‘Call the Midwife’: Sister Veronica’s Crisis of Faith Leads to a Shocking Decision

The midwife team in Poplar continues to face mounting trouble as scrutiny from the Board of Health intensifies. Season 15 Episode 6 does little to ease fears about what lies ahead for the nuns and nurses of Nonnatus House. Still, Call the Midwife presses forward with its compassionate storytelling, this week spotlighting men’s health issues that rarely get attention, along with the struggles of a unique single mother.

At the same time, Sister Veronica (Rebecca Gethings) continues her personal journey while Sister Catherine grows increasingly concerned about her friend. Actress Molly Vevers breaks down a key scene for TV Insider, teasing the emotional toll of Veronica’s absence on her character, Sister Catherine. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Season 15 Episode 6  of Call the Midwife.

Sister Veronica’s journey takes an unexpected turn

Sister Veronica is away on sabbatical as she faces her crisis of faith, wanting a child of her own and weighing her desires against her need to serve God. With only a few aware of why she is gone, her presence is deeply missed. Sister Catherine, unaware of the real reason behind Sister Veronica’s absence, goes into her room looking for her pinking shears and finds her cross and other personal belongings that a nun would usually take on retreat.

Confused, Sister Catherine (Vevers) goes to Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), who insists that Sister Veronica is on retreat. But Catherine points out that if she were at the Motherhouse, she would need her cross, AND she would need her shoes, at least, yet she left these things behind. Julienne explains that Veronica wanted discretion, which leaves Catherine confused and hurt. Catherine apologizes and realizes she did not need an explanation. Julienne adds that she cannot divulge more, but can say that Veronica is “struggling with her vows and has been given leave of absence.” She is on retreat to work things out.

Neal Street Productions/Olly Courtney/PBS

“Alone? Without anyone she knows or any friends to support her? Sister, out of all of us, Sister Veronica emits the most love. She needs the most love,” says Catherine. “She does not know what she needs,” explains Julienne. “Or wants. That is why she had to go away.”

When talking to actress Molly Vevers about the episode, she told TV Insider about what Sister Catherine was feeling in that moment. “I think part of what Sister Catherine struggles with in that moment is the secrecy of it; the feeling these sisters of Nonnatus House and them being a sisterhood, and I suppose, a family. And I think in that scene, where Sister Catherine sort of confronts Sister Julienne very boldly, may I say, she feels a bit of a betrayal. Why? Why aren’t we all in this together? I think that’s what she struggles with [most.]”

“Then in terms of  Sister Veronica and her journey and her doubts, I think she just feels a huge amount of empathy for that,” continues Vevers. “Sister Catherine feels really, really sure, and really certain about her commitment.

Meanwhile, at the retreat, Sister Veronica, or rather Beryl, is visited by Geoffrey Franklin (Christopher Harper), and the two reconnect as she tells him about her day. She admits she stopped praying, but he says that her life is still no different than when she was at Nonnatus House, and that she needs real change. “Come and stay with me,” he suggests to her. “I am still technically a nun! I can’t live with a man!” exclaims Sister Veronica. “You can lodge with a kindly, confirmed bachelor,” he suggests. It is a shocking proposal, and one she accepts by the end of the episode.

A shocking diagnosis tests the pride of a would-be father

Ice cream man Tony Bianchi (Steffan Rizzi) and his pregnant wife Tina  (Charlotte Beaumont) are eagerly awaiting their first child when he begins to bleed from his nipples. Alarmed, Tina insists he see a doctor. Dr. Patrick Turner (Stephen McGann) initially thinks it might be a cyst, but it turns out to be breast cancer. “That’s a woman’s disease,” says Tony, incredulously. “I can’t have it. I’m a man.”

While rare, breast cancer in men is not unheard of, and Tony is more embarrassed than he is scared. Afraid of what his older brothers will think, he can only focus on his dignity. He cannot even stay for his appointment to schedule surgery. He lies to his wife, telling her his appointments are going well, and after missing several visits, Nurse Shelagh Turner suggests calling his brother for support.

