Episode 2 Call the Midwife

BELL CHIMING

FOGHORN

'I used to think that night was a time for women.

'All day, the docks were raucous with the lives of men.

'Lightermen and stevedores, dockers and pilots,

'the sailors and the drivers of the trains.

'In the smallest hours, only the river's voice was heard.

'Only women were awake.'

-KETTLE WHISTLES

-'Men slept.

'Mostly.'

WOMAN SCREAMS AND CRIES

WOMAN SCREAMS

Are you sure you're a midwife? You don't half look young.

Don't worry, Ingrid. You're quite safe.

INGRID GROANS AND SOBS

I'll...kill...him!

I'll bloody kill him when I'm done!

SCREAMS AND CRIES

Short breaths.

GASPING

There.

'She wouldn't kill him. No mother ever did.

'She would only curse his name, and say there'd never be a next time.

-BABY CRYING

-'And she would mean it.

'And there always was.'

# O God, make speed to save us

# O Lord, make haste to help us

# Glory be to the Father and to the Son

# And to the Holy Ghost

# As it was in the beginning Is now, and ever shall be

# World without end, amen

# Praise ye the Lord

# The Lord's name be praised

# Have mercy upon me O God

# After Thy great goodness

# According to the multitude of Thy mercies

# Do away mine offences

# Wash me throughly from my wickedness... #

Zakir, I'm with someone.

# ..And cleanse me from my sin... #

SEAGULLS CRY

LOW CHATTER

Take him to the Crystal Room.

BIRDSONG OUTSIDE

Oh, she's a bit of all right.

I'm going to call her Dawn.

It's a beautiful name.

-Ah, hug, hug.

-BABY GURGLES

-That's it, nicely. Good girl.

-BABY CRIES

-Baby.

-Baby, yeah.

COINS CLINK

Don't short-change me.

It's eight bob, if I bring you inside.

FOOTSTEPS

Thought he'd dropped off on the job.

Tell you what, some of them lascars don't half rub off on you.

Mary! You've got one in the oven.

Is it any wonder?

There's things you can do, Mare.

Things you'll have to do.

And what if I won't?

You can't keep it. They won't let you.

FOGHORN

'I had entered a house in the dead of night,

'and emerged into sunshine, leaving a new life behind,

'and I wouldn't have changed my job for all the world.'

Oh, hello, Jenny! Up all night again?

Mrs B kept you a kipper.

I'd be quick, if I were you, or Fred will have it.

I heard that, and I hate kippers.

I tried smoking 'em once. It's a mug's game.

Flat tyre.

Three advance delivery packs,

one booking-in and two final home visits.

-Nurse Lee! How is Mrs Mason?

-A little girl, Sister. No complications.

Good. You'll have to see to Sister Bernadette's list later.

She's been seconded to the hospital today.

PHONE RINGING

Nonnatus House. Midwife speaking.

-Short-staffed again!

-The new trainee is on her way.

I can't deny I'm looking forward to an extra pair of hands.

Doreen Riley. She's the twins case in Quebec Street.

We don't need an extra pair of hands. We need an octopus.

When I get back from Mrs Riley, I'll contact the aquarium(!)

In the meantime the new girl's details are on here.

BELL CHIMES

Ah! Camilla Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne?

-Yes.

-Come in.

I generally answer to Chummy. My pa used to say,

"Long dogs need short names."

Mm. Follow me. And mind your head.

I understand you qualified by a whisker, Nurse Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne.

I did pass. It was a bit of a scrape.

Before that I was nursing for five years, and, well...

Come on, inside.

Do you need me to go through this piece by piece?

No, not remotely. What's that?

-It's an enema nozzle.

-It's made of glass.

Do you break things?

No.

-And are all your dresses pink?

-I do have another, in eau de nil.

I bet you look a picture in that too.

Nurse Lee!

KNOCK AT DOOR

Uniforms.

Standard pale blue. Two.

