Major spoilers ahead for the Call the Midwife season 15 finale.
Call the Midwife just called time on another incredible eight-episode run, but life for fans will never be the same again.
You may like
Call the Midwife season 15 ending explained
It’s been wonderful to see the return of the Mullucks family for season 15, especially as Call the Midwife isn’t a show that usually offers insight into what happens to patients after their often one-episode story arc ends.
Catching up with thalidomide victim, Susan Mullucks, and her family has been a rare break in form, even if they are continuing to experience multiple family woes and an ongoing battle for rights for Thalidomide victims.
Susan’s story played out during season 5, and she made a brief return during season 6 and the 2022 Christmas special.
Her family have been a big part of season 15, and the finale opens with Rhoda Mullucks still recovering in hospital after her episode 7 cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal.)
However, not only has Rhoda had to deal with ongoing difficulties faced by Susan’s disability, she’s still reeling from eldest daughter Belinda returning from university because she’s eight months pregnant.
What to read next
“You were going to be a history teacher! Who is going to give you a job? You’ll be an unmarried mother!” Rhoda shouts from her bed as her daughter quakes in her visitor’s chair.
It later comes to light that Belinda always felt like she was just “Susan’s sister,” feeling attention was diverted to her disabled sibling. Finding her own identity at university and being loved as herself, with attention only on her from the man she fell in love with, led to some “bad decisions” and her pregnancy.
(Image credit: BBC / Neal Street Productions / Olly Courtney)
Meanwhile, the Lady Emily Clinic have lured a reluctant Trixie into their ranks. Although she’s accepted the role of Matron at the private hospital, the finale sees Mr Scarisbrick trying to get her into partnership with him, hoping for backing of funds from the Aylward estate – something Trixie doesn’t have access to.
It’s her mother-in-law who controls the finances, who Trixie soon finds out has sadly suffered a stroke and passed away, which could change everything.
Sister Veronica, or Beryl, is still happily lodging with Trixie’s brother Geoffrey, while she decides whether to leave the order and pursue her longing for a child.
It was very sweet to see her previously acting like a child in a sweet shop while she tried on the latest in 70s fashion and unleashed her hair from its habit and had it professionally cut and styled.
However, when she wakes in the night soaked in sweat and blames her over heated state on the “continental blanket,” it seems the baby decision might be taken out of her hands – could that be menopause calling…?
Yes, Beryl later realises she has indeed entered menopause, tearfully telling Trixie that her body made the decision about having a baby for her, and she’d “left it too late.”
(Image credit: BBC / Neal Street / Olly Courtney)
Sister Catherine has struggled with so much this season – leaving her beloved family behind, navigating difficult cases as a newly qualified midwife, and witnessing Sister Monica Joan refuse treatment.
Sister Monica Joan was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease that she knew would turn to end stage renal failure without intervention. The nun accepts the latter is her fate, and this mindset is taken quite differently by her fellow Nonnatus residents.
“We’ll love her as we always have, just more carefully,” asserted Nurse Crane as she was delivered the news of the nun’s possible decline earlier in the series. “It’s like ravens leaving the Tower of London, the end of the known world,” were Dt Turner’s thoughts on the Poplar favourite coming close to death.
Sister Catherine failed to understand why Sister Monica Joan would refuse treatment, and this led to a lot of conflict between the pair, until the younger nun finally realises it’s not her decision – she stops trying to persuade her friend and mentor to take her medication “out of love and respect.”
Sister Monica Joan plans her funeral with Susan’s dad, Bernie Mullucks, a funeral director. He takes her out in a wheelchair for a look at the East End markets and to share stories with residents from the place she’s called home for so much of her life.
(Image credit: BBC / Neal Street / Olly Courtney)
In one of the more uplifting moments of the finale, Cyril and Rosalind’s wedding day arrives.
After being unsure whether to wear white on her big day after a contraceptive pill malfunction saw Rosalind fall pregnant, she marries Cyril at the registry office wearing a very white and very 1970s ensemble.
Before they head off for new beginnings, the newlyweds visit Sister Monica Joan before her earthside journey comes to an end.
After admitting she visualised Rosalind’s pregnancy secret without being told, and seeing apparitions of deceased nuns she’s known in her life, the end edges closer for Sister Monica Joan.
After requesting her first ever gin and tonic and to see the priest for her last rites, the very elderly nun is watched over by Sister Julienne and Sister Catherine as Rosalind and Cyril depart for their life together.
Left alone for a moment, Sister Monica Joan opens her eyes and with a smile, says, “I might’ve known you’d put in an appearance, Sister Evangelina.”
The nation collectively sobs as Pam Ferris makes the perfect cameo, and her character, who passed away in season 5, arrives to escort Sister Monica Joan to whatever comes next.
Telling Sister Monica Joan she’s “shilly shallied long enough,” Sister Evangelina tells her friend the afterlife will be “everything we were promised.” And just like that, the show will never be quite the same again as Sister Monica Joan’s soul leaves her body.
(Image credit: BBC / Neal Street / Olly Courtney)
In another bittersweet moment, Sister Monica Joan’s death is confirmed by newly qualified junior doctor, Timothy Turner, as he starts his new beginning in a new career.
After being “beaten by my own biology” and heading out for a final evening of cocktails and dancing, Beryl realises she needs to become Sister Veronica again and returns to the Order.
Belinda becomes the last patient to give birth in the maternity home before it closes, bringing a little girl into the world. Just afterwards, Sister Julienne calls a meeting to inform the remaining midwives that Nonnatus house is to become “a place of prayer and charity” until she knows what will happen next.
Setting the scene for the upcoming Call the Midwife film, which we know will be set abroad, Sister Julienne announces she knows of three medical missions that would require spending time overseas.
Although Sister Julienne implores the staff to remain with her, Trixie now has some financial control of the Aylward estate after the death of her mother-in-law, negotiating a majority share in The Lady Emily with her newfound status. She appears to have firmly left the Order behind.
Rosalind is to become a mother and Joyce has a very successful interview to become acting Sister at St Cuthbert’s Hospital. With so many new beginnings, could we be looking at a very different series when it returns?
As Sister Monica Joan is laid to rest, it seems we could be bidding farewell to one of the most poignant and heartfelt shows as we know it, along with her.
All 15 seasons of Call the Midwife, and all Christmas specials are currently available to view on BBC iPlayer.