All language subtitles for Call the Midwife S09E08

MATURE JENNIFER: When autumn
starts to dampen into winter,

should we say, "The nights
are getting dark"?

Should we thrust our hands
into our pockets

and anticipate the chill?

Or should we say,
"Light the fire, draw close,

"it will not be as cold
as you imagine"?

Anyone care to join me in a cuppa?

I'd love to,
but I've got a bus to catch.

Moi aussi, I'm afraid.

I've got six minutes. You couldn't
just pop those fairy cakes

in that tin for me, could you?
They're for my grandma.

Have you got far to go to see her?

No, not really. What are you going
to do this afternoon, Kevin?

I'm on call so, with a bit of luck,
I'll get to watch the sport.

With Nurse Crane, if there's
any wrestling on. Shh!

Kevin, no-one's supposed to know
about Nurse Crane and the wrestling.

All I'm saying, Mrs Bevan,
is that if you want to get

the full bouffant effect
with this veil,

then you're going to have to go
with plain tulle, and plenty of it.

But I had my heart set
on guipure lace

to match the edging on the sleeves.

I haven't agreed to guipure lace on
the sleeves or anywhere else, Mum.

I haven't even decided
if I'm having sleeves.

Well, you'd better decide,
and quickly.

I thought we had months to plan all
this, not weeks. I like this one.

It's too fitted, Petra.

You'll need a bouquet
the size of a bin lid.

I'll have a look and see
if we've got something

a bit more empire line.

My nerves are like cat meat.

Look, she's not the first
and she won't be the last.

Have you thought of adding
a chiffon cape?

We won't be much longer,
I promise you.

I just don't want to miss out
on viewing that flat.

Private rentals are like gold dust
or hen's teeth

or rocking-horse droppings.

Everything's going to be perfect.

Valerie Dyer
visiting Elspeth Mary Dyer.

She's in the hospital wing.

They told me I'd have privileges
in here.

I was hoping to get
my proper girdle back.

You are in here because
you're clearly not well, Gran.

I'm acting up, ain't I?

That dressing gown's
hanging off you.

It's the food in here.

I'll share them with Sandra.

She slit her wrists on Thursday.

She could do with
a bit of a pick-me-up.

COMMENTATOR: Down on the top rope.

Grown men!

Grown men rolling around in what
amounts to their vest and pants.

Maybe you can knit them something.

Cheeky!

Last time I was here,
my grandmother had a choking fit.

Since then, it looks to me
as though she's lost a stone.

She hasn't choked while
she's been in the infirmary.

She was admitted with heartburn
and general malaise.

But we aren't too worried because
she tells us she's eating well.

Do you sit with her during meals?
Might I remind you where we are?

This isn't a convalescent home
for gentlefolk.

Elsie will be returned to her
normal cell on Monday.

DOOR CREAKS OPEN

Come in.

Hello, Sister.

It's very kind of you to see me,
Dr Knightly-Grimes.

Yes. Sorry, I can't offer you
a chair,

with things being as they are.

All this rebuilding
and reorganisation

has a lot to answer for.

And a lot to offer, of course.

I'll have to take your word for
that, given that your department

has just cut the Nonnatus House
budget by 50%.

Yes. You have been notified?

By letter this morning.

I'd be obliged if you might
tell me why.

With the expansion of the
St Cuthbert's maternity wards,

the work of your order is clearly
going to decline in importance.

It hasn't declined yet.

And whilst the department
is being rebuilt,

we have 30 extra clinic patients.

You're also under threat
of demolition.

Until that happens,
Nonnatus House is efficient,

central to the district and
extremely well staffed and equipped.

There is however the problem
of your running costs.

We've only ever paid
a peppercorn rent.

The council have been
very generous in that regard.

You haven't been notified by the
Department of Estates and Housing?

No, I have not.

Ah. That is most unfortunate.

If we finish on time this afternoon,
I need to pop into Violet Buckle's

and get some wool
for Dr McNulty's new jumper.

Ooh.

Do you reckon kingfisher
or navy blue?

I'd like to say kingfisher, but he'd
probably find it a bit of a stretch.

I just wish we could
pep him up a bit.

Get him started on
some sort of proper life.

I think he needs a girlfriend,

which in turn requires more
than a new jumper.

I think he just needs to
concentrate on his job.