At home, Tina suddenly goes into labor. Tony has to deliver the baby himself, and by the time Rosalind arrives, he has already delivered his son. After receiving high praise from his brothers, he finally admits he has breast cancer and needs their support. They immediately embrace him and reassure him, “You are the best of us, little brother, and we will not let you go.”

A wrestler struggles to pin down a hidden illness

Meanwhile, at her addiction support meeting, Trixie (Helen George) meets wrestler “Harmony” Gwen Savage (Emma Symmonds), who suffers a concussion after a match. She comes in the next day for an examination by the Turners, who look into a rash she has had, along with her complaint of full-body aches and long-term exhaustion. She is diagnosed with herpes gladiatorum, but she cannot take time off to properly heal.

Neal Street Productions/Olly Courtney/PBS

Back in the ring, Gwen takes a hit to the face. When Trixie stops by to drop off her medication, she takes a keen interest in the struggling mother, who, because of her losing streak, has to lower herself to jelly wrestling. The next day, Gwen has trouble waking up and fears her son Carl (Taylor Sullivan) is missing. After speaking with Dr. Turner, he suspects Gwen has lupus, which will affect her wrestling career. She refuses to stop, determined to earn enough money to buy her son a bike.

Her body is severely weakened by the illness, but she continues to push herself. In the ring, Gwen is badly hurt and knocked unconscious, and Trixie is unable to wake her. At the hospital, Trixie tries to offer alternatives to help Gwen. In the end, Gwen retires from wrestling and moves up north for a fresh start, taking a new job at a gym where she trains women in athletics.

Rosalind and Cyril move forward in their relationship after surprise news

Nurse Rosalind (Natalie Quarry) is a bit worried when her period is late, especially now she is sexually active. The next morning, she wakes up feeling sick, so Nurse Joyce (Renee Bailey) helps her take a test in secret. Later, when she meets Cyril (Zephryn Taitte), he shares the happy news that he is officially a single man (his divorce went through), but it is nothing compared to the news she receives from Joyce later: she is pregnant.

A few days later, she knocks on Cyril’s door and tearfully tells him. “I always meant to marry you, and build a life with you,” says Cyril. He reassures her that children were part of that plan as well.

Related

'Call the Midwife': What Really Happened to the Barrowman Family? The Shocking Truth

Sister Monica Joan is on the decline

They are having difficulty getting the results of Sister Monica Joan’s (Judy Parfitt) blood work, as she remains on edge about being treated like fragile glass by her fellow sisters. Sadly, she has chronic kidney disease that, as Sister Julienne puts it, “takes old people gently.” Dr. Turner warns that unless they can convince her to accept treatment, Sister Monica Joan will enter renal failure quickly. “Until that day comes, we’ll just have to love her as we always have,” says Nurse Phyllis.

And finally, Dr. Turner receives devastating news

Dr. Turner meets with Board of Health chairman Dr. Threadwood (Timothy Harker), who gives him some alarming news: they are closing down the clinic. “The council is not going to renew the license of the maternity home.” Shocked, Dr. Turner pleads, “It has always been renewed as a formality.” The license runs out in a matter of weeks, and Dr. Turner is perplexed that Threadwood and the board would make such a callous decision.

According to Threadwood, the council now has to turn everything over to the National Health Service. When asked why this is happening to Nonnatus House, Threadwood says (with a wee bit of contempt) that Nonnatus has always been an “outlier and eccentric.” “What is the logic in all this?” asks Dr. Turner in frustration. What is the logic, indeed?

Neal Street Productions/Olly Courtney/PBS

Sister Julienne breaks the news to the team. “And so it seems, if we go down, we all go down together.” The sister then states that the council had written to her confirming that the maternity house will close, and “assuming that we will too, cease operations.” “Do we have any say in this?” asks Trixie. “At present, it seems not,” answers Sister Julienne, sadly.

Call the Midwife, Season 15, Sundays, 8/7c on PBS, PBS.org, and the PBS app