-I found some in the airing cupboard.

-All girls together.

That's what we used to say at school.

I could never bear all that fussing and flapping under dressing capes. Ha-ha.

I've always been a longshanks.

Even as a child in India, I was always taller than my brothers.

Poor old Mater, she used to be in tears,

but my ayah just sewed flounces at the bottom of my frocks.

It would look a bit rum round the hem of a nurse's outfit.

Oh, I can't move my arms.

Those are the biggest size.

Oh, well. Nil desperandum.

The rotating handle is delicately mechanised.

The cogs will be deranged if it's pounded out of rhythm.

Oh, don't worry, I've got the measure of this little warhorse.

I was at the Royal School of Needlework

before I turned to nursing.

Have you thought of French knots, to make that jolly fellow's hair?

I intend to furnish it with a beret.

-The scalp will not be visible to view.

-Oh.

# Embrace me

# Embrace me

SHE SINGS ALONG

# Embrace me

# My sweet embraceable you

# Embrace me

# My irreplaceable yo-o-ou

# Just one look at you

# My heart grew... #

MUSIC PLAYS FAINTLY

STAIR CREAKS

# ..Bring out the gypsy in me

MUFFLED CONVERSATION

DOOR CREAKS

# Ooh, ooh, ooh, ah! #

I thank you and I love you all!

I wish I could make my own patterns. I'd save a bomb on clothes.

Yes. I've loved clothes ever since the New Look.

New Look's old hat, darling.

Aren't you bored of ironing all those layers?

Only wearing four tomorrow night. No room for six in the Royal Festival Hall.

Another concert? On your own?

Yes. Rachmaninoff.

Oh! Oh. I've chopped Princess Margaret's head off.

I was cutting out the sleeve.

She'll be giving me one of her hard cold stares.

I'm sure she'll forgive you. I think she looks fun.

Oh, she's frightfully vivacious when she's had a gin.

Not that I know her well.

No, I haven't really seen her since Pa's investiture.

-Investiture?

-Yes, he was just...

Well, he was knighted for, er... services to the viceroy.

I'd keep that from Sister Evangelina.

-Why?

-She grew up drinking out of jam jars.

It's made her a bit of an inverted snob.

-DOOR OPENS FRED:

-Right, young madam.

Bicycles.

I've got a very nice Rival of Norwich, with a lightweight frame.

Or a Rover Imperial I reckon's come off the ark. The choice is yours.

Oh, I don't need a bicycle. Thanks awfully.

Shanks's pony will suffice for me.

Darling, you won't last five minutes on shanks's pony.

We cover eight square miles.

You can ride a bike?

I can ride a horse. That can't be so very different, surely?

Once somebody's learned to ride a bicycle,

-they never, ever forget.

-Absolutely.

You'll have to do this once. It's like learning to smoke

-or having your ears pierced.

-Quite.

Ready? Oh! Oh, gosh, erm...

-Buckle down.

-Er... Oh.

-All right.

-Yes, feet on.

-And go.

-Oh, um...

-Keep going.

-You want to tie her to our go-kart?

-You want to button your lip.

-I'm sure he means well.

LAUGHTER

-Feet.

-What?

-Feet.

-Yes.

Feet! Work your feet, Chummy.

-Feet.

-Yes. Oh!

-Down.

Pedal up, pedal down.

Oh, no! Sorry. Sorry. BIKE BELL RINGS

It's just this alternate body parts business.

Feet, you know, doing different things.

One fears there is something in her that is misaligned.

One suspects a planetary influence.

CHILDREN: Pedal up! Pedal down!

The East End'll eat her for breakfast.

TRAIN WHISTLE

Miss?

Miss? Could you change a five-pound note for me?

A five-pound note? No, I'm sorry. I can't.

-What about that cafe over there?

-I daren't. They'll think I stole it.

Would you go in and change it for me?

I'm sorry.

Please!

I've not eaten today.