Have you never heard the expression
"all work and no play"?

We ought to send him
to that discotheque

the junior doctors are having
at St Cuthbert's.

I saw a poster when I was
dropping some samples off.

But how can you be expected to pay
the full commercial rent

when the council have just
halved the budget?

I asked him that.

He replied, "If you do not pay,

"you will have to surrender
the premises."

Did you ask him where the Sisters
and the staff would sleep? Yes.

He said, "That problem
will soon be irrelevant."

It's not irrelevant to us.

We can't run the maternity home
without the order.

You may have no choice.

And that's it?

Nonnatus House settles for half
the budget and 20 times the rent?

That is the situation
we find ourselves in.

And I fear we may have to accept it.

Eddie's in lodgings and he won't
move in with my mum.

If we could just find a flat
to rent, we'd be in clover.

He's in the house clearance line,
so I'll have my pick

of all the furniture.

Some of it does smell of old people
but there's quite a bit of Formica.

Precious, are you absolutely sure
about your dates?

Dates? The date of your
last monthly period.

You'd be three months,
according to that,

but I'm making you nearer to four.

Oh.

Well, you're the expert.

When am I going to feel it kicking?
Not just yet.

And when you do, it won't feel
like a footballer.

I've been told it's more like a bird
brushing inside you with its wings.

Like a bird?

I like that.

Good afternoon.

Bernice Medlar? I believe you
usually attend St Cuthbert's.

Yes, but I don't use the name
Bernice any more.

People call me Bonnie.

We generally keep to formal terms
in clinic, Miss Medlar.

Valerie, I've just come from
St Cuthbert's and I saw your grandma

being brought in from the prison
on a stretcher.

I noticed you've opted out
of wearing a brassiere.

Do you have any discomfort
in your bosoms?

I never had much to put in a bra
before, so I didn't bother.

Now they just seem to stand up
on their own.

That's what they say in the books,
isn't it?

Pregnancy is a positive
state of health.

Have you been doing
a lot of reading? Yes.

And I just got an LP
out of the library

that's a sound recording
of a woman giving birth.

They don't tell you much
at St Cuthbert's.

And they don't have much time
to answer questions, either.

Or time at all, I'll warrant.

It is a bit of sausage factory,
and I'm a vegetarian.

Snap.

They gave me a leaflet
saying eat more liver.

I might give you one saying
eat more eggs and spinach.

You're not anaemic.

That said, your ankles do seem
a little puffy to me, Mrs Medlar.

Does your job keep you on your feet
a lot? I work in a record shop.

Have done ever since
I came to London.

And it's Miss.

I gathered that.

That's why I thought
you might still be working.

I do have a boyfriend

but we haven't got round to
getting the piece of paper yet.

It doesn't matter to us. We don't
see why we should be forced.

I don't care what the nurse said,
I can definitely feel it moving.

Like that. No, that's not it.

Since when were you the expert?!

The nurse said it feels like
the brush of wings.

I've done you Wensleydale on toast
and a bit of Instant Whip.

You're not going short of calcium
on my watch.

You want anything?
I can open you a tin of mince.

I don't need you spoiling me, Ada.
You concentrate on spoiling her.

They're making out I've got
digestive trouble.

I said to them I was only sick
when I was in the work room

because it's not ventilated
properly.

Oh, Gran, I...

Now...

Don't you go crying, my girl.

Not in all that eye black.

Gran, they've left your notes here.

I call that careless
and inconsiderate.

You vomited blood
in the work room, Gran.

Is that what they said? It says...

..you're acutely anaemic.

It says you've had an X-ray
and a barium meal.

It says...

It says you've got cancer
of the oesophagus, Gran.

Those doctors!

They don't know anything.

They do.

And so do I.

MOTHER ON RECORDING: I think
there's one coming up now.

DOCTOR: It's starting up, is it?
Yes.

MOTHER BREATHES CALMLY

That's right.

She isn't scared.

She isn't scared at all.

MOTHER BREATHES CALMLY

Can you hear her?

She knows she can do it.

I know I can do it.

And I know...

..I don't have to do it
in a hospital.

Eddie?

Eddie, it's kicking.

Put your hand on my stomach
like you usually do.

MUSIC: I Know A Place
by Petula Clark

Then swing from the elbows.

Left to right or right to left?

