Original subtitles

Life unfolds as fates decide.

It carries within its own secrets,

its own power,

its own incontrovertible decisions.

Life does not appear to accept dictation.

And so we seek to pin it down, to label it,

to assign to it weights and measures

and predicted likelihoods.

But life will not submit to this.

Life thinks life knows best.

I come bearing gifts!

We really ought to put a ban on ketchup bottles!

They can't possibly get washed out properly.

Mrs Affori left her sample on the bus.

I've sent her to the ladies' to try again.

I'm taking advantage of a brief lull in clinic proceedings

in order to draw your attention to the forthcoming

1970 Birth Cohort Study.

The designated seven days commence on the 5th of April.

If you're looking for the pasty you left on the side,

it has been removed to the refrigerator.

I can't wait.

There have been surveys of this and studies of that

ever since the National Health kicked off.

But this is going to be teaching us things for 80 years.

So, what will we actually do during the designated seven days?

Every birth of every child in the country,

including those that we deliver,

must be meticulously annotated.

Prepare yourselves by perusing the materials provided.

Mrs Martin!

How nice to have you back with us again!

This is number three, isn't it?

For my sins!

I'll have a bottle each of the orange juice

and the Delrosa for the boys

and all the milk tokens and whatnot.

I'll have some cod liver oil an' all.

Nobody likes it in our house, but at least it's free.

Well, it's certainly discounted.

I'll just work out what you owe.

I-I beg your pardon?

I don't think I owe you anything.

Your circumstances have changed, Mrs Martin.

Now your husband is working again...

..your entitlements have been revised.

That's exactly seven shillings.

Don't need the cod liver oil. Or the orange.

You know, I sometimes wonder what the last war was for!

How far is the airport?

Depends whether you mean New York or Heathrow.

Trixie's coming back this afternoon.

The afternoon is from now until teatime,

and you've only just had your lunch, Reg.

Look, why don't you go round the corner and wait for her taxi?

You don't want me to look at the rude magazines.

No, I don't. Your mum would kill me,

and even I'm supposed to do this looking the other way.

Mother is 30 years old. This is the second baby.

Obstructed labour in the first pregnancy

resulted in delivery by Caesarean

of a live infant weighing 10lb 3oz.

Have we any idea why this might have occurred?

Gestational diabetes, sir? Correct.

But... but I've been all right this time.

There's not been anything wrong with me at all.

Have we any observations to make about Mother's abdomen?

Long, vertical incision, sir?

High, vertical, classical Caesarean scar.

Meaning natural delivery is precluded

in this and all future labours, due to...?

Risk of death, sir?

Risk of uterine rupture.

One of the most serious adverse events in obstetrics.

Mother will be admitted in advance of her due date -

no trial of labour.

I will reopen this scar and conduct a second surgical delivery.

I-I don't reckon it's even that big a baby this time.

Given your history, that is immaterial.

Big baby, small baby, we will do what's best.

I brought you a cuppa and some ginger nuts

to keep you going while you unpack.

What's all this?

Those sheets were clean on.

I brought my own.

Your own sheets?

Well, the weather will be warming up soon

and I'm not sure I can face three months cocooned in flannelette.

This is the bedding Matthew and I use in our apartment.

Well, I suppose if it reminds you of him...

It does.

What's all this, dear?

Is someone looking after you?

I'm waiting for a blood test, for diabetes.

But I don't have diabetes.

Mr Parry says I've got to have a Caesarean.

Come on.

Dry your eyes, blow your nose.

This is really clean.

I'm a trained professional - I wouldn't offer you a mucky one!

I wouldn't contradict anything Mr Parry says either,

but I can tell you, if you aren't happy with your consultant,

you can talk to your GP.

I've never even met my GP.

He's called Dr Turner, that's all I know.

Tell me your name and we'll start from there.

We are so grateful to you for giving us your time, Nurse Aylward.

The gratitude goes both ways.

The business in New York is really going very well.

But we'll be home within the year

and I don't want to let my registration lapse.

I may be asking rather more of you

than keeping up your midwifery skills

and taking on refresher courses.

The Board of Health have declared war on Nonnatus House.

War?!

They do not like that the Order are, by definition, religious sisters.

They do not like that we wear the habit.

They do not like that we pray.