Nor yesterday.

Well, I suppose we could go in together.

We could get you something to eat.

I could pay using the banknote, so they'll think it's mine.

First dinner I ever had in England was like this.

That pie was in silver paper too.

It was in the transport cafe. That's near Liverpool.

You're not from Liverpool, though?

County Mayo.

Then Dublin, after Dadda died.

That was where our luck ran out.

And Mam fell in love with the drink.

I don't like it when people pry. I shouldn't pry myself. I'm sorry.

She'll be on the cold tea and meths by now.

She used to tell me the story of Dick Whittington and his cat,

and how they came to London and he heard the bells.

I thought, "What sort of eejit goes to make his fortune and takes his cat with him?"

When she took a man to live with us, I knew I'd have to leave.

I thought, "I'll take a leaf out of Dick Whittington's book.

"I'm just not taking any pets."

I thought the boat went from Dublin straight to London.

I didn't know there was any other city.

And I hitched a ride from Liverpool docks.

It was the driver who bought me the pie.

Did he take advantage of you?

I like your scarf.

It's from Paris.

Is that what the writing on it says?

Did the lorry driver take advantage of you?

No.

He was the last good Englishman I met.

It's just...

-..I can see you're expecting a baby.

-Can you?

I've a trained eye. I'm a midwife.

You're not old enough.

-I'm older than you.

-Sorry, girls.

I'm closing me till. That's two and nine, please.

I can't change that. Haven't you got anything smaller?

If you can't change this banknote, we can't pay for the meal.

Which, of course, has now been eaten.

THEY GIGGLE

Four pounds seventeen and thruppence.

Is there somewhere you can go?

There's the place I used to work.

But, if I go there, they'll hurt me.

People like you are supposed to help people like me.

Come on.

I can't wake Sister Julienne now.

The nuns get up to pray at half past four.

I hate half past four.

It's cold, even in the summer.

Will she let me stay?

She'll know where you can stay.

I thought you were one of my sort.

Only of the grand kind.

It was your lovely coat, and the way you let it swing when you were walking.

There's a girl called Charmaine in the place where I was living with Zakir.

She said she was going to go up west

and wear white gloves and a touch-me-not expression.

She probably thought she could look like you.

Mary, is Zakir the father of your child?

I don't think so.

It's such a long time since he wanted me.

And some nights I've been with three men.

Even four.

God love your innocence, Nurse Jenny Lee.

Which of us is the oldest now?

SEAGULLS CRY OUTSIDE

You're not still up?

Bit of an argument with the bust darts.

Night.

Night.

SHOUTING AND CHEERING

-Pedal up.

-Up.

-Pedal down.

-Down.

-Pedal up.

-Up.

-Pedal down...

-Getting it! Getting it!

-Bravo, Chummy!

-CHILDREN: # Champion the Wonder Horse!

-# Champion the Wonder horse... #

-I'm so proud of you, Chummy!

# ..Like a streak of lightnin' flashing 'cross the sky... #

-Well done, Chummy!

-Oh!

# ..You'll hear about her everywhere you go... #

Oh! Oh, no! Aah!

LAUGHTER

-Move out of the way, please.

-Are you all right?

SOBBING

I'm not going out of that door!

I'm safe here!

You'll be safe with Father Joe at Wellclose Square.

He's set up a refuge for girls like you.

I'm not going out! Someone will see me.

You're very afraid of something, aren't you, Mary?

MARY SNIFFS

If you can tell us what it is, you may be able to help us help you.

There was a girl with a baby in her.

And they sent for a woman to come.

She had a hook, like the one you knit with.

I had to help to hold her down.

And there was blood, like in a butcher's.

Did the girl lose the baby?

There was a chamberpot in the corner of our room.

It had violets printed on the china.

And I saw the baby in there, no bigger than my hand.

My baby's bigger than my hand now.

I can feel it underneath my heart.

