Every season, GBH Drama prepares to bring you coverage of the latest and greatest in British dramas. This month, we return to Poplar for the twelfth season of Call The Midwife. With complex medical cases, heartwarming found family, and more births and deaths than we can count, this series is sure to make you laugh and cry (probably more of the latter, if we're being honest). GBH Drama contributor Amanda-Rae Prescott is here to recap the magic as it happens.
This week is the penultimate episode of Call The Midwife Season 12. This week's district patients face homelessness, a viral infection even Nonnatus House residents can’t avoid, and drug addiction. In happier news, Cyril is back from visiting Lucille in Jamaica. Trixie and Matthew are still prepping for their wedding, and the families of Poplar enter a photo contest. Let’s discuss what happens.
A Special Invitation
Trixie and Matthew could have easily relied on verbal RSVP’s, but they mailed out formal invitations. Their wedding is officially set for November 23rd, 1968. Ironically that’s also the anniversary of Doctor Who’s first episode. Trixie tells the Nonnatus sisters that they are exempt from wearing formal attire. Everyone else can dress as they want as well because, despite the fancy cardstock, it’s not a society wedding. The Turners and Ms. Higgins also receive invitations mailed to the clinic. Phyllis is adamant she’s not wearing her uniform because Trixie’s ending that ceremony as Lady Aylward. Does Matthew have a title or honorific he doesn’t use???
Housing Crisis
Nancy is assigned to check on the expectant mother Imelda O’Connor. They bond over missing Irish butter and other specialties but it’s clear Imelda can’t have a home birth. She, along with her husband Maurice and toddler son Paul, live in a caravan. We find out later that Maurice came to London to get work in the construction industry but likely lost his job.
Imelda and Maurice keep getting turned away at the council housing office because there are more families and individuals looking for apartments than what’s currently available. While they’re waiting, someone moves their caravan, leaving all their stuff outside. The O’Connors are forced to break open the door of a building that was recently marked for demolition. Somehow the conditions are even worse than what they’re used to, as the pipes are decaying and dirt and grime are everywhere. Imelda hopes that contractions won’t start until they find a more permanent shelter, but unfortunately, the baby has other plans. Imelda ends up giving birth to a baby girl with only Maurice to help her. Nancy tried to find them but no one knew where the caravan was moved to. After the birth, both Imelda and the baby struggle to keep warm. Police are also banging down the doors of the empty building because someone may have spotted the O’Connors. Imelda tells Maurice to go to Nonnatus to fetch help. She’s scared of the hospital because social services may end up splitting their family but she knows she’s not well. What will happen?
A Surprise Baby
At the clinic, Shelagh examines Mrs. Rosemary Mason. She has 4 other children who are now teens and preteens. Since the doctors have called her a geriatric pregnancy, she is booked to deliver at St. Cuthberts. Sister Monica Joan tells Rosemary she remembers when her first child was born. Unfortunately, Rosemary denies her firstborn was a boy; she says it was a girl. This shakes Sister Monica Joan’s confidence because she doesn’t want to lose any memories. Later on, Rosemary gives birth to a little girl named Jacqueline. During the follow up visit, Rosemary says she feels very tired and achy but not feverish.
Dr. Turner examines Rosemary and asks if she’s ever had gallstones. He determines after feeling her swollen liver, that she has hepatitis. He recommends Jacqueline be fed with a bottle and that she can’t share hygiene items with anyone else in her household for a few weeks. Rosemary says this is going to be difficult because she rents out space to borders. Dr. Turner insists that they need to leave before the disease spreads.
Keeping Busy
Cyril arrives back in Poplar after some time away to see Lucille. This explains why he wasn’t in last week’s episode! He returns to their empty apartment to find the wedding invitation addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. The look on his face implies that Cyril clearly tried to convince Lucille to come back, but she’s not ready. He’s a little reluctant to see his friends despite Fred, Violet, and Phyllis insisting he doesn’t need to be a stranger. He replies that he has no intention of sitting around and feeling sad.
We then see Cyril at a soup kitchen signing up to volunteer. The kitchen receives funding from the council, but they’re limited in how many people they can help at once. Cyril’s task is to act as the doorman. On his first volunteer shift, he ends up saying no to the last man on the line. He’s on the verge of tears but Cyril’s boss tells him they’re at capacity. Out of frustration and sadness that he can’t help the man out, Cyril gives him a few coins to buy dinner with.
Later on, Cyril finds the man he turned away sitting on the sidewalk hungry and shaking. The man’s name is Leon and he’s lived on the streets since his mother turned him over to foster care and he aged out of the system. Leon says his mother now has a new family and he believes she doesn’t care about him. Cyril persuades him to go to the clinic because it’s clear he may be ill with hepatitis. Dr. Turner examines Leon and notices needle marks. Leon refuses additional help for addiction treatment. What will happen to him?
