, people that I represent.
And what is more, they're staging a march on Parliament tomorrow.
What do you mean, like a demonstration?
And the slogan is going to be...
.."Back Britain, not black Britain."
We can't afford for you to go on strike again, Wally,
even if it is just for one day! And if we don't, who will?
You said the Smithfield porters will be at the march.
Why can't they support ruddy Enoch Powell?
Mrs Pickard, I need to look at your dressings
as well as check your blood pressure.
And I'm afraid my time is limited.
Well, it shouldn't be. The National Health wouldn't be in the state
it's in if the doors weren't wide open to all and sundry.
Shall we adjourn to the bedroom, Mrs Pickard?
He just goes on and on, Nurse. It's like he's boring into my brain.
WEAKLY: Thank you. You're welcome, sweetie.
I thought you might prefer the lemon flavour
to the boring old spearmint.
Do you remember the first time you had lemon in a gin and it?
1946.
We hadn't seen lemons the whole of the war,
not during the whole time we'd known each other,
and suddenly there they were, behind the bar
of an otherwise frightful hotel in Margate.
Your lips were chapped.
You said the lemon made them sting.
WHISPERS: Afterwards, when everyone had gone, I kissed them better.
WHEEZING
You're in for a long night, Jessie. Lie down when you're tired.
SHE EXHALES
Thank you.
GAS HISSES
This is a disgrace. Immigrants have never taken dockers' jobs.
The dockers wouldn't let them in! What are they going to
put through the door next, Mrs Wallace? Dog dirt?
Well, if they do, we'll put it in the dustbin,
which is where this is going.
Uh-uh.
I thought the church was welcome here.
No-one else said otherwise until the...Member of Parliament said
we should go home. Home?
We ARE home! We have earned our place in this country.
We work and we pay our taxes.
And you know what the trouble is?
We are on the way up, with the help of Jesus.
And you see all of these people, these protesters,
they are on their way down.
SOFTLY: May I come in?
Yes.
She's gone.
When?
A few minutes ago, I think.
Difficult to tell.
How long will she stay warm for?
A little while.
There's a shirt on top of the dresser.
Would you help me put it on her?
Of course.
Land Army uniform.
We only kept one of them. We could never work out
whether it was hers or mine.
I'd put a prism in her coffin, but...
..there'd be no light there.
PHONE RINGS
Nonnatus House. Midwife speaking.
Dr Turner has asked if a midwife could come
to the maternity home directly.
Mrs Greta Pickard has arrived and is in labour.
Oh, I like Mrs Pickard. I'll be coming myself, Miss Higgins.
Tell her I'll see her shortly.
Come on. Here you are.
Grab a placard. Grab a placard, mate.
1,000 London dock workers are on strike today.
We will be marching shoulder to shoulder
with our fellow workers from Smithfield market.
Dr Turner was right. Things are just starting to get going.
Did you have any breakfast this morning?
No, I wasn't in the mood.
Oh!
SHE GROANS
We will march to Westminster together.
We will support Enoch Powell together.
PROTESTER: Enoch's right! He's right, you know!
WALLY: And together, we will fight to keep Britain for the British!
PROTESTERS: Yes!
Stand in solidarity with British working men.
Come on!
PROTESTERS SHOUT
Dr Turner will come to certify Olive's death shortly.
And then you can take the paperwork to the registrar.
DOOR OPENS
I heard the news.
I just came to give you a hug, really.
Thank you.
It was a privilege looking after her...
..and you.
You've both been so good about not saying anything.
In fact, no-one has ever said anything, not even us.
JESSIE SIGHS
Once she's gone and everything's cleared away,
there won't be a single thing to show we were here at all.
JESSIE SIGHS
I'm so sorry.
I was part of her story.
And she was mine.
It matters.
Fred, I have a question for you.
Where did those marchers get that purple paint?
What purple paint? The paint daubed all over their banners.
The paint that they have used to write obscenities.