Mary, we're not a nursing home, or a clinic.

MARY SOBS

This is where the midwives live.

We look after women in the community.

When you go to Father Joe's, you'll be in the community

and we'll look after you.

I'll go if Jenny comes.

Fred's mending the dent on your mudguard. You've got gravel in that.

Botheration.

You are going to have to get cycling under your belt.

You'll have to find time for it,

just like you've got to find time for your extra study.

I know, Sister. I know I barely scratched a pass at my exams. But I won't give up.

If you can't serve your patients, you're a hindrance, not a help,

and you'll have to be replaced.

But I need district experience.

Without it, I can't go to Africa.

What do you want to go there for? Aren't we good enough for you?

I feel I've been called to work in Africa by God.

-Do you feel called to the religious life?

-Oh, gosh, no.

One hopes there might be some sort of a chap along the way.

I'm quite happy just to be a missionary.

But when I close my eyes to pray, I see all these little black faces.

You don't have to up sticks to Africa to see them.

Just go a bit nearer the docks. It's not that far...by bicycle.

That's the place I used to work.

It's all right. I'm not taking you there.

Yes, you are!

No! You are! No, no, no!

Do you know him?

No.

Tea for three.

I hope you've no objection to fig rolls.

Never had one. Are they foreign?

Probably. I never reckoned they were up to much.

They taste like treacle wrapped in a doormat.

I'm not a fallen woman.

No.

I had a boyfriend.

His name was Zakir.

He took me in, when he found me eating bread left for the birds.

But he worked for his uncle.

And I had to work for his uncle too.

We understand that you were forced.

There is no shame in it.

There isn't for the men.

It's a pimp's trick, old as the hills.

A young man finds a vulnerable girl,

lures her to bed with a kiss and kind words.

By the time he's finished with her, she'd do anything for him.

But don't the girls have any sense of danger?

They've usually been in danger all their lives.

If not from violence, then from hunger and disease.

It's hard to imagine, I grant you, if you've never lived like that.

I work in the East End, Father. I know about poverty.

Nurse, I don't think you do.

Poverty isn't bad housing, dirty clothing, families of ten.

It's never having been loved, or even respected.

Not knowing the difference between love and abuse,

a kiss that wasn't down payment on a blow.

I'm sorry.

You must think me very ignorant.

I think you're very fortunate.

And there's no need to apologise for that.

# O God, make speed to save us

# O Lord, make haste to help us

# Praise ye the Lord

# The Lord's name be praised

# Have mercy upon me, O God

# After thy great goodness

# According to the multitude of thy mercies

# Do away mine offences

# Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness

# And cleanse me from my sin... #

MEN CHATTERING

-What happened to the Wonder Horse?

-Will you put a sock in it?

You've a voice like you've swallowed a foghorn! Good afternoon, Nurse.

Afternoon.

Excuse me.

Size of her. She could pull a brewer's dray.

BABIES CRYING

I hope everyone's brought their sample today.

Oh, not the syrup tin again, Mrs Teeman.

It plays havoc with the sugar test.

Ah, good afternoon. Or is it good evening?

You're with Dr Turner. Cubicle on the end.

Hello, Brenda!

Never thought I'd be bumping into you here!

I remarried. Two years ago.

Well, that's a poke in the eye for Adolf, innit?

How did you lose your first husband again?

In the Blitz. When the sugar works caught fire.

Oh, will I ever forget it? The gutters ran with fudge for a week.

-You're happy, I presume?

-Delighted. Aren't you?

Ah, I come round to the idea. I was disgusted at first.

It don't seem right, does it?

Mother of the bride being in the family way.

Her wedding's in a fortnight.

I've had to buy one of those trapeze-line coats.

Mrs Brenda McEntee to see Dr Turner.

-Good luck, love.

-Thank you.

Bowels been normal and regular?

Yeah.

-Any vomiting or nausea?

-No. That's stopped.

