SERIES 8, EPISODE 2
Please feel free to comment on my review.
When watching this episode in 2019, I hoped that my parents and I would be able to watch Series 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’ on BBC iPlayer without any hassle. Thankfully it did turn out alright in the end. 🙂
We watched Series 8, Episode 2 of ‘Call the Midwife’ on Sunday the 20th of January 2019. We enjoyed it as well as Series 4, Episode 2 of ‘Grantchester’ on ITV Hub. It was an enjoyable evening. 🙂
In the second episode of Series 8, Leonie Elliot as Lucile helps a struggling elderly lady called Clarice Millgrove. She refuses to leave her old house that has been cluttered with items and is full of disarray.
The old woman was once a suffragette and is stuck in the past with her determination to maintain her independence. I found it interesting how that was explored when revisiting the episode on DVD.
Annette Crosbie makes a special guest star appearance as Clarice Millgrove in the episode. Annette Crosbie is well-known for playing Margaret Meldrew in ‘One Foot In The Grace’ with Richard Wilson.
She was also in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘The Eleventh Hour’ with Matt Smith and she’s been in the 2016 ‘Dad’s Army’ movie. I found Annette as Clarice’s journey in the episode compelling to watch. 🙂
It was also intriguing to see how Lucille handled the situation of attending to Clarice at her end and in her professional capacity. Sometimes, Lucille often struggled in coping with Clarice’s eccentricities.
At the time of watching this episode, my Mum informed me that Lucille is a Christian character in the series. I believe this was from her and Dad watching a few episodes of Series 7 on the DVD itself.
I believe this is an episode where Lucille’s character stood out pretty well in the TV series. This is especially in persuading Clarice to come out of the ‘prison’ that she has put herself in over the years.
I also found it intriguing how Lucille hears from the points of view of Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne and Judy Parfitt as Sister Monica Joan regarding the situation to handle Clarice Millgrove in the story.
Sister Julienne is of the opinion that it’s for the best that Clarice be put in a nursing home. Meanwhile, Sister Monica Joan is against Clarice being ‘forced’ out of her home and against her will.
It was sad when after Clarice was persuaded to leave her home by Lucille and move into a nursing home, that Lucille found Clarice on her deathbed upon visiting her. It was inevitable, but still so sad.
The scene between Lucille and Sister Monica Joan where they sit outside on a bench was poignant. Lucille asks whether she did the right thing and Sister Monica Joan gives her some reassuring words.
Meanwhile, Fenella Woolgar as Sister Hilda and the ‘Call the Midwife’ team work hard on finding a way to help a Ghanaian family who have moved to Poplar. Their ‘settling-in’ period isn’t very easy. 🙁
The mother, Jessica Kennedy as Flora Aidoo, has a baby daughter, which is a happy event. But it soon becomes bleak when the father, Ekow Quartley as Joel Aidoo, and the son Matthew have this illness.
It’s an undiagnosed illness that Dr. Turner has a challenge to identify. Thankfully by the end of the episode, all is well when Joel the father finds a job in the postal sorting office that is not demanding.
There’s another subplot going on in the episode where Annabelle Apsion’s Violet Buckle puts herself forward to be a candidate for a local council election. Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle is not so enthusiastic.
He’s reluctant about his wife’s political campaign and the two soon have an argument about it. Eventually Fred does support Violet once he sees how things have changed in the world around him.
It was at this point when watching Series 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’ that I discovered Stephen McGann, who plays Dr. Turner, is one of Paul McGann’s brothers. Paul is the Eighth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. 😀
This episode also features Trevor Cooper as Sgt. Woolf again. The second episode of Series 8 of ‘Call the Midwife’ is a very moving and interesting episode to watch with all of the various tales going on.
What stood out for me was Annette Crosbie’s performance as Clarice Millgrove in the episode as well as the standout character development of Lucille. It’s a pretty rewarding episode to watch here.
‘Series 8, Episode 2’ rating – 8/10
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