Call the Midwife s09e08 Episode Script

When autumn starts to dampen into winter, should we say, "The nights are getting dark"? Should we thrust our hands into our pockets and anticipate the chill? Or should we say, "Light the fire, draw close, "it will not be as cold as you imagine"? Anyone care to join me in a cuppa? I'd love to, but I've got a bus to catch.
Moi aussi, I'm afraid.
I've got six minutes.
You couldn't just pop those fairy cakes in that tin for me, could you? They're for my grandma.
Have you got far to go, to see her? No, not really.
What are you going to do this afternoon, Kevin? I'm on call, so with a bit of luck I'll get to watch the sport.
With Nurse Crane, if there's any wrestling on.
Shh! Kevin, no-one's supposed to know about Nurse Crane and the wrestling.
All I'm saying Mrs Bevan, is that if you want to get the full bouffant effect with this veil, then you're going to have to go with plain tulle, and plenty of it.
But I had my heart set on guipure lace to match the edging on the sleeves.
I haven't agreed to guipure lace on the sleeves or anywhere else, Mum.
I haven't even decided if I'm having sleeves.
Well you'd better decide, and quickly.
I thought we had months to plan all this, not weeks.
I like this one.
It's too fitted, Petra.
You'll need a bouquet the size of a bin lid.
I'll have a look and see if we've got something a bit more empire line.
My nerves are like cat meat.
Look, she's not the first and she won't be the last.
Have you thought of adding a chiffon cape? We won't be much longer, I promise you.
I just don't want to miss out on viewing that flat.
Private rentals are like gold dust or hen's teeth or rocking-horse droppings.
Everything's going to be perfect.
Valerie Dyer visiting Elspeth Mary Dyer.
She's in the hospital wing.
They told me I'd have privileges in here.
I was hoping to get my proper girdle back.
You are in here because you're clearly not well, Gran.
I'm acting up, ain't I? That dressing gown's hanging off you.
It's the food in here.
I'll share them with Sandra.
She slit her wrists on Thursday.
She could do with a bit of a pick-me-up.
Down on the top rope.
Grown men! Grown men rolling around in what amounts to their vest and pants.
Maybe you can knit them something.
Cheeky! Last time I was here, my grandmother had a choking fit.
Since then, it looks to me as though she's lost a stone.
She hasn't choked while she's been in the infirmary.
She was admitted with heartburn and general malaise.
But we aren't too worried because she tells us she's eating well.
Do you sit with her during meals? Might I remind you where we are? This isn't a convalescent home for gentlefolk.
Elsie will be returned to her normal cell on Monday.
Come in.
Hello, Sister.
It's very kind of you to see me, Dr Knightly-Grimes.
Yes.
Sorry, I can't offer you a chair, with things being as they are.
All this rebuilding and reorganisation has a lot to answer for.
And a lot to offer, of course.
I'll have to take your word for that, given that your department has just cut the Nonnatus House budget by 50%.
Yes.
You have been notified? By letter this morning.
I'd be obliged if you might tell me why.
With the expansion of the St Cuthbert's maternity wards, the work of your order is clearly going to decline in importance.
It hasn't declined yet.
And whilst the department is being rebuilt, we have 30 extra clinic patients.
You're also under threat of demolition.
Until that happens, Nonnatus House is efficient, central to the district and extremely well staffed and equipped.
There is however, the problem of your running costs.
We've only ever paid a peppercorn rent.
The council have been very generous in that regard.
You haven't been notified by the Department of Estates and Housing? No, I have not.
Ah.
That is most unfortunate.
If we finish on time this afternoon, I need to pop into Violet Buckle's and get some wool for Dr McNulty's new jumper.
Ooh.
Do you reckon kingfisher or navy blue? I'd like to say kingfisher, but he'd probably find it a bit of a stretch.
I just wish we could pep him up a bit.
Get him started on some sort of proper life.
I think he needs a girlfriend, which in turn requires more than a new jumper.
I think he just needs to concentrate on his job.
Have you never heard the expression "all work and no play"? We ought to send him to that discotheque the junior doctors are having at St Cuthbert's.
I saw a poster, when I was dropping some samples off.
But how can you be expected to pay the full commercial rent when the council have just halved the budget? I asked him that.
He replied, "If you do not pay, you will have to surrender the premises.
" Did you ask him where the Sisters and staff would sleep? Yes.
He said, "That problem will soon be irrelevant.
" It's not irrelevant to us.
We can't run the maternity home without the order.