Any swelling of the ankles? Any fainting or dizziness?

No.

Then we'll examine your tummy. Mrs McEntee had rickets as a child,

and has a skeletal malformation as a result,

including what's known as a rachitic pelvis.

-Have you come across it before?

-No, I haven't.

Mrs McEntee is a rare bird.

She was deprived of sunlight and malnourished as a child.

Rickets was a disease of poverty.

Now we have the welfare state it's become a disease of the past.

As are the problems of pregnancy she experienced in the past.

SOBBING

Now, come along, Mrs McEntee.

I've been coming along! I've...I've been trying to be brave.

But I had the quickening this week.

I've felt it move. Like the others moved.

SOBBING

And I lost every one of them.

Mrs McEntee had four obstructed labours, many years ago.

Her babies were stillborn.

But we can refer her for surgery now, all free of charge.

There's no need to attempt a natural childbirth.

SOBBING

I'm... I'm sorry.

It's just that...that, well, things come back, you know.

Did you hear Doctor, Brenda?

This a brand-new baby, and a splendid chance for you.

We're all here to help, and Doctor's going to help most of all.

I... I know.

I... I'm making a show of myself.

Not at all.

Now, let's start by letting him look at that old tummy.

Look out!

BABIES CRYING

I hope you take greater care of the babies.

They're not quite so easily replaced.

Well done.

You made Brenda McEntee feel safe.

-Magic handkerchief. Never known to fail.

-No.

You made her feel safe. It's the mark of a good nurse.

A midwife too.

Everything else is just mechanics. You'll soon get the hang of it.

Do you think so?

Yes, I do.

MUSIC: "See The Pyramids Along The Nile" by The Duprees

# See the pyramids along the Nile

# Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle

# Just remember, darling, all the while

# You belong to me

# See the marketplace in old Algiers

# Send me photographs and souvenirs

# But remember when a dream appears

# You belong to me

# I'll be so alone... #

We like to hold refresher classes when we can.

Some complications come up only rarely,

and it's as well to stay on top of all the theory.

Now.

Approximately 3 to 4% of babies arriving at term are born breech.

That is to say, the buttocks will be the presenting part.

Didn't Shakespeare describe Richard III as being breech?

Something about him coming into the world with his legs forward?

In Poplar they call it arriving arse-first.

SNORTS

Did anyone see any breech births during training?

-I saw two.

-I saw one, the second of a set of twins.

Nurse Browne?

-Oh, um...I did and I didn't.

-Oh?

All tickety-boo to start with, then after the legs descended,

the midwife wrapped the baby in a towel and let its body hang there.

It was dangling. Still with its head inside the birth canal.

Yes. That is done to increase the flexion of the head.

It increases the risk of asphyxiation.

It is a showman's trick, in my view.

-How long was it allowed to hang?

-I don't know.

I passed out. Came to face down on the lino in the corridor.

Nurse Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne!

According to the duty log, you were late for your first three appointments,

and missed the last two altogether!

Chummy wrote those entries in the log herself!

-As if it's something to be proud of?

-Chummy has to walk everywhere.

Then why isn't she doing something about it?

"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!

"Rage! Blow! Ye cataracts and hurricanes, spout".

Sister Monica Joan...

I refer to the fact... that her nose is running.

Oh. Here you are.

You need to have more respect for your patients.

If you can't be trusted to turn up on time,

you can't be trusted to do your own deliveries,

no matter how much studying you do.

I love it every time it kicks.

All I can think is, "Please let it be born strong."

-Everything else can wait till later.

-Quite right. You need to keep rested

and eat as much as you can.

That's it. Perfect.

I could get used to perfect. I can't get used to them fig rolls.

They'll do you good. They've got fruit in.

The night I met Zakir, he gave me chocolate cake with fruit in.

He'd given me wine to drink, and I hadn't liked it.

The cake was supposed to make the wine taste sweeter,

but it only made it taste more sour.

