Jenny Agutter & Laura Main Talk 'Call the Midwife's' Emotional Midpoint

Call the Midwife was back in tear-jerker order this week with an unexpectedly devastating new case. A young mother suffered a shocking tragedy in the final weeks of her pregnancy and needed her entire family to help her work through those trying last days. Luckily, it wasn't all bad news. Nurse Turner (Laura Main) found an incredible ally in Jill Trotwood (Joanna Horton) for promoting the clinic's measles vaccine. Jill's son, Andrew, developed a brain infection when he caught measles that left him mentally and physically disabled. She helped Nurse Turner and the nurses promote the vaccines, and Nurse Turner was able to find a way to help the Trotwood in return. 

The storyline was eerily relevant as measles cases continue to increase in the United States. "We're always 54 years away from it being a period piece, but it's absolutely relevant," Main told Telly Visions in a recent interview. "Issues don't go away. Diseases, unfortunately, won't go away. It's great to be reminded and educated about all sorts of things and health issues that we have in our world. I think it's really useful." 

The headline of the episode was the arrival of a new nun in training at Nonnatus House. Sister Catherine (The Spanish Princess alum Molly Vevers). The recruit arrived as Nonnatus House was determining its place within the community following the battle with the Board of Health. The new sister did not make waves in her first episode, but Jenny Agutter, who plays Sister Julienne, teased the journey ahead for Sister Catherine. 

"She is very much a novice, and Sister Julienne is training and talking with her and making sure this is what she wants to do. The biggest decision is the commitment to being a nun, which she clearly wants to do," Agutter said. Sister Catherine makes a great first impression after her arrival, but it is not all smooth sailing ahead. "It becomes obvious that there are difficulties within her family for her choice of career, of what she wants, for her calling…It is beautifully played by Molly Vevers, who is just lovely. She comes in with excitement and the enjoyment of it." 

Agutter continued to praise her new co-star as Call the Midwife continues, saying, "She brings a lot to it. She brings a lot to the series." "It’s always lovely when one not only has the guests that we have, but when someone joins us [full-time] and brings a whole other color to the piece. It’s a different energy, which is lovely for all of us." 

The patient of the week was Gail Mason (Louise O'Dowd), who was expecting her first child. She was accompanied to the clinic by her mother, Peggy (Rachel Tucker), who was a mother of six and discovered she was pregnant with her seventh child. Peggy was not ready to add another child to her already large family and asked for an abortion. Peggy doesn't have a lot of time to decide before she has a miscarriage and is rushed to the hospital. She needed a surgery to clean out her womb and asked for her tubes to be tied in the process. There were tragic complications during the surgery, though – a pulmonary embolism – and Peggy didn't make it to the other side. 

Gail was overwhelmed with grief and distraught about having to bring a baby into the world without her mother, especially with her husband abroad for work. She tried to keep her family together without Peggy, but her father, Jimmy (Joel Beckett), was no help. Even with Sister Catherine jumping in to help with the children (little ones are her specialty), Gail was still distraught and needed more help if she was going to make it through her pregnancy. Unfortunately, Gail started having labor pains before any real solutions could be brainstormed, and she was rushed to the hospital. Nurse Crane (Linda Bassett) stepped up and convinced Jimmy that he needed to get over himself and be there for his terrified daughter. 

Jimmy took the note and walked into the delivery room to hold his daughter's hand and help her through the birth. Gail successfully navigated the birth, and Jimmy helped out more at home, allowing Gail to recover in the place where she grew up. Until her husband returned from overseas and moved her into a new flat to start a new chapter of their life together. It was a tragic episode for the Wrigley family, but ultimately, they were able to come together and find the light after a very dark moment for them all. 

First it was Gonorrhea and now it was the measles. The episode opened with Nurse Turner and Miss Higgins (Georgie Glen) struggling to get sign-ups for the new measles vaccines. They put up flyers and canvased the streets, but it was difficult convincing the young mothers they needed to bring their children in for the shot. While trying to ramp up vaccine sign-ups, Nurse Turner became invested in the Trottwood family. Jill was a single mother trying to take care of her son, who required around-the-clock care after the measles gave him a brain infection as a young boy, and at the end of her rope after the Council stopped paying for Andrew (Teddy Beriman) to attend a special school that could tend to his needs. 

The lack of schooling put Andrew behind where he should be, and robbed Jill of the necessary few hours a day she needed for herself. Sister Veronica (Rebecca Gethings) stepped in to help once she heard about Andrew from Nurse Turner. She investigated why Andrew's funding had been stopped and discovered a frustrating clerical error was responsible for the big mixup. She took the matter to Mrs. Buckle (Annabelle Apsion), who used her mayoral authority to get Andrew back on his usual bus and relieve Jill of her overwhelming stress. 

In the meantime, Jill saw Nurse Turner and the nuns struggling to get people to sign up for the measles vaccines. She stood in the town square with Andrew to help encourage people to take the vaccines seriously, saying that she would do anything to have had the opportunity to protect Andrew the way they have the chance to protect children. Jill's advocacy not only boosted the sign-ups, but it also allowed her to meet a new group of mom friends who could help her feel less isolated as a single mother. 

Call the Midwife Season 14 continues Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on most PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. The series has already been streaming as an early weekly release on PBS Passport for members since Friday, February 28, 2025, and streams the finale this weekend. The series will stream on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Channel weekly through mid-May. As always, check your local listings.