You may have no choice.
And that's it? Nonnatus House settles for half the budget and 20 times the rent? That is the situation we find ourselves in.
And I fear we may have to accept it.
Eddie's in lodgings and he won't move in with my mum.
If we could just find a flat to rent, we'd be in clover.
He's in the house clearance line, so I'll have my pick of all the furniture.
Some of it does smell of old people but there's quite a bit of Formica.
Precious, are you absolutely sure about your dates? - Dates? - The date of your last monthly period.
You'd be three months, according to that, but I'm making you nearer to four.
Oh.
Well, you're the expert.
- When am I going to feel it kicking? - Not just yet.
And when you do, it won't feel like a footballer.
I've been told it's more like a bird, brushing inside you with its wings.
Like a bird? I like that.
Good afternoon.
Bernice Medlar? I believe you usually attend St Cuthbert's.
Yes, but I don't use the name Bernice any more.
People call me Bonnie.
We generally keep to formal terms in clinic, Miss Medlar.
Valerie, I've just come from St Cuthbert's and I saw your grandma being brought in from the prison, on a stretcher.
I notice you've opted out of wearing a brassiere.
Do you have any discomfort in your bosoms? I never had much to put in a bra before, so I didn't bother.
Now they just seem to stand up on their own.
That's what they say in the books, isn't it? Pregnancy is a positive state of health.
- Have you been doing a lot of reading? - Yes.
And, I just got an LP out of the library that's a sound recording of a woman giving birth.
They don't tell you much at St Cuthbert's.
And they don't have much time to answer questions, either.
Or time at all, I'll warrant.
It is a bit of sausage factory, and I'm a vegetarian.
Snap.
They gave me a leaflet saying eat more liver.
I might give you one saying eat more eggs and spinach.
You're not anaemic.
That said, your ankles do seem a little puffy to me, Mrs Medlar.
Does your job keep you on your feet a lot? I work in a record shop.
Have done ever since I came to London.
And it's Miss.
I gathered that.
That's why I thought you might still be working.
I do have a boyfriend but we haven't got round to getting the piece of paper yet.
It doesn't matter to us.
We don't see why we should be forced.
I don't care what the nurse said, I can definitely feel it moving.
- Like that.
- No, that's not it.
Since when were you the expert?! The nurse said it feels like the brush of wings.
I've done you Wensleydale on toast and a bit of Instant Whip.
You're not going short of calcium on my watch.
You want anything? I can open you a tin of mince.
I don't need you spoiling me, Ada.
You concentrate on spoiling her.
They're making out I've got digestive trouble.
I said to them I was only sick when I was in the work room because it's not ventilated properly.
Oh, Gran, I Now Don't you go crying, my girl.
Not in all that eye black.
Gran, they've left your notes here.
I call that careless and inconsiderate.
You vomited blood in the work room, Gran.
- Is that what they said? - It says .
.
you're acutely anaemic.
It says you've had an X-ray and a barium meal.
It says It says you've got cancer of the oesophagus, Gran.
Oh, those doctors! They don't know anything.
They do.
And so do I.
I think there's one coming up now.
- It's starting up, is it? - Yes.
That's right.
She isn't scared.
She isn't scared at all.
Can you hear her? She knows she can do it.
I know I can do it.
And I know .
.
I don't have to do it in a hospital.
Eddie? Eddie, it's kicking.
Put your hand on my stomach like you usually do.
I Know A Place by Petula Clark Then swing from the elbows.
Left to right or right to left? Do you think you might fare better if you traded those Oxford things for some plimsolls? It might give him more bounce on the ball of his foot.
Nobody wears plimsolls to a discotheque.
Kevin, the warden from the men's night shelter telephoned.
They've had a death, and it needs to be certified.
Was he a meths drinker? I'm sorry, mate.
I'm sorry.
I'll be finished soon.
I'm afraid surgery has concluded for the morning.
Is something amiss? Only at St Cuthbert's.
I've been under them so far, but yesterday I had an appointment at the clinic in the Institute and er, I just want to be looked after by you now.
What a resounding endorsement of our practice.
I will however need the details on your Co-op card as soon as is convenient.
Can I see the midwife with the curly perm? Just to say hello.
She's on duty here today.
I shall take you through.
I have no intention of using this.
I had wondered about having it at home.
The baby's father could be there then, couldn't he? Fathers have attended births here too before today.
All I would say is, men in the delivery room are a lot like gas and air - when it comes to the crunch, you might change your opinion.
I won't.