You can open the curtains now, Mary. I've finished examining you.

It was after that that he took me to the Crystal Room.

I knew what men did to women.

I'd had it done to me.

And...I didn't think it could be beautiful...

..or that it could happen on a bed with golden sheets.

-Mary.

-He said afterwards,

"Did you think anything like that could ever come to you?"

As if he knew I'd never known it could.

Mary.

What Zakir did to you was obscene, not beautiful.

You shouldn't speak of him. You shouldn't think of him.

I can't help it.

He's standing in the street.

He comes and stands there every afternoon.

I don't care how many calls I have to make or how far we have to send her.

But I am going to get her out of Stepney.

She's younger than most, she's not sharp in the head,

and she's valuable to them on both those counts.

Right.

'A place was found for Mary

'at a Catholic mother-and-baby home in Kent.

'She would be cared for there,

'with her child delivered in the cottage hospital.'

Thank you for being my friend, Jenny Lee.

Well done, Chummy!

We're going to go straight ahead and turn right into Lisbon Street.

-Don't forget your hand signals.

-I just stick out my arm, don't I?

Medal for that woman!

Slow down now, Chum!

How?

-Lean in as you turn.

-I don't know how to turn.

I've forgotten how to turn!

THEY SQUEAL

Brake! Brake, Nurse!

BELLS RING

-What happened?

-They were going too fast.

GROANS

All right? That's it.

You all right, nurse?

I think so.

All right, darling? All right, take it easy. Anything hurt?

Oh, dear, I'm such a fool. Sorry.

Just take a minute.

First, I'm glad that none of you are more seriously injured,

and, second, that you aren't all up before the magistrates.

How did you persuade the policeman not to charge you?

Assaulting an officer is a criminal offence.

I can't remember. I just tried to say it as nicely as I could.

"Sweet voice, sweet lips, soft hand, and softer breast,

"Warm breath, light whisper, tender semi-tone."

Not even the softness of the breast or any other portion of the form

helped to turn away the policeman's wrath.

I don't care if they did.

Nurse Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne has got off scot-free,

we're short-staffed and our patients will suffer.

Nurse Browne was diagnosed with shock and mild concussion.

After bed rest, she will recover and then she'll be attending deliveries by herself.

She's not competent!

Cycling aside, she's competent enough.

She is a qualified midwife and a highly experienced nurse.

There's experience and experience.

What experience has she got of ordinary people?

-What experience have they got of her?

-They like her.

They laugh at her.

And they've every right. She's no better than a tourist.

She's using them for her own ends.

The East End's nothing but a stepping stone to her.

What if it's the stepping stone to her life's work?

This is our life's work.

We don't need Madame Lah-di-dah looking down on us

from her...her great height!

Nurse Browne!

- What are you doing out of bed? - I've been to the off-licence.

To buy some whisky for the policeman.

I asked if they had the Glenlivet, but they'd never heard of it.

BIRDSONG

LOW CHATTER

# Just one look at you

# My heart goes dipsy in me... #

I called her Kathleen.

It means pure.

It's a shame you gave that Scotch to the bobby.

You could have done with a nip tonight.

Do you suppose this is how fighter pilots felt, waiting for the call to fly?

I dunno. I was an Army man myself. Pioneer Corps.

Gosh. One of the glamour boys?

Well, I specialised in lavatories.

It's a myth that an army marches on its stomach.

What a fighting man needs is a top-notch khazi...

-PHONE RINGS

-..and not to panic.

Like Monty said at El Alamein,

"It can be done, and it will be done!"

Nonnatus House. Midwife speaking.

My daughter's waters went when they cut the wedding cake!

-Is the lady in labour the bride?

-Bride's mother.

I'd hurry. This is her fifth, and she don't half have 'em fast!

I looked in the book.

She's two weeks before her due date so nothing's been sent on ahead!

Thank you.

Oh, you put a nip of something in it.

-Army trick.

