SERIES 9, EPISODE 4
Please feel free to comment on my review.
After the excitement of seeing the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Fugitive of the Judoon’ on Sunday the 26th of January 2020, I didn’t think I’d be able to settle down to see ‘Call the Midwife’, Series 9, Episode 4.
Thankfully I did see the episode and I did my best to share what I thought in my initial review of it on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. Now I can share more updated thoughts in my brand-new review of it here. 😀
In the episode, Jenny Agutter as Sister Julienne consults with Stephen McGann as Dr. Turner. She’s troubled about Nonnatus House’s future in the changing community and the threat of demolition. 😐
She agrees with Dr. Turner to volunteer Nonnatus House to take part in a training initiative to help doctors with an obstetrics diploma. This means four young male doctors will be staying at Nonnatus.
This is in the hope to stop the local council having Nonnatus House be demolished and to remind them that the midwifery team is essential to the local community. Is there a chance this will work? 😐
The new training initiative does make some of the Nonnatus House team a bit uncomfortable with having young male doctors around. But at least some of them are open to the idea, which is good. 🙂
The young doctors include Sam Woolf as Dr. Benedict Walters, Lee Armstrong as Dr. Kevin McNulty, Callum Sharp as Dr. Nigel Fielding and Jon Birkbeck as Dr. William Pontin. They seem nice enough. 😀
Mind you, Dr. Walters and Dr. McNulty have more focus in the episode as opposed to Dr. Fielding and Dr. Pontin who don’t say any word! At least give those two doctors a line or two in the episode!
I like the bond formed between McNulty and Jennifer Kirby as Valerie when they work together. Dr. Walters doesn’t seem very keen about becoming a physician and following in his father’s footsteps.
Dr. Walters spends more time with Helen George as Trixie when they work together in the episode. The four doctors don’t receive approval from Linda Bassett’s Nurse Crane and Leonie Elliot’s Lucille here.
Things don’t help much when the four doctors play cricket in the Nonnatus House and cause a window to be broken, I believe. Sister Julienne loses her temper at this point when witnessing this. 😦
It seems that this might not be the success as it was hoped for. But things do work out fine later on in the episode, especially when Valerie and Dr. McNulty are successful in delivering a mum’s baby. 🙂
Meanwhile, Cliff Parisi as Fred comes across a 60-year old man inside a condemned house on a street that’s marked for demolition. The man happens to be Phil Daniels as George Benson in this. 🙂
George is a former pigeon racer and he has a love for his pigeons, including his beloved one called Dot. He doesn’t want to leave his home when it’s marked for demolition and when Fred visits him.
I liked it when Daniel Laurie as Reggie Jackson, Fred and Violet’s ward, forms a bond with George and gets to hold his pigeon with the same care as he does. It’s a sweet friendship between the two.
Reggie, like Fred, is concerned for George’s well-being, especially when he’s suffering with coughing fits and is coughing out blood whilst in his old house. It was disturbing to watch that in the episode. 😦
It soon gets revealed by Dr. Turner that George is suffering from a condition concerning the droppings from his pigeons in the house. It does mean that George will have to give his pigeons up. 😦
I didn’t know about this medical condition and it was interesting to discover it in the episode. I liked it when George gave Dot to Reggie. It seemed a nice gesture after the bond they had formed in this.
Overall, this ‘Call the Midwife’ episode is very good. I liked how ‘the four doctors’ subplot was resolved, especially with Valerie and McNulty working together to deliver a baby at someone’s flat. 🙂
The ‘George and his pigeons’ subplot was also sweet, especially when Fred and his ward Reggie get involved. The drama balances out well in this episode and there weren’t so many upsetting scenes. 🙂
It’s also good when McNulty shared his opinion with Dr. Turner about the condition that George was suffering in order to redeem himself. It turns out this isn’t the last we will see of Dr. McNulty here. 🙂
‘Series 9, Episode 4’ rating – 8/10
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