They do not approve of us delivering contraceptive advice,

um, sexual education, or even, one suspects, babies.

And they do not like

that our first obedience is to God and not to them.

I've just been called out to Sira Patel.

It's her first baby, isn't it?

You may be up for a long night.

I shall relish it.

Now Nurse Aylward is back,

I doubt I'll be called upon for night duty for a while.

What are we going to do, Sister?

We are going to fight back, with every weapon at our disposal.

And that, my colleague and friend, includes you.

♪ Praise the Lord, O my soul

♪ And forget not all his benefits

♪ Who forgiveth all thy sin

We're almost there, Sira!

You've almost made it!

No, no, no, it's... Whoa! What you doing?

What are you doing?! What are you doing?

Attention, please!

Mr Buckle has just telephoned

after his emergency trip to the warehouse,

and he has managed to locate the missing papers.

Hands up everyone who normally delivers

the Express or the Mirror.

And Paula.

Ooh, thank you, Reggie.

Where is Paula?

Paula, we have a plan.

Are you all right, dear? You look ever so pale.

Oh, you poor pet!

I'd better walk you home.

I'll probably be all right now.

It's full of knots, May.

It hurts!

It'd hurt less if she cut them out with scissors.

Good morning!

Patrick! Biscuits for breakfast?!

While the cat's away, the mice will play!

I've made fresh coffee. Oh!

How was it?

Oh... long labour.

Posterior presentation.

Tears for the mother, aching knees for yours truly.

And it was everything.

Everything this job is meant to be.

Winnie Welch and her family

were indeed transferred to us in January,

when Dr Kinloch's practice closed on the Isle of Dogs.

You do wonder how many amenities the Isle of Dogs can lose.

It's madness, when the council

are building more flats there all the time!

I'll ask one of our midwives to call in on her.

Oh, good afternoon, Mrs Cunningham.

Did my Paula leave her jumper here this morning?

Is it blue? That's it.

I couldn't tell if it was hers or one of the paper lads'.

Oh, your magazines are in, by the way.

Er, Reggie, can you get Mrs Cunningham's,

er, Gospel and People's Friend.

Mrs Cunningham, may I have a word?

But I saw Paula at dinner time.

She always comes home for her dinner.

There's too much monkey business in that school canteen.

But she didn't say anything about being sick.

Um, she told me it had happened a few times.

And it was such a nasty, bright yellow.

Well, do you think it was a bilious attack?

I think she needs to see a doctor.

Every single day!

They don't care about us! It's our children,

it's their futures! We need to stand together, all right?

Excuse me, Constable.

How long is this going on for?

I'm a midwife, trying to make a house call.

Is somebody having a baby?

Sorry, Nurse Crane, but the only way

you're going to get to deliver a baby this morning

is if you jump in and swim.

Is the bridge up again?

That bridge has been up and down

like a stripper's drawers since they built it last autumn!

And every time it's up to let a ship in, we're all trapped on the island

till the ruddy thing's unloaded.

Oh, chocks away!

Cyril!

Mr Robinson. Hello. Hello. What brings you here?

I'm dropping off this month's forms for the mother and baby homes.

I expect they probably end up on your desk. They do.

What's this?

I don't have as much time

to spend in the homeless shelter as I did.

They could do with a new volunteer or two.

I might put my name down.

If I don't find something useful to do with my evenings,

Nurse Crane and Miss Higgins will have me helping with the Cubs.

I was in hospital for three weeks, Nurse.

I was in so much pain, I couldn't even feed the baby.

And they kept him in the nursery for all that time.

The important thing to remember is that once you're discharged,

the district midwives will be looking after you

exactly as if you'd had Baby in our little maternity home,

or even in this bed.

I had a dream once, that I had it in this bed.

My mum was sitting where you are

and she was holding my hand

and she was egging me on as if she was still alive.

It's funny because this is the bed she had me in.

Well, you do surprise me!

This feels like a top-notch mattress! Oh, it's almost new.

Me and Lance treated ourselves when we got married.

Winnie, most of the time, birth is just a normal, natural

messy event.

But once you've had to have one Caesarean,

it does make sense to follow suit the next time.

It might make sense in your head.

But it doesn't make sense in my heart.

It's like my body is burning to do the thing that it was made for.