Eddie was a Barnardo's boy.
He never had any family.
He doesn't let people in and I thought, if he's there when the baby arrives, then he'll have to let it in.
Won't he? Do you think he might derive some benefit from relaxation classes? We offer them down at the Institute for mothers and fathers.
- Do you teach them? - Sister Hilda is at the helm, and people have assured me her voice is very soothing.
And, they can let her out just like that? She's inside for doing illegal abortions.
As I understand it, your grandmother was already under consideration for parole.
I'd like to think that her age came into play with that.
She was almost the oldest prisoner there at 80.
80? She told me she was 75.
But it's more likely to be that the prison infirmary has no room for her, and the jail itself can't release a wardress to sit with her in St Cuthbert's for several weeks.
Is that how long she's got? Just weeks? I haven't seen her yet, but I will, when she comes home.
Dr Turner, she can't come home.
There'll be an inch of dust in her old flat.
The landlord couldn't re-let it cos the whole of Shadforth Buildings has been condemned.
We will help you to clean it.
If she is to be discharged into your care, home might be the most comfortable place for her.
What do you mean, discharged into my care? Your grandmother has named you as her next of kin on all the Home Office documents.
I don't really know why I came in here.
I don't believe in the things it does.
I've tried.
I know.
But it will do those things anyway.
It will shelter and it will strengthen and it will calm.
There's going to be nothing left standing soon.
Every landmark I ever knew seems to be falling down.
I know.
She's going to need morphine.
We need to get it ordered from the pharmacy.
Val, that's not for you to worry about.
And a new mattress and hopefully a pulley.
She'll need glycerine swabs for her mouth.
We can see to all of that.
We are going to nurse your grandmother.
You simply have to care for her.
I'm going to give you leave of absence for as long as her journey takes.
It's a bacon sandwich.
You said the pigs die screaming.
I thought I would do something that would make you happy.
If we don't take care of each other, how are we going to take care of a child? We need to start somewhere, don't we? How about relaxation classes with the other mums and dads to be? Well, that won't kill us, will it? False alarm for Hilda Lettins.
Are you heading out for the evening? Sister Julienne and I are going to beard Councillor Buckle in her den at her evening surgery to see what, if anything, can be done about these budget cuts.
Did you take any pethidine with you? Only the usual.
You best put it straight back in the cupboard.
We seem to be running low.
We're collecting some dress material for the Bevan wedding.
The councillor is at her surgery, so payment requested at your convenience.
The till is closed for the night.
Can I please take a little peek? Oh, go on.
Oh! Mum, this isn't it.
She's ordered pink.
I am going to sort this out with Mrs Buckle right now.
Think of the waves coming into shore.
Small waves.
Even the GLC doesn't have a bottomless pit of money, and what money there is has to be spent where the need is greatest.
Naturally, we're very grateful for the support we do receive but Apologies, Sister, but if I may interject.
What are you meant to be grateful for? The civilian midwives may get paid the going rate, but the nuns don't.
They put the barest minimum into their own coffers and one way and another, the rest is all spent on the patients.
The GLC are doing very nicely indeed out of the arrangement, so you needn't plead poverty on their behalf.
If she spent less time meddling in politics and more time doing what people pay her for, we'd all be better off.
I still don't think we should interrupt her.
You are being married in white, not shocking pink.
Small, shallow waves licking at the sand and looking like lace on a pretty underslip.
The waves cannot harm you.
Father in the mustard top, you're looking frightfully tense.
Drop those shoulders, drop them.
Just breathe like I do, Eddie.
Copy me.
There does seem to be a certain disquiet regarding the fact that you are a very visibly religious organisation and it isn't thought to be .
.
appropriate when there is money being put towards contraceptive clinics and venereal disease.
And think of the waves.
There's a panel meeting due.
I could see if they would agree to you putting forward a defence of your position.
Oi! Are you all right? You can't fight in here.
This is a relaxation class.
Who is she? Eddie.
Who are you? His fiancee.
I'm pregnant.
So am I.
Careful.
Would it be deemed tactless if I resume my class? I think we all need to lie down and listen to Acker Bilk.
Two sugars.
And I am so sorry about the wedding-dress material.
I'm worried about Eddie.
You're worried about him? He's scared, Nurse.
Scared of what he's done.
Scared of what I'll do.
And do you know what scares him most? Hurting other people.
- There's so much I don't know about him.
- Clearly.
But I do know that.
Thank you for this, Fred.
Us East Enders, we stick together.