Do you think you might fare better
if you traded those Oxford things

for some plimsolls?

It might give him more bounce
on the ball of his foot.

Nobody wears plimsolls
to a discotheque.

Kevin, the warden from the men's
night shelter telephoned.

They've had a death,
and it needs to be certified.

MUSIC STOPS

Was he a meths drinker?

I'm sorry, mate.

I'm sorry. I'll be finished soon.

I'm afraid surgery has concluded
for the morning. Is something amiss?

Only at St Cuthbert's.

I've been under them so far,

but yesterday I had an appointment
at the clinic in the Institute

and I just want to be looked after
by you now.

What a resounding endorsement
of our practice.

I will however need the details
on your Co-op card

as soon as is convenient.

Can I see the midwife
with the curly perm?

Just to say hello.

She's on duty here today.
I shall take you through.

I have no intention of using this.

I had wondered about having it
at home.

The baby's father could be
there then, couldn't he?

Fathers have attended births
here too before today.

All I would say is,

men in the delivery room
are a lot like gas and air -

when it comes to the crunch,
you might change your opinion.

I won't.

Eddie was a Barnardo's boy.

He never had any family.

He doesn't let people in

and I thought, if he's there
when the baby arrives,

then he'll have to let it in.

Won't he?

Do you think he might derive some
benefit from relaxation classes?

We offer them down at the Institute
for mothers and fathers.

Do you teach them?
Sister Hilda is at the helm,

and people have assured me
her voice is very soothing.

And they can let her out
just like that?

She's inside for doing
illegal abortions.

As I understand it,

your grandmother was already
under consideration for parole.

I'd like to think that her age
came into play with that.

She was almost the oldest
prisoner there at 80.

80?

She told me she was 75.

But it's more likely to be
that the prison infirmary

has no room for her, and the jail
itself can't release a wardress

to sit with her in St Cuthbert's
for several weeks.

Is that how long she's got?

Just weeks?

I haven't seen her yet,

but I will when she comes home.

Dr Turner, she can't come home.

There'll be an inch of dust
in her old flat.

The landlord couldn't re-let it
cos the whole of Shadforth Buildings

has been condemned.
We will help you to clean it.

If she is to be discharged
into your care,

home might be the most
comfortable place for her.

What do you mean,
discharged into my care?

Your grandmother has named you
as her next of kin

on all the Home Office documents.

I don't really know
why I came in here.

I don't believe in the things
it does. I've tried.

I know.

But it will do those things anyway.

It will shelter
and it will strengthen

and it will calm.

There's going to be nothing
left standing soon.

Every landmark I ever knew
seems to be falling down.

I know.

She's going to need morphine.

We need to get it ordered
from the pharmacy.

Val, that's not for you
to worry about.

And a new mattress
and hopefully a pulley.

She'll need glycerine swabs
for her mouth.

We can see to all of that.

We are going to nurse
your grandmother.

You simply have to care for her.

I'm going to give you
leave of absence

for as long as her journey takes.

It's a bacon sandwich.

You said the pigs die screaming.

I thought I would do something
that would make you happy.

If we don't take care of each other,

how are we going to take care
of a child?

We need to start somewhere,
don't we?

How about relaxation classes
with the other mums and dads to be?

Well, that won't kill us, will it?

False alarm for Hilda Lettins.

Are you heading out for the evening?

Sister Julienne and I are going to
beard Councillor Buckle in her den

at her evening surgery
to see what, if anything,

can be done about these budget cuts.

Did you take any pethidine
with you?

Only the usual.

You best put it straight
back in the cupboard.

We seem to be running low.

KNOCK ON DOOR

SHE SQUEALS

We're collecting some dress
material for the Bevan wedding.

The councillor is at her surgery,

so payment requested
at your convenience.

The till is closed for the night.
Can I please take a little peek?

Oh, go on.

Oh!

Mum, this isn't it.

She's ordered pink.

I am going to sort this out
with Mrs Buckle right now.

Think of the waves
coming into shore.

Small waves.

Even the GLC doesn't have
a bottomless pit of money,

and what money there is has to be
spent where the need is greatest.

Naturally, we're very grateful
for the support we do receive,

but... Apologies, Sister,
but if I may interject.

What are you meant
to be grateful for?

The civilian midwives may get paid
the going rate, but the nuns don't.