The paint that you were trying to give away! No! I would never...
FRED SIGHS
Look, the tin I had
went up to Nonnatus House. I think Sister Julienne got rid of it.
I would have poured it down my throat rather than let it
get into the wrong hands.
Wotcher, Fred.
We've got a carload heading up to Parliament for the march.
British jobs for British workers, all that.
Any chance of some free fags?
No!
All right. Don't ask, you don't get. See you later.
I'm sorry, pal.
Oh, it's not you.
I've known dockers and porters around here for 60 years.
I've never seen them organise themselves so quickly.
CHILD SCREAMS, TYRES SCREECH
THUD
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
See if she's hurt, Fred. You're on the CDC. You know first aid.
Call 999. Get the ambulance and the police.
I need something to put under her head.
She needs her mum. Find out where she lives - I'll go and fetch her.
You're going to be all right. I'm going to look after you now.
I'm hot. Do you have to keep touching me?
It's the best way of checking on your progress, Mrs Pickard.
Have I made any? Yes, you have.
You're not fully dilated, but you're getting close. I want the gas.
I want to go in the delivery room. You said I could have the gas there.
We need to get to the bottom of your disappointing record
with regard to measles. Disappointing record?
Would you care to clarify?
Well...
ZOYA GROANS
Help me! Please help me!
It's all right, Mrs Patel, you're in the right place.
All day, I think it is just...
..just practice pains. Oh!
This is not just practice pains.
Mr Patel, sit over there.
With me. That's it. That's it.
Uh-huh.
Mrs Patel is in second stage, Nurse Robinson.
I'm taking her straight through to delivery.
No... What about me?
I'm meant to be going in there. You promised me the gas!
One portable gas and air machine, as requested.
Now, Dr Turner is taking a look at Mrs Patel,
then he will be with you forthwith.
I didn't realise I was in a queue.
Do you know? Enoch Powell was right!
GRETA GROANS
Let's just concentrate on what's best for baby.
I want you to breathe as calmly and deeply as you can, Zoya.
Just breathe. That's it, breathe.
She's fully dilated, but baby's head is very high.
And the membranes are still intact?
SHELAGH GASPS
Not any more.
We have meconium.
I'll prepare forceps.
ZOYA PANTS
GRETA GROANS
If you're sure you're comfortable on your feet,
you can start to push when you feel the urge.
But we don't want you taking in too much gas.
Don't...
Mrs Pickard? It's bad enough being shoved in a corner,
let alone being left in bloody agony
because of somebody who has no right to be here
coming in and queue-barging like the place belongs to them!
Mrs Patel is having her first baby.
She's better off in a delivery room if there are complications.
The complication is immigrants
coming here, grabbing things other people have paid for
and taking all the jobs.
British people were born here. We come first.
They should all go home!
Of course, I don't mean you, Nurse.
I'm sorry, but you do mean me. I am an immigrant,
but like everybody else from the Commonwealth,
I came here to work and to play my part and to take my place.
I came to make Britain my home and I did not expect to be made unwelcome.
I just walked out on Mrs Pickard.
She's going into second-stage labour.
Zoya, we're almost at the end of the journey.
Soon you're going to see your baby's face.
You will help me?
The doctor and I are going to give you so much help.
We're going to do this together.
GRETA GROANS
Have I upset Nurse Robinson?
Yes.
Now, where were we? No, you said you were a health visitor.
I hope you're experienced. In my previous incarnation,
I delivered 97 babies - 45 boys, 52 girls.
Have you any preference? It's not too late to place an order.
Just keep pushing, Zoya.
Long, strong pushes now.
Long and strong.
ZOYA STRAINS
It's out.
It's a boy.
Oh...
We need to clear its airways.
Huh?
Oh, please tell me you can see the ruddy head!
Greta, I can. Now, just keep bearing down gently.
That's it. Down.
Oooh!
BABY CRIES
Wh...Why is he silent?