They couldn't find my good girdle till I was almost out the door, then they put it in a carrier bag, like 5lb of King Eddies.
We'll sort you out when we get you home, eh? There was a rota for these stairs.
We did it turn and turn around.
It's all right, Gran.
- And just catch your breath.
- There we are.
- Oh, oh.
- Oh.
Agh! Absolutely filthy! I'm going to take my brush to this.
Agh, agh.
I have not had one wink of sleep and I didn't even have my rollers in.
He's going to have to turn his back on that floozy or else you're going to be a jilted bride and an unmarried mother.
Or married to a man I'll never trust again, and possibly for no good reason.
How do you mean, for no good reason? I've had some bleeding.
Oh, Dr McNulty, just the gentleman.
Please be advised that we will be refreshing the rules relating to the drug cupboard.
I usually set my bag up in Nonnatus House.
Nurse Crane has noticed some small discrepancies, as have I.
We will be synchronising our routines.
Please help me.
I've got the worst headache I've ever had.
Doctor? How much staining did you see on your underclothes? But there was nothing on the toilet paper? It was like it had already stopped.
She needs to be in hospital, do you hear me? I'm taking Petra to the maternity home so Doctor can put our minds at ease.
Will I have to stay here? Will I not be able to have a home birth? We'll just have to see how things go.
Like Dr McNulty said, your blood pressure is on the high side and we need to check your urine at regular intervals in case anything goes awry.
- But is it all right now? - Yes.
We're just of the opinion that you need looking after.
What have you done with this mattress? It's giving me a pain right in the middle of my shoulder blades.
That's a symptom of the cancer, Gran.
Dr Turner says you can have a spoonful of liquid morphine whenever you need it.
I had that at St Cuthbert's.
It made me sick.
Elsie? Auntie Flo.
I've, erm, brought you a couple of trotters and a vanilla slice.
Get rid of her.
I don't want any visitors.
It's time to stop laying the law down, Else.
You've got family queueing up all over Poplar wanting to see you.
I don't want anyone across this threshold, except my Val.
Come on.
The Board of Health have invited us to address them at their next committee meeting.
I wish I could say they were rolling out the red carpet but they aren't.
You can have one speaker and the slot is for no more than five minutes.
Oh! Best veil and wimple for you on the night, then, Sister Julienne.
No, someone else must speak, and it cannot be one of the Sisters.
In which case, might I suggest that a petition is in order? I'm sure we'd get hundreds of signatures.
How long will it take you to get it organised? Because the meeting is in three days.
At three months plus, any miscarriage would be traumatic and carry risks.
I wouldn't want to send her home.
That said, a bit of peace and quiet might yet keep things on track.
There's no peace and no quiet at home with her mother, I'm telling you now.
The side room's free.
Let's keep her in there until we can get her a bed in St Cuthbert's.
Slip your shoes back on.
We're going to move you to somewhere a little more private.
No more hopping in and out of bed.
You ring the bell if you need to.
Oh, no.
What's she doing here? This hasn't been properly managed at all.
It's been managed with my patient's best interest in mind, as I'm sure it has with yours.
I don't want to be here and I don't want to be here looking at her.
You're not the only lady in need of care.
Miss Bevan has her own concerns and her own requirements.
It's a shame she hasn't got her own boyfriend.
Eddie and me were courting for two years.
We're engaged.
You thought you were.
This is a maternity ward, and you are expectant mothers not fishwives.
I advise you both, to concentrate on keeping well and to put your personal circumstances to one side.
- Where's my girl? - Oh! Hello, love.
Agh! Her blood pressure's slightly low, otherwise her principal problem at the present time is - pain but I can't persuade her to take anything for it.
Every time she grimaces, every time she groans in her sleep, I think .
.
this is my fault.
I helped send her to prison, and prison made her ill.
Valerie, we went to the police together and we did what was right then, and you're doing what's right now.
I don't feel as though I'm doing anything.
You're loving her.
That's the only medicine she wants.
You're improving.
At least this time you managed to stay on the premises.
Where am I going to run to? There's only her.
And her.
There's only them.
I understand you're not oversupplied with family, Mr Tannerman.
I can remember my mum.
I can remember, sitting listening to the gramophone with her.
I thought that, with Petra .
.
I could have that kind of life again and a home like that again with her.
Gas fire and a record-player.
And what about Bonnie? Bonnie? Like nothing I've ever known or seen.
And I realised there were .
.
other ways of being happy, except she'd just call it other ways of being.
Then events .