But sometimes, nature must be overruled by science.

All done, thank you.

How many hamsters have you got, Paula?

Three, in two cages.

Mum wanted me to call them Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,

like from the Bible.

But I called them Rosemary, Parsley and Sage.

Think Rosemary might be a boy, though.

It's cystitis, isn't it?

All the women in our family have trouble with our...

..waterworks.

We've got narrow tubes.

I'll certainly take a urine sample away with me,

so we can see what's what.

Paula, have you started your periods yet?

Not really. I had one a couple of months ago.

She's been a bit of a late developer.

But I always say to her, "You'll catch up."

Come on, time for your toast and peanut butter.

I got a new jar - crunchy this week.

Sister Veronica said that this came in the afternoon post.

Hmm! Where are you going with Uncle Roger tonight?

Er, his company are giving a party for the sales reps.

"Curry buffet and dancing," according to the invite.

They must have sold a lot of tranquillizers.

That's why Uncle Roger got promoted, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

Now, come here, you're coughing.

I need to rub some menthol on your chest.

Pregnancy test?

Well, that's going to be negative.

She's 13 years old.

Mrs Cunningham, Paula is showing every sign of being pregnant.

No, Doctor.

No.

I'm sorry.

We know what's what in the modern world.

And we've brought Paula up the right way.

I know you go to church, Mr Cunningham.

We don't just go to church, we live church.

It's as the Lord says in Deuteronomy,

"And these words thou shalt teach diligently unto thy children

"and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house..."

"..and when thou walkest by the way

"and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

When they had sex education at school last year,

I wouldn't even sign the letter.

We discussed it, didn't we, Philip?

We agreed there were things she didn't need to know.

Kids learn soon enough, though, don't they?

Yes. They do.

I'm running my gimlet eye over you all,

from the soles of your shoes to the top of your hats.

Please note I'm wearing fully fashioned stockings.

If the pay rise is going to be announced today,

I want to be as well presented as it's possible to be.

Let me answer it!

Uncle Roger!

Do you have any science homework for me to do?

Only the evaporation experiment.

Still the evaporation experiment?

It's like watching water dry!

One more dance, one more onion bhaji,

then we're making our excuses.

I'll keep dancing, and you can keep your onion bhaji!

It is with the most profound pleasure

that as a direct result of our campaign,

I am now able to announce the following -

a two-year, two-part settlement

comprising a 20% pay rise

from the 1st of April 1970,

with an additional 2%

from the 1st of April 1971.

A total wage increase of 22%!

We did this, not by allowing our profession to be sentimentalised,

not by tugging at government's heartstrings,

and not by claiming to be an army

of Florence Nightingales in short skirts.

We did it by acknowledging our own worth

and persuading society to do the same!

Would you not give Indian food another go, Nance?

I wasn't mad keen on beer when I first tried it,

but I persevered.

And the rest is history!

All I've had tonight is grape juice, cos I'm driving back to Surrey.

My mother would be ecstatic.

Has she really never drunk alcohol in the whole of her life?

That's Presbyterianism for you.

Does she know you're walking out with a Catholic?

All I've said, so far, is that your name is Nancy.

Roger, there's something I have to tell you.

Oh, don't get all serious on me. It's scary!

That campaign taught me all kinds of things I didn't know.

Phyllis! Should we stop and get some fish and chips to celebrate?

That's "Nurse Crane" to you when we're in uniform!

And no eating in the street!

We're to take them back to Nonnatus House.

I may be more modern, but I'm not that modern!

The speaker was right about not being sentimental, though.

We can emote all we like, we can cite our vocation all we like,

but nothing gets through to those in power like cold, hard facts.

Netherditch Hospital?

I've seen signs for Netherditch Hospital.

It's right in the middle of my sales patch!

I was offered exactly the same job there 18 months ago,

and I turned it down.

The same job is vacant again. The same little house is vacant again.

You have to take it, Nancy.

You'll be nearer to me, until we get married.

And Colette will be able to breathe clean air

and go to a better school.

You want all that for her just as much as I do, don't you?

She's going to be my daughter.

Who on earth can that be at this hour of the night?

Someone needs emergency knicker elastic!

Colette first.

Nuns next.