Why does he make no sound?
BABY CRIES
Oh!
It's a little girl, Greta.
Beautifully delivered.
You could do this professionally.
So could you!
I'm going to call her Marie.
There's been Maries in our family ever since we came over from France
as silk weavers 200 years ago.
We ain't seen silk since!
But we don't care, do we, darling? Eh?
Drink this.
I should never have walked out of that room.
If you had been alone at a home delivery,
you would have been severely disciplined.
But Sister Veronica was able to step into the breach
and fortunately all is well.
All is not well with me, Sister.
I know.
TRIXIE: I should be no longer than two minutes!
Or possibly three. Mm-hm...
Oh! Mr Aylward, how fortuitous.
I was just waiting on Nurse Franklin.
She's just getting dressed. Perhaps in due course,
you would care to come and see me at my desk.
I have a request to make of you as our benefactor.
I shall be telling you about my pulmonary problems,
so you must steel yourself.
I've decided against the fawn two-piece. What do you think?
Er, it's great. It's great.
I need this to be so much more than great.
It has to say so many things when I meet Fiona's parents.
Are you sure you want to go ahead with it?
I'm part of their story, too...
..just like Fiona was...
..and just like you are.
And that matters.
Cyril...
..I want to go home.
Just take the sick leave.
Sick leave for your nerves, like Dr Turner said.
I'm not sick.
I'm sad.
And like you said, maybe that needs a different kind of medicine.
Going home is not the answer, Lucille.
I can't leave my job, not even for a holiday.
And we're saving for a house. Mm? That's where our home will be...
..you and me and...
..whoever God sends along to keep us company.
Hm?
We'll work on that another time.
You sleep now.
BABY CRIES IN OTHER ROOM
Is that yours or mine?
ZOYA SOBS
Hey...
Nurse Crane'll go in. She's a bit of an old iron knickers,
but there's nothing she don't know about newborns. When my baby
was born, it didn't cry.
All I wanted was to hear it.
And now it cries and I'm not there.
Have you got slippers?
BABY FUSSES
Sh...
Mrs Patel thought her baby was crying.
No. It's Mademoiselle Marie that's giving me the runaround.
I was just about to give her a bottle.
Right.
Thank you.
Hussein is not hungry, I think.
He's a lovely little thing.
And your daughter is beautiful.
BANGING
FRED: Violet!
I've got a surprise!
What sort of surprise?
I've been down the council and I got myself a little part-time job.
It involves a uniform,
and I get to make the world just a little bit safer.
Doing what?
That little girl getting knocked over made me think.
So...I'm going to be...
..a lollipop man!
One can understand the desire for acknowledgement.
My defining relationship was always with my parents,
and it was such a consolation
to know that I was recorded as their daughter on the census.
Olive and Jessie were recorded
as...landlady and lodger, which is a lie.
She's going to have to register her death.
What's she supposed to put for description of informant?
Tell her she can fill in that section with "present at death".
Present at death?
There's no more intimate connection, really.
It will speak long after all of us are dust.
KLAXON BEEPS
Whatever is that?
Make sure you turn the engine off before you kick the stand.
Sister Veronica, what is this?
A scooter! Courtesy of Mr Aylward.
The Order has entered the 1960s... barely eight years late.
MATURE JENNIFER: Not every new beginning is a good one.
There ARE things we cannot clean away.
But we can invest in the water and the light.
Thanks.
We can choose to listen and speak.
We are more enmeshed in others' lives than we imagine.
We are all somebody's memory, someone's joy...or their regret.
BICYCLE BELL RINGS
We are the weavers of each other's cloth...
..the keepers of our fellow travellers in time.
Change is not a threat. It is a chance.
And if we embrace it, we can begin again.
Whoa! Slow down, Lil!
THEY LAUGH I don't think you're a Londoner.
You'd think I was dead already!
CHILDREN YELL
Cease this at once!
BABY CRIES
Lucille!
She needs help.