'Call the Midwife's Jenny Agutter Teases the Battle with the Board of Health

The ladies of Nonnatus House cannot catch a break on Call the Midwife. They finally saved the house from financial ruin in Season 13 and now own the property outright, but in Season 14, they set up a battle for the upkeep funds of the charity. We got a little taste of the fight during the Christmas special when Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) went to the Board of Health to request funding to get Nonnatus House a new roof. Her request was denied, and it was very apparent that the Board disapproved of nuns providing healthcare and sex education to a secular community.

"[The nuns] have the joy of owning the property, but it is also all of the overhead of owning a property that is not in great shape. They have a council that is not keen on them being there," Jenny Agutter told Telly Visions in a recent interview.  "The nuns are working with the community, [but]  they're no longer in charge of what they're doing because there are so many restrictions that the council wishes them to go through to be able to do their work. They're no longer supported in their work. They're not supported in the building."

The friction with the Council and the Board of Health is a sign of the times. As time passes, the neighborhood is becoming more secular, and the expansion of the National Health Service in the 1960s gives the impression that the services of Nonnatus House are no longer necessary. However, that couldn't be farther from the truth.