.
got ahead of themselves.
And I don't know what to do.
I think you've done enough for one lifetime.
Those young women have minds and opinions of their own and you can't ask them what they want now.
You are going to have to wait till they decide .
.
for the sake of the babies you've created.
I'll go and put these in a vase .
.
or two.
Sister Monica Joan, I was expecting Dr McNulty, but not you.
She won't have any visitors, Sister.
My presence will be as silent as a prayer .
.
and I suspect of somewhat greater comfort.
Have you noticed any change? She vomited blood again this morning.
Any pain? I reckon she's in agony.
I've written her up for the good stuff.
Please just take it away.
Even having it in the flat will cause a fight.
She was here the night you were born.
I recollect her.
Boiling water and handing me a towel she'd warmed by the fire.
Her delight at the delivery of new life was .
.
unusually vivid, as though it was a balm to her.
We know now why that might be .
.
and we must let it pass .
.
as she will.
Ladies on district duty, I want a petition signature in exchange for every ulcer bandage, every insulin injection, every dressing and every cold compress applied to a case of piles.
What do we do when we've finished our house calls? Well, then we start knocking on doors! A casual calculation suggests we have well over 600 signatures.
I wish it wasn't just names.
Names don't really say very much, do they? People are so much more.
I heard footsteps and I knew it was you.
We're the only patients in here.
Shouldn't you be in bed, too? They said you had high blood pressure.
Oh, it's gone down.
Baby's wriggling nicely.
I'm sorry.
Listen .
.
I grew up watching women, brawling in the street, pulling their hair, ripping sleeves off, and it was always, always over a man.
It made them like savages - less than they were.
I love Eddie.
I'm not going to fight you for him.
The key point is, which one of us will speak tomorrow? We already know the habit's persona non grata.
I actually don't think it matters who addresses the Board of Health.
We aren't going there to represent ourselves or the order, we're going to remind the great phalanx of men sitting there why the people of this borough need our care.
You know Trixie, you've got a good, emphatic tone of voice.
The board might listen, so it's got to be you.
Even the most emphatic tone of voice on Earth isn't going to make a mere petition change their minds.
I'm swapping us round, Sister Hilda.
My little bohemian lady seems to have gone into labour.
No.
Gran, you've been prescribed pethidine.
It is appropriate and it is necessary.
You do not have to be in pain.
Those poor girls never got anything for their pain, did they? Not from me.
Not from anybody.
Oh, Gran They just gritted their teeth.
And that's just what I'm doing now.
You want to run out and get us a couple of 99s? Money's in my purse.
No.
It's not blood money.
I earned it in the prison work room.
It's November.
I don't want gas.
I don't, but this is this is terrible.
Bonnie, your body knows the way, and you know that.
All is well.
Is this what she wants? She asked for you, Eddie.
I'm scared.
Why? The woman on the record, she wasn't scared.
You said so.
You can hear it in her voice and you're going to be just like her.
Are you ready? You can do this.
Come on.
That's it.
Baby's head is resting in my hand now.
You'll know when to push again.
Just breathe, that's it.
Good girl.
Petra, dear, there's a bed come free for you at St Cuthbert's.
Not yet.
Come on.
You can do this.
The ambulance is on its way.
I'm glad .
.
because I'm bleeding again.
Do you want to call her after your mum? This is a new beginning.
We shouldn't give her an old name.
But your mum was called Daisy and I like that.
Sister Monica Joan, whatever are you doing? A memory like a firework exploded in my mind.
I have located the repository of our past, thus I remembered this.
Letters? Of gratitude.
All from those we assisted in their hour of need.
The Reverend Mother would never have allowed us to keep these, no matter how personal the message.
She used to say, "A missive to one is a missive to us all.
" "Such correspondence belongs" ".
.
belongs to the community.
" Therefore, the community have preserved it.
There are two ledgers here, dating back to the 1920s.
I have a dozen the same in a box in my office.
You have spent a deal of time in prayer, I think.
And here is his answer.
The medicine, do I have to swallow that? No, Gran.
The doctor or one of the nurses will come and do it with a needle.
Then I'll have some.
You have served your time, Gran.
There's only two things I want now.
A minister of religion.
- What? - You heard.
Don't get me that rector.
I can't stand him.
And to see you in your Nonnatus uniform again.
I was never so proud of anything in my life .
.
than when I saw you wearing that.
Nurse Lucille Anderson, what can I do for you so early in the morning? I don't have a vehicle for you to fix but I do have a soul that needs help on her last journey.