They put the barest minimum
into their own coffers

and one way and another, the rest
is all spent on the patients.

The GLC are doing very nicely indeed
out of the arrangement,

so you needn't plead poverty
on their behalf.

If she spent less time
meddling in politics

and more time doing what people pay
her for, we'd all be better off.

I still don't think
we should interrupt her.

You are being married in white,
not shocking pink.

Small, shallow waves
licking at the sand

and looking like lace
on a pretty underslip.

The waves cannot harm you.

Father in the mustard top,
you're looking frightfully tense.

Drop those shoulders, drop them.

Just breathe like I do, Eddie.

Copy me.

There does seem to be a certain
disquiet regarding the fact

that you are a very visibly
religious organisation

and it isn't thought to be...

..appropriate when there is money
being put towards

contraceptive clinics
and venereal disease.

And think of the waves.

There's a panel meeting due.

I could see if they would agree
to you putting forward

a defence of your position.

ADA: Oi!

EDDIE: Are you all right?

ADA SHRIEKS

You can't fight in here.
This is a relaxation class.

Who is she?

Eddie.

Who are you?

His fiancee.

I'm pregnant.

So am I.

Careful.

HORN BEEPS

Would it be deemed tactless
if I resume my class?

I think we all need to lie down
and listen to Acker Bilk.

Two sugars.

And I am so sorry about
the wedding-dress material.

I'm worried about Eddie.

You're worried about him?

He's scared, Nurse.

Scared of what he's done.

Scared of what I'll do.

And do you know
what scares him most?

Hurting other people.

There's so much I don't
know about him. Clearly.

But I do know that.

Thank you for this, Fred.

Us East Enders, we stick together.

They couldn't find my good girdle
till I was almost out the door,

then they put it in a carrier bag,
like 5lb of King Eddies.

We'll sort you out
when we get you home, eh?

There was a rota for these stairs.

We did it turn and turn around.

It's all right, Gran.

And just catch your breath.
There we are.

Oh, oh. Oh.

Agh!

Absolutely filthy!

I'm going to take my brush to this.

Agh, agh.

I have not had one wink of sleep

and I didn't even have
my rollers in.

He's going to have to turn his back
on that floozy or else

you're going to be a jilted bride
and an unmarried mother.

Or married to a man
I'll never trust again,

and possibly for no good reason.
How do you mean, for no good reason?

I've had some bleeding.

Oh, Dr McNulty, just the gentleman.

Please be advised that we will be
refreshing the rules

relating to the drug cupboard.

I usually set my bag up
in Nonnatus House.

Nurse Crane has noticed some small
discrepancies, as have I.

We will be synchronising
our routines.

Please help me.

I've got the worst headache
I've ever had. Doctor?

How much staining did you see
on your underclothes?

But there was nothing
on the toilet paper?

It was like it had already stopped.

KNOCK ON DOOR

She needs to be in hospital,
do you hear me?

I'm taking Petra to
the maternity home

so Doctor can put our minds at ease.

Will I have to stay here?

Will I not be able
to have a home birth?

We'll just have to see
how things go.

Like Dr McNulty said, your blood
pressure is on the high side

and we need to check your urine
at regular intervals

in case anything goes awry.

But is it all right now? Yes.

We're just of the opinion
that you need looking after.

What have you done
with this mattress?

It's giving me a pain right in
the middle of my shoulder blades.

That's a symptom of the cancer,
Gran. Dr Turner says you can have

a spoonful of liquid morphine
whenever you need it.

I had that at St Cuthbert's.
It made me sick.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Elsie?

Auntie Flo.

I've, erm, brought you
a couple of trotters

and a vanilla slice.

Get rid of her.
I don't want any visitors.

It's time to stop laying
the law down, Else.

You've got family queueing up all
over Poplar wanting to see you.

I don't want anyone

across this threshold,

except my Val.

Come on.

The Board of Health have
invited us to address them

at their next committee meeting.

I wish I could say they were rolling
out the red carpet but they aren't.

You can have one speaker

and the slot is for no more
than five minutes. Oh!

Best veil and wimple for you on
the night, then, Sister Julienne.

No, someone else must speak, and
it cannot be one of the Sisters.

In which case, might I suggest
that a petition is in order?

I'm sure we'd get hundreds
of signatures.

