'Call the Midwife' Recap: Season 6 Episode 3

In this week’s episode of Call the Midwife, Sister Ursula’s obsession with efficiency contributes to a near fatal oversight. The Turners' maternity home faces the threat of closure and Shelagh suffers a dangerous setback in her miraculous pregnancy. Finally, a sorely missed member of the Nonnatus crew returns to Poplar, but brings with her troubling questions about another of their number.

If you feel a bit fuzzy about where we left off last time, you can get up to speed with our previous recap here.

So this week we find Sister Ursula ramping up her campaign to turn the midwives into cold medical machines. First, she tells the Turners who are facing a Board of Health inspection that, due to recent staff departures, the maternity home can’t be their first concern. Then she horns in on Nurse Crane’s roster planning duties with her most recent commandment, “Thou shalt not spend more than twenty minutes on any in-home maternity or district nursing calls.” Both of these judgments have very real consequences for patients and their health care providers alike.