Then I'm going to phone my mother in the morning

and I'm going to take you both to meet her over Easter weekend.

Grand.

So, where's the ring?

It's in my jacket pocket.

It's been there since the day we chose it.

Perfect.

I love that it's an opal.

It's got so many different colours in it.

Like yellow and pink and turquoise,

flashing like stars,

or little electric flowers.

It's like you.

I love you.

I'm sorry to spring it on you

when you're in your rollers and everything.

But you are the mayor.

I most certainly am the mayor, Mr Southwell.

And please be advised that you cannot just make

a unilateral declaration of independence

on behalf of the Isle of Dogs.

Did it in Rhodesia.

Ah, Rhodesia's a country!

The Isle of Dogs isn't even a borough!

It's more of a... bulge into the Thames.

And 11,000 people live there.

We're underfunded, overlooked, starved of resources...

Fed up to the back teeth.

That's a very stirring statement, Mr Southwell,

but you aren't an elected politician.

As of midnight, I am President of the Island.

And I am Prime Minister.

Course, it's about time old Harold Wilson got

a run for his money!

And there's eight more men in our committee.

You are a tug boat pilot.

And this is a gimmick.

It's a silly, attention-seeking gimmick.

I'm not giving you my support.

It doesn't matter.

This was only a courtesy call.

Come tomorrow, we're all free men.

..to do always that is righteous in thy sight,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Uh, Sister Julienne, may I have a word?

Are you going to miss us, Sister Julienne?

Our sadness at your departure

is completely eclipsed by our happiness for both of you.

I can't put it as elegantly as that, but...

..good on you, lass.

Ah, you'll make me cry!

Save the tears. There's a wedding to plan!

Yes. When is it going to be?

Yes, when, and where?

In six months' time.

In Poplar.

Why would I want to get married anywhere other than home?

Dr Turner has asked me to look after Paula,

the little pregnant girl.

The 13-year-old?

He said he needs a midwife who can be gentle with the child

and firm with the child's mother.

Adolescent pregnancies are notoriously difficult.

She's at increased risk of eclampsia, anaemia,

preterm delivery and antepartum haemorrhage.

One saw it far too often in times gone by.

A half-budded body

that should be little and limber...

..warped and swollen out of all tolerable shape.

And the infants of such children

were usually... so very small,

as though they scarcely dared admit that they were made.

Just because a body can conceive a baby,

doesn't mean that it can bear it easily.

At such a young age, I mean,

can a mother even understand what's happening?

We can bring Paula in in a minute.

But ideally, I need to speak with her mother too.

Would a home visit be more convenient?

My wife doesn't want to talk to you.

This sort of thing doesn't happen in families like ours.

Or churches like ours.

According to Dr Turner's notes, you attend Habitation Chapel?

I know it.

Habitation Chapel has been saving lives since 1859.

It says, "Saving souls since 1859," above the door,

but I reckon it does more than that.

My life wouldn't have been worth living

if I hadn't gone in there and pledged myself to Jesus.

I always say, I met God and I met Grace there.

Grace is my wife.

Everything else, it just, well, it just sort of followed.

Mr Cunningham...

..questions will have to be asked about the baby's father.

Who he is and whether any offence has been committed.

It's not me.

I-I promise.

It's not me.

I've even had one of them vasectomies,

er, Dr Turner'll tell you.

Have you any idea whether Paula has a boyfriend?

We wouldn't allow it.

Is this picture right?

Can your baby burst out of your body like that?

This is a medical textbook, Mrs Welch.

It was written to train and educate people like Nurse Clifford and me.

That's why it doesn't pull any punches.

This one frightens me, and I'm a midwife.

It doesn't happen often, I promise you.

Why didn't anybody tell me that my womb could burst open?

Did Mr Parry not think I was clever enough to take this in?

Mrs Welch, has seeing this changed the way that you feel

about having a surgical delivery?

Too ruddy right it has!

I'm scared of the operation, but I'm terrified of the alternative.

I'm happy, Sister Veronica.

But I'll miss you doing this.

I'm happy.

But I will miss this too.

I was just about to leave.

I thought there was no-one home.

Cast your eye upon my visage.

Have I the untainted complexion of youth?

Not really.

Then it will not surprise you to learn

that I am halt in my antiquity.