I'm in my overalls.
Should I run home and put a tie on? I'll leave that to you.
You have good judgment, Cyril.
Dr McNulty, I'm afraid I am perplexed.
I've had a request for a new prescription.
Pethidine for Mrs Elsie Dyer.
Now, Nurse Anderson says she's taken none thus far, but our records show that you've prescribed it for her on multiple occasions.
It's the records.
You need to check them.
Dr Turner! Doctor, please! We've done what we can in preparation.
It's time to leave.
Does anybody else feel really nervous? Mitts off our midwives! Mitts off our midwives! Mitts off our midwives! I'll check his blood pressure.
Oh lad, what have you done? You may commence when you have, gathered yourself Miss Franklin.
I prefer to be addressed as Nurse Franklin in a professional setting, but thank you.
Gentlemen, every year you publish a health report that runs to 80 or more pages, delineating every birth, every death, every epidemic, every case of notifiable illness in this borough, but it is all numerical information.
No-one is ever named.
Nevertheless, since the end of the First World War, the order of St Raymond Nonnatus has helped 117 women called Mary, 30 women called Agnes, 83 women called Rose or Roseanne or Rosemary.
There have been dozens of Ediths and the list of surnames invokes the globe.
Jones, Walker, Cohen, Xhang, Patel, O'Connor, Christopoulos, Adweh, Singh, Smith.
There will always be Smiths.
And every name in these ledgers represents a life entire.
There are bus drivers and warehousemen and teachers at work in the East End today because a Nonnatus midwife knew how to unravel an umbilical cord from around a new-born's neck or clear an airway of meconium to stop a child choking.
We know this because their mothers wrote to us.
I suggest you read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.
We know because their names are in our records.
Babies are not statistics at Nonnatus House.
We know when they are wanted or unwanted, whether they are cherished or deprived.
We see when they're in with a chance in life or stand no chance at all.
We value every infant and every mother equally.
We are part of their world and they are part of ours because that is what happens when you enter people's homes.
In almost 30 years of annual reports, you have never once mentioned the contribution Nonnatus House has made to people's lives in Poplar.
You have never once called us by our name but do not think we won't be missed if you wipe us out completely.
Rent reduced.
Budget restored.
For 12 months.
I'm cold.
Haven't we got any money for the gas? The gas is going full bore, Gran.
See if this warms you up a little.
Cold.
I'm honoured.
Go and get yourself a 99.
No, Gran.
Go.
Go.
Do you want one? Cyril, her breathing has changed.
What does that mean? She won't wake up again.
It's all right, precious.
You rest and let your body do its work.
I treated myself to a full 99.
What did they say at Nonnatus House? There's a lot of distress.
Worry that the situation could have endangered patients.
And concern for you.
I know I'll have to leave Poplar, because I know what trust means.
But do you think I'll be struck off? Kevin, there won't be any decision until after you've spent time in some sort of clinic, when you can be sure you're clear of your physical dependency.
Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is that little baby fading and fading.
Baby Warren? And the meths drinker dead in a doss house.
All the things I couldn't make better.
The world is full of fragile people, Kevin.
And when we try to mend them, it can break us.
Have you ever been broken? Yes.
And I became a better doctor.
There's hope for me yet, then.
Right, this here.
2,000 feet this will go up to.
Right, here.
Oh! And if anyone spots a resemblance to certain members of the Board of Health, I for one, am not going to disabuse them.
Go on.
What you got there? Toffee apples.
A Bonfire Night tradition apparently.
Them set hard like concrete and the kitchen looks like there's been a murder.
You are a fine woman.
You are a fine man.
Thank you for coming to be with Mrs Dyer.
And thank you for letting me see .
.
everything you are.
I love you, Nurse Anderson.
I lost the baby, Mrs Buckle, so Oh, I'm so sorry, Petra.
Our feelings are very complicated, but she'll always have me.
Come on, Reggie.
Time to go.
The seasons will always turn, the clouds will gather and the cold will come.
We will survive them.
We will grow regardless of the weather.
We all know wonder where there has been despair.
There will be happiness and we will remember it.
There will be friendships that we won't forget.
Love is the constant whereby we endure all winters and all storms.
It is the climate in which all things can thrive.
Reggie, come back! Welcome the darkness, embrace it as a canopy from which the stars can hang, for there are always stars when we are where we ought to be, amongst the faces we love best, each with our place, each with our purpose, as fixed and familiar as the constellations.
The darkness is beautiful, for how else can we shine?