Poplar’s Bonniest Family
In between the cases this week, the clinic is running a sponsored photo contest. Bentley Dairies has offered the prize of 1 year's supply of milk for a family for the best photos. On contest day, everyone in Poplar shows up in their Sunday Best, but there’s one huge problem: the professional photographer’s car broke down on the other side of London. Phyllis asks the others to stall while she grabs her own film camera and tripod. She saved the day and all the families and kids got great photos with the farmyard photo props. Dr. Turner was initially hesitant but Shelagh agreed to have the younger Turners pose. Matthew and Trixie also coax Jonty to smile for the camera.
Nancy declines to enter her and Colette in the contest. She believes that as a single mother, she can’t enter the contest. Phyllis tells her she has some extra shots left and they should have a family photo before Colette grows up too fast. She takes up the offer for a private photoshoot and the result is a great moment in time.
The Shah family end up winning the grand prize with a chance to compete in the national contest with an even bigger prize! Although our faves didn’t win, they looked really cute!
Out Of Sorts
After the contest, Sister Monica Joan says she’s not feeling well. She declines to attend Compline and goes to bed which never happens. The sisters and nurses check in on her and she says she wants to go home. Dr. Turner comes to examine her and determines she also has hepatitis based on her yellow eyes and the other symptoms. The Nonnatus staff are well prepared to manage the infection but it’s up to Sister Monica Joan’s body to fight off the virus. Her age is a complicating factor in the course of the illness.
Later on, Cyril visits Sister Monica Joan. He ends up lifting her spirits because she says her friend has come home! This scene is a definite tear-jerker! Sisters Julienne and Veronica pray for her as well. Unfortunately, her mood worsens when Phyllis shows her the photo she poses for the night of the contest. She says she doesn’t want to see anyone and she’s tired. This is not a good sign at all.
A Second Chance
Leon is still wandering the streets, but this time he turns up near Rosemary’s house. Shelagh sees Rosemary exchanging words with Leon but doesn’t know the full story. Rosemary confesses to Shelagh that Sister Monica Joan was right: her firstborn child was a boy and it was Leon. She was a teenage mother and put Leon up for adoption because this was before she met her husband Arthur. Rosemary never told Arthur or her other children about Leon. She realizes that now is the time to reconcile and Leon pays his mom and half-siblings a visit. Rosemary finally tells everyone about Leon, and best of all, Arthur isn’t angry that Rosemary had a life before him. This is a great family reunion!
The Snowball Effect
Maurice has found Nancy and shows her where Imelda is. She gives her an injection but also directs him to call for an ambulance. Imelda and her baby are responding to treatment, but the worst case scenario happens. Social services places Paul in foster care temporarily, and Maurice has a bed at the single men’s hostel. Imelda does get to say goodbye to Paul before he goes to the family.
Dr. Turner feels bad about the O’Connor’s being split up, but the system doesn’t have an adequate enough process to get homeless families back on their feet. He also says that once a catastrophe happens, it’s hard to stop the next one from happening. What can be done?
Housing Bureaucracy
At home, Matthew and Trixie end up discussing the homelessness crisis. Trixie believes there shouldn’t be any barriers to people receiving housing assistance. Matthew agrees, but it’s clear that the landlords are pulling down the old tenement buildings faster than the construction companies can build modern apartments. They decide to attend the council’s housing subcommittee meeting in order to see what can be done in the short term to fix the problem.
Violet is on the subcommittee with two Nigels. Matthew interrupts their meeting procedure to argue that the O’Connors and others need immediate help. One member then tells Matthew that he’s also to blame for the problem, since he’s torn down several buildings. Matthew claps back that he wasn’t told that the system doesn’t have enough temporary or alternate housing once the decision is made to tear down his own buildings. Violet is also a bit defensive of her coworkers, which is unexpected. After the meeting, Violet pulls Matthew aside and tells him that he’s right, but the rest of the council is too slow to act. She says the subcommittee needs fresh blood to make a difference, and that he should consider running for the council.
Thankfully the O’Connors are getting real help. Imelda and the kids now have temporary housing. Maurice has found construction work on the other side of London that will earn enough to eventually pay for the rent on a new apartment. There’s real hope that their separation is only temporary and it’s clear that Nonnatus’ connections got results where the Council failed.
Will Lucille attend the wedding? Will Matthew take Violet’s advice and run for office? Can Sister Monica Joan fight off the hepatitis infection? We’ll find out next week on the Season 12 finale of Call The Midwife!