-Before going into battle?

Before going into the other ranks' latrines.

# Oh, the hokey-cokey!

# Oh, the hokey-cokey!

# Oh, the hokey-cokey!

# Knees bent, arms stretched, rah, rah, rah!

# You put your left leg in! You put your left leg out!

# In! Out! In! Out! Shake it all about!

# You do the hokey-cokey and you turn around

# That's what it's all about!

# ..Oh, the hokey-cokey... #

-Watch it!

-Look out!

Get out the way!

LOUD CLATTERING

Here! I will not have you giving cheek!

Especially to the nurse who's come to help your mum.

Here! What you walloping him for?

Disrespect.

Come here.

I know your wallops. You're too soft on him.

The midwife had a moustache.

SNORTS

She kept bending down between my knees

and looking where I don't like being looked at.

I yelled a little bit.

She kept on saying, "Nearly over.

"Nearly over."

And all I kept thinking was, "It's nearly starting.

"I'm nearly a mam."

What was it like when you saw her face?

Like I'd been missing her my whole life.

SINGING OUTSIDE

Aah! Oh!

SOBBING

That's the girl! Let it rip.

They're singing Old MacDonald now so no-one can hear you.

Now, after your contraction, I'll carry out an examination,

and we'll see how close to delivery you are.

I hope it's born before the party ends.

Be a right lark, making an announcement!

I don't want no attention being drawn to this, Mum!

I'm 42. It makes me look loose.

-It makes him indoors look loose.

-Oh!

You should have made him take up dominoes.

Oi! My tortoise is under that bed!

-It went into early hibernation.

-Well, he won't wake up.

All tortoises are deaf. Now, come on. Shoo.

Come on, out you go.

GASPING

This is happening too fast. I haven't even had my enema yet.

Everything in order, Nurse?

It would seem, Betty, as though your baby

is presenting in the breech position.

You what?

It's coming out arse-first.

-That's bad.

-She's not quite fully dilated.

So, there's time to transfer her to hospital,

where she might feel a little more secure.

I feel secure here! I want to stay in my own bed.

And it's not like you're one of them slips of girls.

Betty's had all hers delivered by Nonnatus, just like I had mine.

Mum. Quick, get the bowl.

RETCHING AND COUGHING

She's moving on, Nurse. She's getting ready to want it out.

I shall be back in precisely one moment.

CHILDREN SHOUTING

LAUGHTER

Stop!

I want all the children to go downstairs.

Apart from Jack.

Jack, I need you to go to the telephone and ring Nonnatus House.

That's Poplar 459. Tell them the baby is breech.

What's that mean?

Just say "breech" to whoever answers the telephone.

It's like the beach, the seaside. But it's got an R in it.

Tell them we need additional support. Go!

Betty. Betty, listen to me. I need you to change position.

-What?

-I need you with your bottom

-right at the edge of the bed.

-I can't move.

I'm sorry. I know it's a rotten business. But I do know the form.

BETTY GROANS

CONGA MUSIC AND CHATTER

PHONE RINGS

Nonnatus House?

Well done.

I can feel your hand. It's shaking.

It's excitement. I'm always the same.

-Whoa!

-Can I sit with you?

I told them to keep on dancing.

I told them your mum says the noise is a help.

Now, Betty. I'm sure you want to push like billy-o.

But I need this baby

to come very, very slowly.

So...pant.

Pant, pant.

Little push. GRUNTS

Little push. Stop.

GASPING

Bravo.

Little push. Little push.

Little push. Stop.

GASPING

Bravo, Betty.

Your baby's bottom is now delivered.

Now,

I need you to stay very still.

Breathe very calmly...

..as I hook my fingers...

..over her legs

and bring them into the world.

Have you done it yet?

-We're doing this together.

-Yeah.

Oh!

Here, your hand's not shaking no more.

Now, Betty, I'm going to wrap the baby in a towel.