And I can no more run to this door

than I may fly.

The supply of hot beverages to callers

is no longer within my purview.

This must suffice.

I'm surprised the Pope even let you have a television.

You'd think he'd encourage self-discipline if nothing else.

Dr Turner never did this.

Now we know for sure you're going to have a baby,

he wants to make sure you have all the usual checks.

Is this all right, honey?

It feels a bit funny.

I'm sorry.

It's one of those things us girls have to get used to,

if we're going to look after our bodies properly.

This won't take too long.

I'm going to get you a tissue.

You might see a tiny bit of blood.

Am I having a period?

No. I don't think it's that.

Angela and May hope they'll be bridesmaids.

They've never been asked by anyone before.

Ah, have they not? Well, they might be getting a nice surprise!

Really? I'm going to talk to Auntie Violet

about making all the dresses.

Hello.

My name is Esther Noble.

And I take it you're the young lady whom my son intends to marry?

Paula's hymen is still there, Doctor.

To the point where I think I tore it slightly

when I tried to examine her.

Sometimes the hymen doesn't completely stretch

across the vagina.

An intact hymen isn't unheard of in a pregnant patient.

But in this case, it's just totally unhelpful.

He implied you were respectable.

I am completely respectable.

You're an unmarried mother!

I was also reared by nuns and I still live in a convent.

It is of no consolation to me that you're Roman Catholic.

These nuns are Anglican.

The distinction is immaterial.

Question one - where were you baptised?

Two - where will you marry? Three...

..where do you go to worship God?

Question one - you'd have to ask my mother,

who's been dead for 20 years.

Two - the registry office.

Three - I don't.

I see.

Roger had a very different upbringing.

And it's clear to me that he is making the most terrible mistake.

I told you.

And my daughter told you.

And now her body has told you.

She is a virgin.

She is also expecting a baby.

If that child is expecting a baby

and her... hymen, or whatever you call it,

has never been broken,

there are only two ways this can have come about.

She's either pregnant

by the Holy Spirit...

Are you saying this is an immaculate conception?

..or she's been interfered with...

..by the Devil.

Nurse Corrigan! Nurse Corrigan!

Your fiance's on the phone!

Roger? Your mother's been here.

What? In London?!

She told me nothing!

Well, she told me plenty.

What do you do in a case like Winnie's?

When the mother is so scared and so desperate?

Well, sometimes, just hearing them out is as good

as talking them round.

But what I could never say to Winnie Welch

is that the worst thing I ever witnessed was a woman dying

of exactly the complication

that this second Caesarean is aiming to avoid.

Uterine rupture? Hmm.

It's as if it's branded into my mind's eye.

The mother had the most beautiful tummy,

not a stretch mark on it.

And you never forget a thing like that.

But during second stage,

there was this rippling underneath the skin.

I could see the muscles

contracting, contracting, contracting,

into this sickening hourglass shape.

The other thing I never forget

is the way she screamed before she died,

as though animals were tearing her apart.

She'd bought a beautiful new nightie for wearing afterwards.

Turquoise nylon, with a little lemon frill.

I had it warming on the...

..fireguard.

But I had to lay her out in it, dead.

With the baby tucked into the crook of her arm.

Oh, Phyllis...

I felt such a fraud,

sympathising with Winnie over Mr Parry and his scalpel.

But the fact of the matter is,

if there is any risk at all of uterine rupture,

the knife is the only way ahead.

Yes, I am aware that the Isle of Dogs

has declared itself an independent republic.

This has not been put to any sort of vote,

and as Mayor of Tower Hamlets,

I neither acknowledge nor condone it.

Men are filming outside.

What?!

Don't let anyone in!

Where's Fred gone?

I had to catch an aeroplane.

And the only boarding house available

is like the United Nations!

I am in love and I'm getting married.

It's not a crisis, Mother. I'm nearly 30!

You're 27 years and eight months old tomorrow.

If we're to have a helpful conversation about this,

it would be best if we adhere to facts.

The principle facts being Nancy is a Catholic,

and has a child outside what you would call wedlock.

And you don't want me to marry her.

I don't want you contracting a marriage that will end in tears!

Yours, or mine!

What about Nancy?

She doesn't deserve a day's more unhappiness

than she's already overcome.