How long will it take you
to get it organised?

Because the meeting
is in three days.

At three months plus,
any miscarriage

would be traumatic and carry risks.

I wouldn't want to send her home.

That said,

a bit of peace and quiet
might yet keep things on track.

There's no peace and no quiet
at home with her mother,

I'm telling you now.
The side room's free.

Let's keep her in there until we
can get her a bed in St Cuthbert's.

Slip your shoes back on.

We're going to move you to
somewhere a little more private.

No more hopping in and out of bed.
You ring the bell if you need to.

Oh, no.

What's she doing here?

This hasn't been properly
managed at all.

It's been managed with my
patient's best interest in mind,

as I'm sure it has with yours.

I don't want to be here and I don't
want to be here looking at her.

You're not the only lady
in need of care.

Miss Bevan has her own concerns
and her own requirements.

It's a shame she hasn't got
her own boyfriend.

Eddie and me were courting for
two years. We're engaged.

You thought you were.

This is a maternity ward, and you
are expectant mothers not fishwives.

I advise you both to concentrate
on keeping well

and to put your personal
circumstances to one side.

Where's my girl? Oh!

Hello, love.

Agh!

Her blood pressure's slightly low,

otherwise her principal problem
at the present time is pain,

but I can't persuade her
to take anything for it.

Every time she grimaces, every time
she groans in her sleep, I think...

..this is my fault.

I helped send her to prison,
and prison made her ill.

Valerie, we went to
the police together

and we did what was right then,
and you're doing what's right now.

I don't feel as though
I'm doing anything.

You're loving her.

That's the only medicine she wants.

SHE SIGHS

DOOR OPENS

You're improving.

At least this time you managed
to stay on the premises.

Where am I going to run to?

There's only her.

And her.

There's only them.

I understand you're not oversupplied
with family, Mr Tannerman.

I can remember my mum.

I can remember sitting, listening
to the gramophone with her.

I thought that, with Petra...

..I could have that
kind of life again

and a home like that again with her.

Gas fire and a record-player.

And what about Bonnie?

Bonnie?

Like nothing I've ever known
or seen.

And I realised there were...

..other ways of being happy,

except she'd just call it
other ways of being.

Then events...

..got ahead of themselves.

And I don't know what to do.

I think you've done enough
for one lifetime.

Those young women have minds
and opinions of their own

and you can't ask them
what they want now.

You are going to have to wait
till they decide...

..for the sake of the babies
you've created.

I'll go and put these in a vase...

..or two.

Sister Monica Joan, I was expecting
Dr McNulty, but not you.

She won't have any visitors, Sister.

My presence will be as silent
as a prayer...

..and I suspect of somewhat
greater comfort.

ELSIE MURMURS

Have you noticed any change?

She vomited blood again
this morning.

Any pain?

I reckon she's in agony.

I've written her up
for the good stuff.

Please just take it away.

Even having it in the flat
will cause a fight.

She was here
the night you were born.

I recollect her.

Boiling water and handing me
a towel she'd warmed by the fire.

Her delight at the delivery
of new life was...

..unusually vivid,
as though it was a balm to her.

We know now why that might be...

..and we must let it pass...

..as she will.

Ladies on district duty,
I want a petition signature

in exchange for every ulcer bandage,
every insulin injection,

every dressing and every cold
compress applied to a case of piles.

What do we do when we've finished
our house calls?

Well, then we start knocking
on doors!

# More than the greatest love

# The world has known

# This is the love

# I'll give to you alone

# More than the simple words

# I try to say

# I only live to love you

# More each day

# More than you'll ever know

# My arms long to hold you so

# My life will be in your keeping

# Waking, sleeping, laughing... #

A casual calculation suggests
we have well over 600 signatures.

I wish it wasn't just names.

Names don't really say very much,
do they?

People are so much more.

I heard footsteps
and I knew it was you.

We're the only patients in here.

Shouldn't you be in bed, too? They
said you had high blood pressure.

Oh, it's gone down.

Baby's wriggling nicely.

I'm sorry.

Listen...

..I grew up watching women
brawling in the street,

pulling their hair,
ripping sleeves off,

and it was always,
always over a man.

It made them like savages -
less than they were.

I love Eddie.

I'm not going to fight you for him.

The key point is, which one of us
will speak tomorrow?