Her head is still inside the birth canal,

and, if she becomes cold, she may gasp, which...would be unfortunate.

GRUNTING

Now, with the next contraction,

you will feel the baby move, as I turn her just a quarter circle.

That will help ease the shoulders out.

GASPS AND GROANS

Well done.

CONGA MUSIC

She should have called you direct.

Doctor is always called for in the case of a breech.

You called for me. Now we're both here.

Now, Betty, I don't want you to move a muscle.

GRUNTS

I'm going to loosen my hand on Baby...

..and let her body hang.

SOBS AND GASPS

BETTY WHIMPERS

Oh. Oh.

Not a muscle, Betty. Can we have quiet for the mother, please?

-Why are you holding back?

-It looks to me

as though Nurse is managing things beautifully.

BETTY GASPING

Now, old thing.

Push.

LONG GROAN

Keep it coming.

Keep it coming.

BETTY GROANING

That's it.

Keep it coming. Keep it coming.

BETTY SOBBING

BABY CRIES

BETTY SOBS

Hello.

My baby.

Come on, you big girl's blouse.

It's only a baby being born.

BABY GRIZZLES

BABY CRYING

You're all right.

WHISPERS: Thank you.

Gone to sleep already. Just like her dad.

Kathleen!

SOBS

Kathleen!

Kathleen!

DOOR SLAMS

Kathleen!

Kathleen!

Jenny Lee.

Do you know where my baby is?

She needs me to feed her!

She has abscesses in both breasts!

Isn't her mental agony enough for them?

Babies are always placed for adoption in these cases.

It's thought to be in the child's best interests.

What about Mary's interests? She's the mother, she did not consent!

Nurse Lee.

She can't consent.

She's only 15, still legally a child herself.

It was a case of which child should we choose.

How can a girl of 15 with no home, no education,

no trade other than that of prostitution, bring up a baby?

She gave up prostitution.

She doesn't have that choice. And you're not the only one who's angry!

HE SIGHS

But you're young.

You can be angry in the abstract,

and our Lord will love you for your righteous indignation.

Even while Mary's condemned as a sinner?

God forgives. The Church forgives.

The Church took her baby. I think it will kill her.

Without a baby, Mary is employable.

She could find love.

She could have another child.

And you think that will console her?

It consoles me.

Your milk ducts have become blocked, Mary.

That's the cause of the infection.

It hurts.

It hurts like I never knew hurt could hurt.

Reverend Mother has sent for the doctor.

He'll prescribe you antibiotics.

In the meantime, I'm going to bind your breasts

so we can help stop the flow of milk.

I don't want it stopped. It's Kathleen's.

Can I use this?

BELL CHIMING

'Mary was never reunited with her child.

'She might look for her, but her name would not be Kathleen any more.'

# Lo-o-ove

# Is a many-splendoured thing... #

Jack became Chummy's devoted guardian.

Never taunted again by any passer-by,

she finally mastered the art of the bike.

# ..Love is nature's way... #

All right, Constable?

Unused to such kindness, Chummy bought him a bicycle

from her generous private funds.

BABY CRIES

Brenda McEntee delivered a daughter by the Caesarean section

that could have saved each of her stillborn children.

The National Health Service gave her the gift of motherhood.

She called her child Grace Miracle.

And she was perfect.

-Jimmy? What are you doing here?

-I'm in a tight spot, Jenny.

Don't worry, Nurse Lee, I shan't go telling any tales,

I had a few overnight guests of my own.

-You look well.

-And you. Very well.

-As do you.

-CLEARS THROAT

It's not right, Mr Collett. They can't make you leave your own home.

Don't cry over an old codger like myself.

-I'm scared!

-We're going to take good care of you.

Don't worry.

You don't understand! I'm scared!

What are you so afraid of, Mrs Luce?

# Once

# On a high and windy hill

# In the morning mist

# Two lovers kissed

# And the world stood still... #

E-mail: [email protected]