Because, in spite of all of that she has endured,

she is the brightest, lightest spirit

and she and her little girl...

..shine on me, like sunlight.

She has turned your head.

And she's turning you away from all that you have ever known.

You're the one who's turning me away.

If you carry on like this, there'll be no coming back!

She tore Roger to shreds.

I don't want a mother-in-law that hurts her son like that.

Tinned salmon, with just a suspicion of salad cream.

I want to go and fight her.

But that would just hurt him more.

And he wants to go and fight her, but that would hurt everyone.

You need someone to vouch for you, Nancy.

Someone who can bring a supplementary point of view.

Yeah, I've no-one, Miss Higgins.

You know perfectly well that that's not the case.

Right, come on, you lot, let's go!

No-one passes until our demands are met!

Win? Winnie!

Can you please stop cleaning?

The place is filthy.

And it doesn't help that the immersion heater's bust again.

I wish you'd give over with them banners -

there was nothing wrong with the last ones.

I forgot the "the".

There was only room for "we are people",

and that's a foregone conclusion in anybody's book.

You don't look comfy, Win.

I'm not comfy.

Maybe the midwives would have something to treat wind?

Reviewing these accounts, Sister,

it's clear that the council's budget only works because

the Order does a great deal of work for nothing.

We are sisters of charity.

That's always been our way.

That was your way before the National Health came into being.

But there's no reason why it should have continued afterwards!

Well, there may be no reason, but there is need.

The council are using you so that they can save money.

Is this going to be awfully contentious?

Yes. It is.

Sometimes things happen in this life

which appear to be inexplicable.

Do you know what inexplicable means, Paula?

Does it mean there's no reason for it?

It means that there seems to be no reason for it.

But, Paula, there is always a reason

for everything that happens on this Earth.

Because God in heaven has decreed it,

or because the Devil is trying to make things otherwise.

By striving to make us alter our behaviour.

Do you believe in God, Paula?

And do you believe in the Devil?

No, I don't.

But if you don't believe in him...

..that means you don't fear him.

And that is very, very dangerous.

Mummy! Don't hit me!

Paula, I've never, ever hit you.

Not even a smack on the legs when you were little

and you were naughty,

but this... this is not you!

This is not something you have done.

Can't you see that?

Would it be better if I had done something?

Would everyone stop shouting at me?

If you'd done something...

..that would be even worse.

Excuse me! Do you have a spare balloon?

We'll tie it to the wing mirror!

Why are you encouraging them?

By all accounts, they've occupied the Blue Bridge

and they're blocking this one.

My apologies, madam,

but we're not allowing any more through traffic

until after the President arrives.

The President? What do you mean, the President?

Tom Southwell, President of the Isle of Dogs.

He's on his way back from the BBC,

he's been giving interviews all morning. I see.

And who are you - his press spokesman?

Well, I, as a matter of fact, am the Prime Minister.

And I'm Home Secretary.

Well, if you're Home Secretary,

then you're responsible for law and order.

So I suggest that you allow me to pass

before I perform a citizen's arrest!

Mrs Cunningham? I need to see your daughter.

She requires regular appointments.

Paula!

This is Joyce. Joyce Highland.

I-I am the nurse who came to see you.

You can telephone me at Nonnatus House at any time.

We're in Wick Street.

No-one can force you to face this alone.

She isn't facing anything alone.

She has parents that love her

and a church that is praying for her soul.

What do we want, citizens?

We want doctors! We want schools!

We want buses! We're no fools!

Excuse me... Nurse Crane, that lady's on our books!

She's five months pregnant.

Oh, yes, Ingrid Martin.

No show without Punch.

Excuse me!

We're no fools!

This is our home.

Our Island of Dogs.

Mrs Martin? Ingrid?

I really don't think that's an awfully safe place to stand.

Thank you, Nurse, but I'm not in any danger.

I'm standing firm, along with the people

of the Independent Republic of the Isle of Dogs!

The little rascals!

They're letting the tyres down on that bus!

Oi!

It's about time we showed them just what we're made of!

Winnie, there's two of them.

It's just as well! I reckon I'm in labour.

Proper labour. What was that awful noise?

The people have occupied the bridge,

so there's a cargo ship locked outside of the dock.

I feel I'm going to burst open.

