Call the Midwife fans were left feeling emotional after Sunday night’s episode, which featured a heartbreaking story about a man living with an iron lung.
Warning! Spoilers for series 14, episode five ahead.
The episode saw Shelagh Turner (Laura Main) care for a patient named Owen, who was paralysed from a polio infection and now lives with an iron lung. But during the house call, Shelagh notices jaundice in his wife, Betty, who is his main carer.
After an appointment with Dr Turner and further tests at the hospital, Betty is diagnosed with cancer with no hope of a cure. “You don’t expect a shock like this twice in one lifetime,” she told Shelagh and Dr Turner. “Please don’t make me go to hospital, I can’t leave Owen,” she pleaded.
Towards the end of the episode, Owen was by his wife’s side in hospital as she peacefully passed away. Nurse Joyce Highland (Renee Bailey) told him: “She’s at peace now, Owen.”
The tragic storyline moved viewers to tears. Taking to social media, one person penned: “Can’t stop crying because of #callthemidwife What an episode…the show never fails to emote and really touch the heart,” while another added: “I was not expecting this episode to be so sad, but can’t stop crying.”
© BBC / Neal Street Productions / Olly CourtneyA third fan wrote: “Truly heartbreaking episode of Call the Midwife. It’s amazing how far medicine has come in 50 years #callthemidwife.”
Many fans heaped praise on the episode, with many commenting on the high quality of the writing. One person hailed the instalment as “one of the best of all time”, writing: “14 series into #callthemidwife and it’s still such high quality. Tonight’s episode is one of the best of all time. Beautifully written and performed.”
© Neal Street Productions / Olly Courtney / BBCA second fan agreed, adding that each series “gets better and better”. “The storylines, the historical accuracy, the props, the costumes, the acting and producing,” they penned. “Just outstanding. Well done everyone!!”
For those yet to catch up with the new series, it’s set in 1970 and continues to follow the lives of midwives and nurses in east London.
© Neal Street Productions/Andrea Southam/BBCThe upcoming episode, which airs on Sunday, is set in September 1970 and sees Joyce face “a difficult situation” when a mother suffers postnatal complications. Meanwhile, a council strike leads to an outbreak of Weil’s disease, and Cyril’s life is turned upside down, according to the synopsis.
Call the Midwife airs on Sundays on BBC One and iPlayer.
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