We already know the habit's
persona non grata.

PHONE RINGS

I actually don't think it matters
who addresses the Board of Health.

We aren't going there to represent
ourselves or the order,

we're going to remind the great
phalanx of men sitting there

why the people of this borough
need our care.

You know, Trixie, you've got
a good, emphatic tone of voice.

The board might listen,
so it's got to be you.

Even the most emphatic
tone of voice on Earth

isn't going to make a mere
petition change their minds.

I'm swapping us round, Sister Hilda.

My little bohemian lady
seems to have gone into labour.

No.

Gran, you've been prescribed
pethidine.

It is appropriate
and it is necessary.

You do not have to be in pain.

Those poor girls never got anything
for their pain, did they?

Not from me.

Not from anybody.

Oh, Gran...
They just gritted their teeth.

And that's just what I'm doing now.

SHE WHEEZES

ICE-CREAM VAN JINGLE

You want to run out
and get us a couple of 99s?

Money's in my purse.

No.

It's not blood money.

I earned it in the prison work room.

It's November.

BONNIE GROANS

I don't want gas.

I don't, but this is...
this is terrible.

Bonnie,

your body knows the way,

and you know that.

All is well.

BONNIE GROANS

Is this what she wants?

She asked for you, Eddie.

I'm scared.

Why?

The woman on the record,
she wasn't scared. You said so.

You can hear it in her voice

and you're going to be
just like her.

BONNIE WAILS

BONNIE WAILS

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

BONNIE WAILS

EDDIE: You can do this.

Come on. That's it.

The baby's head is resting
in my hand now.

You'll know when to push again.

Just breathe, that's it. Good girl.

Petra, dear, there's a bed come
free for you at St Cuthbert's.

Not yet.

BONNIE WAILS

Come on. You can do this.

BABY CRIES

The ambulance is on its way.

I'm glad...

..because I'm bleeding again.

SHE SOBS

BABY CRIES

Do you want to call her
after your mum?

This is a new beginning.
We shouldn't give her an old name.

But your mum was called Daisy

and I like that.

Sister Monica Joan,
whatever are you doing?

A memory like a firework
exploded in my mind.

I have located the repository
of our past,

thus I remembered this.

Letters?

Of gratitude.

All from those we assisted
in their hour of need.

The Reverend Mother would never
have allowed us to keep these,

no matter how personal the message.

She used to say, "A missive to one
is a missive to us all.

"Such correspondence belongs...

"..belongs to the community."

Therefore the community
have preserved it.

There are two ledgers here
dating back to the 1920s.

I have a dozen the same
in a box in my office.

You have spent a deal of time
in prayer, I think.

And here is his answer.

SHE CHUCKLES

MUSIC OVER CONVERSATION

The medicine,

do I have to swallow that?

No, Gran.

The doctor or one of the nurses
will come and do it with a needle.

Then I'll have some.

You have served your time, Gran.

There's only two things I want now.

A minister of religion.

What? You heard.

Don't get me that rector.
I can't stand him.

And to see you in your
Nonnatus uniform again.

I was never so proud of anything
in my life...

..than when I saw you wearing that.

Nurse Lucille Anderson, what can I
do for you so early in the morning?

I don't have a vehicle
for you to fix

but I do have a soul that needs
help on her last journey.

I'm in my overalls.

Should I run home and put a tie on?

I'll leave that to you.

You have good judgment, Cyril.

BABY CRIES

Dr McNulty, I'm afraid
I am perplexed.

I've had a request
for a new prescription.

Pethidine for Mrs Elsie Dyer.

Now, Nurse Anderson says
she's taken none thus far,

but our records show that
you've prescribed it for her

on multiple occasions. It's the
records. You need to check them.

Dr Turner!

Doctor, please!

We've done what we can
in preparation.

It's time to leave.

Does anybody else feel
really nervous?

CHEERING

CHANTING: Mitts off our midwives!
Mitts off our midwives!

Mitts off our midwives!

I'll check his blood pressure.

Oh, lad, what have you done?

You may commence when you have
gathered yourself, Miss Franklin.

I prefer to be addressed as Nurse
Franklin in a professional setting,

but thank you.

Gentlemen,

every year you publish
a health report

that runs to 80 or more pages,

delineating every birth,
every death,

every epidemic, every case of
notifiable illness in this borough,

but it is all numerical information.