Sh-sh. No, no, you're not.

Mr Welch, could you go to the telephone box

and ring for an ambulance?

I can't have it here!

If I do, I'll rupture!

Tell them an emergency maternity transfer is required,

due to risk of uterine rupture.

We beseech thee, O Lord.

Be this child's protection

against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

Be this child's protection against the wickedness

and snares of the Devil.

O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God,

thrust into hell all evil spirits who wander through the world

seeking souls to feed from and innocence to ruin.

When will I know when it's time to start pushing?

Try to stay calm, Winnie.

Deep, slow, breaths are better than fast, shallow ones.

Deep and slow now.

Deep and slow.

I'm going to have it here, aren't I?

Yes. I believe you are.

I can't breathe.

There's no sign of the ambulance.

She needs to be in hospital.

This baby needs to be delivered by... Caesarean.

Go back to the kitchen, Mr Welch,

and keep boiling water.

Nurse Crane, we might have better luck

if you call them this time

and state that this is a medical emergency.

When I start to push,

is that when I'm going to tear open?

No, Winnie. It is not.

Be this child's protection against the wickedness

and snares of the Devil.

Look at me! Look at me!

Say it, Paula!

Say, "I reject you!"

I don't know what you mean!

Say, "I reject you!"

Help me, Daddy!

That's enough! Come on, Paula!

Run to Nonnatus House!

Run! Run!

I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable, Mr Southwell.

They called me Mr President at the BBC.

You are not improving people's lives.

You are disrupting them.

♪ We shall not, we shall not be moved

And you've no business going on the BBC

saying that council tenants will not be paying rent

to Tower Hamlets any more!

All rents will be going direct to the Citizens Council.

And who decided that?

The Citizens Council. This is democracy.

No, this isn't democracy, this is a farce!

Who voted for you?

Who are your supporters?

We are!

Not us. We didn't.

Fred!

You want to come over here and calm your missus down?

Hello, Vi.

I'm scared!

I feel like I shouldn't be pushing,

and then I can't help it.

Baby wants to be born, Winnie.

But we are going to make sure

that happens safely and smoothly.

Do you hear me? But I'm really scared.

We are going to do this together.

They said the ambulance is en route.

But the... the street's blocked by protesters.

I keep thinking about my mum.

When she died,

me and my brothers and sisters put an obituary in the Gazette.

And there was this poem in it, and it said, er,

"If there were phones in heaven, Mum,

"we'd ring you every day..."

I can't remember the rest of it

but there were some lovely rhymes...

That's a lovely sentiment.

Many's the time I've wished

I could nip to the phone box and call my mother.

If you could ring her, what would you say?

I would say, "I'm in your bed, Mum.

"I'm giving birth to your ninth grandchild.

"Every time I push, the midwife says that she can see its head.

"And I think about you and what you would have heard,

"when you were having me

"and Sally and Errol and Dawn.

"Hanging on to these bedrails,

"like Granny Annie did before us.

"Cos I'm not having a Caesarean, Mum!

"I'm going to do this myself."

Come in.

No rupture?

No rupture. And no Caesarean!

All your own work!

Oh, lass...

Oh, lass!

Oh, both of you!

How about all of us? It's a girl.

Is it a girl?!

Agh!

Go into the kitchen, stand by the sink

and run the cold tap over your feet one at a time.

Your wife just had a baby and we've got work to do.

Yes!

Here comes the placenta.

Gentlemen, we have a baby girl!

We also have a scalded father.

Your attendance would be appreciated.

Those scones were as light as a feather, Miss Higgins.

I was taught to always combine the mixture

using a bone-handled knife.

The logic was the blade stayed cool,

preventing the warmth of the hands

from affecting the butter.

I was taught to make pastry with a bone-handled knife.

I'm sorry your son's engagement...

..is so hard to come to terms with.

I do appreciate that the religious differences run very deep.

It's bred into the sinew, where we come from.

You are who you are, from the day you're born.

It was bad enough before all this new carry-on.

So-called civil rights demonstrations

all across Belfast, and fighting in the streets.

But... Roger has a career and a life in England now.

Like his wife-to-be.

Roger is hobbling himself.

The girl has a child in tow.

And how will they run a decent home,

not knowing what side of the divide they're on?

