SERIES 7, EPISODE 3
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This turned out to be a rather depressing episode in Series 7 of ‘Call the Midwife’. I hoped that we would have moved away from the depressing episodes as in Series 5. It doesn’t seem to be the case.
With that said, I appreciate ‘Call the Midwife’ being a brave series in depicting not so pleasant topics concerning medicine and such. It reflects how much has changed since the days of the early 1960s. 🙂
In the episode, Linda Bassett as Nurse Crane and Helen George as Trixie become concerned for Kelly Gough as Doreen Lunn. She’s a pregnant mother who is living in squalor with her ragged children. 😐
Doreen also lives with her husband Patrick Knowles as Gordon Lunt. At first, I thought this was a set up for an abused family household since Gordon Lunt wouldn’t let Doreen go to a maternity home.
But it transpires that the depressed mother Doreen is afraid she will be locked up as mentally ill, like her father who died in an asylum. Trixie persuades Gordon Lunt to let Doreen be seen by Dr. Turner.
Stephen McGann as Dr. Turner identifies a more disturbing diagnosis for Doreen. It turns out she has an infection called Huntington’s disease and I believe it has something to do with affecting the brain.
It later transpires that her children have also been affected by the disease. It would mean having to send Doreen and Gordon’s children away so that Doreen can recover whilst she’s having a new baby.
And yes, Doreen does have the new baby delivered when helped by Nurse Crane. Gordon also agrees to help out with attending to the household chores even when the strain becomes too much.
It’s rather sad how this has turned out for Doreen and her family and how it affects her relationship with her children. Doreen still loves her children and says goodbye to her daughter when she leaves.
It also causes Trixie to go on a dark road and it strains her relationship with Jack Hawkins as Christopher Dockerill. Trixie sadly doesn’t seem to have much luck in her relationships with men.
Trixie makes a hard decision to end her relationship with Christopher, persuading him to go back to her wife for her daughter’s well-being. Christopher doesn’t want to end his relationship with Trixie.
It’s also sad when it seems Trixie’s back to being depressed and is onto drinking again. I don’t know what will become of Trixie in the next episode and how she’ll get over breaking up with Christopher.
Meanwhile, Cliff Parisi as Fred and Annabelle Apison as Violet organise a beauty contest in Poplar. It’s surreal this happy event is occurring in Poplar whilst there’s so much misery going on in the episode.
Jennifer Kirby as Valerie enters herself for the contest as does Nina Yndis as Magda, the Turners’ au pair. But things don’t go well for Madga and this happens to be her last episode in ‘Call the Midwife’.
It turns out that Madga is two months pregnant. How this happens to be the case I’m not so sure, but I’m guessing that this has to do with something that happened to her when she was in Hungary.
Madga tries to find a way to get rid of the unborn child, but abortion is illegal in the UK. So, Magda ends up putting herself in danger as she concocts a serum in order to abort the unborn child herself.
The only person who knows of Madga’s condition is Valerie. Valerie tries to tell Madga to tell Laura Main as Shelagh about her condition. But Madga doesn’t do so and goes through with the abortion.
It’s upsetting when Madga’s abortion process when she goes to Nonnatus House clashes against the beauty contest scenes. Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan witnesses Madga being in Nonnatus House.
Sister Monica Joan soon informs Valerie and Shelagh about Madga’s whereabouts and they find Madga lying unconscious in the garden area. Shelagh is upset about what happened to Madga here.
In the end, Madga ends up returning home after saying goodbye to the Turners who thank her for looking after them. It’s a pity that Madga couldn’t have lasted longer in the ‘Call the Midwife’ series.
Series 7, Episode 3 of ‘Call the Midwife’ isn’t a very uplifting episode. It felt depressing involving the crippling family in squalor as well as Madga attempting an abortion whilst a beauty contest went on.
On Disc 2 of the Series 7 DVD of ‘Call the Midwife’, there’s the behind-the-scenes featurette ‘Huntington’s & Beauty Pageants’ to check out with cast and crew interviews.
‘Series 7, Episode 3’ rating – 7/10
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