No-one is ever named.

Nevertheless, since the end
of the First World War,

the order of St Raymond Nonnatus

has helped 117 women called Mary,

30 women called Agnes,

83 women called Rose
or Roseanne or Rosemary.

There have been dozens of Ediths

and the list of surnames
invokes the globe.

Jones, Walker, Cohen, Xhang, Patel,

O'Connor, Christopoulos,
Adweh, Singh, Smith.

There will always be Smiths.

And every name in these ledgers

represents a life entire.

There are bus drivers
and warehousemen

and teachers at work
in the East End today

because a Nonnatus midwife knew
how to unravel an umbilical cord

from around a new-born's neck

or clear an airway of meconium
to stop a child choking.

We know this because their mothers
wrote to us.

I suggest you read, mark,

learn and inwardly digest.

We know because their names
are in our records.

Babies are not statistics
at Nonnatus House.

We know when they are wanted
or unwanted,

whether they are cherished
or deprived.

We see when they're in with a chance
in life or stand no chance at all.

We value every infant
and every mother equally.

We are part of their world
and they are part of ours

because that is what happens
when you enter people's homes.

In almost 30 years
of annual reports,

you have never once mentioned
the contribution

Nonnatus House has made
to people's lives in Poplar.

You have never once
called us by our name

but do not think we won't be missed
if you wipe us out completely.

WHISPERING

Rent reduced. Budget restored.

For 12 months.

I'm cold.

Haven't we got any money
for the gas?

The gas is going full bore, Gran.

See if this warms you up a little.

Cold.

I'm honoured.

ICE-CREAM VAN JINGLE

Go and get yourself a 99.

No, Gran.

Go.

Go.

Do you want one?

Cyril, her breathing has changed.

What does that mean?

She won't wake up again.

It's all right, precious.

You rest and let your body
do its work.

CYRIL AND LUCILLE:
# Yes, when this flesh

# And heart shall fail

# And mortal life shall cease

# I shall possess within the veil

# A life of joy

# And peace... #

DOOR OPENS

I treated myself to a full 99.

What did they say at Nonnatus House?
There's a lot of distress.

Worry that the situation
could have endangered patients.

And concern for you.

I know I'll have to leave Poplar
because I know what trust means.

But do you think I'll be struck off?

Kevin, there won't be any decision
until after you've spent time

in some sort of clinic,

when you can be sure you're clear
of your physical dependency.

KEVIN LAUGHS SCORNFULLY

Every time I close my eyes,

all I can see is that little baby
fading and fading.

Baby Warren? And the meths drinker
dead in a doss house.

All the things I couldn't
make better.

The world is full
of fragile people, Kevin.

And when we try to mend them,
it can break us.

Have you ever been broken?

Yes.

And I became a better doctor.

There's hope for me yet, then.

Right, this here.

2,000 feet this will go up to.

Right, here.

FIREWORKS EXPLODE

Oh!

And if anyone spots a resemblance
to certain members

of the Board of Health, I, for one,
am not going to disabuse them.

Go on.

What you got there?

Toffee apples.

A Bonfire Night tradition,
apparently.

Them set hard like concrete

and the kitchen looks like
there's been a murder.

You are a fine woman.

You are a fine man.

Thank you for coming
to be with Mrs Dyer.

And thank you
for letting me see...

..everything you are.

I love you, Nurse Anderson.

I lost the baby, Mrs Buckle, so...

Oh, I'm so sorry, Petra.

Our feelings are very complicated,
but she'll always have me.

Come on, Reggie.

Time to go.

MATURE JENNIFER:
The seasons will always turn,

the clouds will gather
and the cold will come.

We will survive them.

We will grow
regardless of the weather.

We all know wonder
where there has been despair.

There will be happiness

and we will remember it.

There will be friendships
that we won't forget.

Love is the constant

whereby we endure all winters
and all storms.

It is the climate in which
all things can thrive.

Reggie, come back!

FIREWORKS WHISTLE

Welcome the darkness,

embrace it as a canopy
from which the stars can hang,

for there are always stars
when we are where we ought to be,

amongst the faces we love best,

each with our place,
each with our purpose,

as fixed and familiar
as the constellations.

The darkness is beautiful,

for how else can we shine?