SERIES 9, EPISODE 1
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Series 9 of ‘Call the Midwife’ begins! As soon as my parents and I saw ‘Part Two’ of ‘Spyfall’ in ‘Doctor Who’ in January 2020, we went on to see Series 9, Episode 1 of ‘Call the Midwife’ after that.
We were currently enjoying our Sunday evenings in January 2020 with watching ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Call the Midwife’ on BBC iPlayer. 🙂 We were unaware of what was to come later in the year of 2020.
The series now takes place in the year 1965. How does Series 9 of ‘Call the Midwife’ begin? With the birth of a new baby from its mother of course, conducted by Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne herself!
I wasn’t expecting to go straight into the birth of a new baby at the start of Series 9. I didn’t think that was usually done when a new season of ‘Call the Midwife’ begins. I should have known better. 😀
In the episode, the death of Winston Churchill is announced. This means that this episode takes place about the 24th of January 1965. My Day recalled the day when Winston Churchill passed away.
It was a pretty big event, especially with Winston getting a state funeral. I appreciate the historical significance of this series. Hopefully Winnie had a last visit from the Doctor before he passed away. 😀
Sadly, there’s an alarming outbreak of diphtheria in the episode. I don’t know much about what it is, but it’s something to do with a thick covering caused in the back of the throat, which looks so horrid.
It prevents someone from breathing and this occurs when a young adopted boy – Jordan A. Nash as Terry – of a pregnant mother – Jenny Rainsford as Dena – suffers from the life-threatening condition.
It’s ironic to view this episode as it was transmitted before the outbreak of Covid-19 occurred in the UK as well as many parts of the world. I wonder if ‘Call the Midwife’ predicted Covid-19 occurring. 😐
Stephen McGann as Dr. Turner and Linda Bassett as Nurse Crane are on the case when this alarming outbreak occurs. A lot of people get vaccinated and tested as to whether they have got diphtheria. 😐
I liked it when Georgie Glen as Miss Higgins rescued young Terry when in his house and she got Dr. Turner to check him out. This is whilst his mother Dena is about to give birth at the maternity home.
Meanwhile, Cliff Parisi as Fred Buckle finds an abandoned baby in a dustbin. I was very shocked to see that. I did wonder who would be quite cruel to leave a baby abandoned in a dustbin in the story.
But it turns out there is more to this mystery as the ‘Call the Midwife’ team try to work to find out who the mother is. The mother eventually turns up and she happens to be a priest’s housekeeper. 🙂
The mother is Emma Lowndes as Brenda. It also seems that the baby’s father might be the priest himself – Alec Newman as Father Duncombe. Brenda is very determined to keep the baby herself. 🙂
I enjoyed Miriam Margolyes’ performance as Mother Mildred in the episode, especially when she’s determined to protect the mother’s best interests for her baby against the priest who’s rather smug.
Father Duncombe can also be quite a jerk at times. It was interesting to see another side to Mother Mildred’s character since she can be religiously strict at times but does happen to have a good heart.
I enjoyed the character moments featured throughout this episode, especially when Helen George as Trixie, Leonie Elliot as Lucille and Jennifer Kirby as Valerie enter in for a local hosiery competition.
The issue of Valerie’s gran from Series 8 gets readdressed in the episode, especially when her sister, Juliet Oldfield as Maureen, visits Valerie. The issue of Valerie’s gran will resurface later on in Series 9.
There is a disturbing note in the episode when Sister Julienne discovers that the midwifery home and the Poplar area is about to be closed down within two years. This comes as a huge shock for her.
I wasn’t sure how this was going to affect the rest of Series 9 as well as rest of the series. It will provide a huge change here and it’ll determine how ‘Call the Midwife’ will progress in later seasons.
Overall, this episode is a pretty good beginning to Series 9 of ‘Call the Midwife’. I enjoyed the emotional character dramas going on and it’s really intriguing how the diphtheria case gets tackled.
It was also intriguing to see how the abandoned baby found in a dustbin subplot got handled and how the mother returned for it. I was curious about what would occur next for the rest of Series 9. 🙂
‘Series 9, Episode 1’ rating – 8/10
|
Go back to |
Go next to |
| Return to Call the Midwife | |
| Return to Drama |