I think they will run a decent home

by not accepting there is a divide of any kind.

I don't mean to be rude, Miss Higgins.

You're a woman of rectitude and discretion.

And it was very kind of you to invite me into your home.

But what can you know about this sort of... mess?

About illegitimacy?

About religions getting all mixed up with one another?

Mrs Noble...

..I know more than you might think.

Bodies are strange things, honey.

We feed them, we clothe them and we live inside them,

but we don't know them quite as well as we may think.

And sometimes, they take us by surprise.

And sometimes,

our bodies want things that we don't understand,

but can't run away from.

I couldn't run away from Lenny.

Lenny?

He does nearly the same paper round as me.

Sometimes we walk back down the towpath together.

So, you are friends?

We have a laugh.

And play fight.

All the lads do that.

Lenny always says I'm one of the lads.

And... would you be alone, on the towpath?

And is that where you did your play fighting?

I liked it.

He liked it.

When we was alone,

it was different.

Honey, if you want to tell me to stop asking questions, you can.

It's all right.

Did Lenny ever...

..interfere with your clothing?

He interfered with his.

But I didn't see anything!

I don't even know what we did.

I didn't mind it.

We was just laughing. Laughing and fighting.

Paula, do you think you had sexual intercourse?

I don't know!

My mum wouldn't sign the note

when we did facts of life at school.

Oh, honey.

And now I can never go home again.

You're a brave woman, telling me about your son,

telling me your private story.

Tolerance and compromise are such gentle things.

But like everything worthwhile, they can take so much courage.

How old are the others, in this mother and baby home?

Most are older.

Some are in their twenties

and will only be there for six weeks.

But Arbury House has a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old

who will stay longer, so they would be company for Paula.

I don't want her coming under the influence

of girls like that.

Grace... Paula is a girl like that.

Until we get her home and the baby's adopted,

she's a girl like that, and we are going to have to accept it.

I can't accept it.

I can't accept that this is what God wants.

This is nothing to do with God.

This is about the way we brought her up.

I've come for the hamsters.

What?

Joyce rang the mother and baby home.

They said Paula can take them with her.

Come inside.

Thank you, Mrs Buckle.

Ooh, hello, girls!

We're going to have so much fun choosing these dresses!

I've got this idea that they could all wear different colours.

Maybe three shades of pink,

or one yellow, one blue, green.

I like lilac.

Maybe we should ask Miss Higgins.

Oh. When I was a girl,

we used to call mixed colours

at a wedding "sweet pea shades".

Fred! Stand by with the pastel taffeta.

What are you doing up there?

I thought you were running round the island,

crusading for the free world?

It fizzled out.

President and Prime Minister resigned.

Possibly because we all have

better things to do with our time.

I think we will start with the Wedgwood

and then we will work our way through.

Aw! Yes...

How much did Baby weigh?

7lb 2oz. No intervention required.

Other than a single perineal stitch from me.

Congratulations, Mother.

I couldn't have done it without the midwives.

But you did do it without me.

You know, um...

..sometimes it's, er, it's rather splendid to be wrong.

I keep crying.

I had to tell Nurse Crane it was because of the rumours

about the Beatles splitting up.

I didn't know you liked the Beatles.

I thought everybody did.

Don't you?

Well, I wouldn't turn them off if I heard them on the radio.

I keep thinking about the work we do.

And the way we try, and...

..fail.

The Beatles sing, "All you need is love."

But that isn't really true, is it?

The decade was scarcely newborn

at Nonnatus House,

but it was already marked and measured.

Every day was made to count,

despite the fever of a changing world

and the unruly actions of the human heart.

Which is the stronger - life or love?

Life persists in the face of all rejection, all despair.

And so does love.

The wounds all bleed, and they are not divisible.

Love, like life,

unfolds and flowers as it will.

It too carries its own secrets, its own power.

And like life, it will make its own decisions.

Love laughs in the face of dictation.

Do not try to pin it down, do not attempt to label it,

because love will have none of it,

and love knows best of all.

We found in the brothels of Poplar

the smorgasbord of venereal disease.

Sometimes when you get lucky, you get unlucky.

This isn't a place for a lady.

There is no-one else! I swear on my life!

All right?

Arlene Brewer's on a new drug called lithium.

Arlene!