Dr. Turner Challenges Poplar’s Fathers In 'Call The Midwife' Season 12's Fifth Episode

This week’s episode of Call The Midwife introduces Annette Barkley (Olivia Brady) and Peter Barkley (Rob Witcomb), a cheery, chaotic couple who love children, but have been advised not to add to their extensive brood. Annette has heart disease, but missed a St. Cuthbert’s Hospital cardiology appointment, because she's pregnant again and was afraid the doctors would shame her. When she faints outside the Buckles’ shop, Violet gets her to Nonnatus House where Dr. Turner says she's too young for sterilization, despite her contraceptive not working. (If she even used it; her husband doesn’t like it.) Miss Higgins is assigned to find her a hospital bed.

Threapwood: It is 1968. Love is no longer a legitimate currency.

Fairly quivering with outrage, Miss Higgins reports to Dr. Turner she was bounced between the Cardiology and Maternity Units, neither wanted to admit Annette. Sister Veronica then breezes in with a poster for the presentation she and Dr. Turner are to give to Poplar's men on birth control. The bulletin board is definitely Miss Higgins’ territory, and after a brief skirmish Sister Veronica leaves the poster, which will go on display as Miss Higgins chooses. The Nonnatus House staff also discover, as they are about to go out on rounds, that the autoclave has broken, and they’ll have to sterilize everything in pots of boiling water. Sister Monica Joan is called in to assist.