Sister Catherine Faces Her First Real Trial & Joyce Faces the Disciplinary Board

When we last left Call the Midwife, Nurse Joyce Highland (Renee Bailey) and Nurse Rosalind Clifford (Natalie Quarry) were at a crossroads. Joyce faced disciplinary action after a racist patient reported her for not caring for her, despite the patient refusing to allow Joyce to touch her. Meanwhile, Rosalind was facing a personal decision. Cyril (Zephryn Taitte) confessed that he and his wife were getting a divorce, which would free him and Rosalind to explore their blossoming romantic connection. 

All of Nonnatus House stood ready to support Joyce at her disciplinary hearing, including Rosalind. Still, Joyce had concerns about her closest friend in the house embarking on an interracial relationship. Those concerns would prove correct by the end of the episode, but even jeering men weren't enough to deter Rosalind from wanting to pursue a future with Cyril. However, Joyce had little time to worry about Rosalind because this week kicked off with her getting an official date for her disciplinary hearing. 

It was rough for Joyce as she prepared for the potentially life-altering hearing. However, Sister Catherine (Molly Vevers) and Nurse Turner (Laura Main) didn't have a better time with their vulnerable patient. Nurse Crane (Linda Bassett) was also at her wits' end with an alleged shut-in patient with codependency issues. All this occurred while Poplar was preparing for Princess Anne to attend a royal movie premiere in town. It was a jam-packed episode that set up Nonnatus House and the midwives for the Season 14 finale airing next week. 

Nurse Turner and Sister Catherine had their hands full with a woman, Jacqui Berridge (Megan Grech), who was pregnant with her second child but also struggling with heroin addiction. She was cagey about handing over a urine sample, and her baby was underweight, which prompted the midwives to make a home visit. That's when they discovered new needle marks, and Jacqui admitted she relapsed. 

The next step was to take her to Dr. Turner (Stephen McGann), who proposed weaning Jacqui off the drugs carefully with reduced opiates. She wanted to quit cold turkey, but the doctor was concerned about her going through intense withdrawals while also pregnant. The family also needed to contend with caring for their young daughter while Jacqui went through treatment. Jacqui's husband, Lawrence (Ryan Hunter), took time off work to care for their daughter while Jacqui started treatment. 

True to Dr. Turner's prediction, Jacqui did have a rough time with the withdrawals. That was compounded by Jacqui going into early labor. It was a stressful delivery, but Sister Catherine and Nurse Turner brought Jacqui's baby boy into the world. However, he was born with side effects of heroin exposure. Dr. Turner was able to get the baby crying after the delivery, but the little tyke had to go to St. Cuthbert's for treatment, separating him from his mother. 

Eventually, Jacqui escaped the maternity ward to be with her husband and her newborn son. She was allowed to go home to recover from the birth, and her husband returned to work. However, it wasn't long before Jacqui felt the pangs of addiction again. She exchanged her wedding ring for more heroin, and her husband found her passed out on the couch. He confronted her about the drugs, but she only pleaded for him to try it one more time with her. He was the one who got her addicted in the first place. 

Lawrence caved. Cyril and Sister Veronica (Rebecca Gethings) found both Lawrence and Jacqui dead in their bed from an accidental overdose, leaving baby Kerry alone and uncared for hours. Cyril was able to find the contact information for Jacqui's parents so that Kerry and baby Michael could be housed with family, but it was a tragic end to a very stressful case. 

Working on Jacqui's case hit very close for Sister Catherine. Her family disowned Jacqui after she met her husband, and they both became addicts. It had been over three years since she had seen her family, which wasn't dissimilar from Catherine's story. The novice nun hadn't spoken to her family since she felt the calling to God. They disapproved of her choice to join The Order, which left her feeling isolated as she went on her journey. 

The isolation was driven home not only by Jacqui's case but also by the Nonnatus nuns inviting Catherine to take her first vows and officially join the Order. Catherine was overjoyed at the news initially, but as she thought more, she realized how sad she was that she couldn't tell her family the news or have them around as she made this very important step in her vocation. 

Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) encouraged Catherine to reach out and invite her family to the vows ceremony. Catherine followed her advice and wrote them a letter using the official Nonnatus House letterhead. Most of her family ignored the invitation, but Catherine's sister Helen responded that nothing could keep her away. It wasn't everything that Catherine wanted, especially after losing Jacqui, but she will get to take her vows with family around, which was more than she could have hoped for before this episode. 

Nurse Crane also had her hands full this week with a patient named Ellen Briscoe (Emma Cunniffe). Mrs. Briscoe claimed she had thyroid issues, which made it difficult for her to walk, and a lazy bowel that left her completely dependent on her adult son. Nurse Crane discovered something was off during her second home visit when she caught Mrs. Briscoe walking from the cupboard back to her bed. The woman wasn't as bedridden as she claimed to be but had become terrified of being alone. She amped up her codependency to keep her son close to her and make sure she wasn't deserted. 

Nurse Crane was not placated, encouraging Mrs. Briscoe to start walking so she could have a normal life again. Nurse Crane and Mrs. Briscoe's son managed to get her in a taxi cab to Dr Turner's office, but Mrs. Briscoe refused to go up the second set of stairs, so Dr. Turner had to do her examination in the waiting taxi. That still wasn't enough to encourage Mrs. Briscoe to take her life into her own hands. To make matters worse, her son revealed that he was in the process of applying for the Army medical corps and would be leaving for his post in a matter of weeks. The idea of losing her son was too much for Mrs. Briscoe, so she faked falling down the stairs. Unfortunately, Nurse Crane found her instead of her son, and Nurse Crane immediately pieced together what happened when she noticed Mrs. Briscoe had fallen without spilling a drop of tea from her saucer. 

The dramatics pushed Nurse Crane to reveal to Mrs. Briscoe's son how desperate she was to have his attention. He had to confront his mother and finally push her to take some accountability for her actions. Nurse Crane stepped in to help Mrs. Briscoe with the initial tasks, like putting on her own shoes and putting things together for a jumble sale. She was moving around enough that her son felt he was okay to take his position in the Army and leave for training. 

Joyce was understandably stressed out through most of the episode. The wording in her disciplinary hearing letter was very harsh, calling her disobedient and neglectful of her patients. It didn't help matters that everyone at Nonnatus House was preoccupied with getting tickets to a royal premiere that Princess Anne would attend. Everyone wanted to be in the presence of royalty, but Joyce couldn't think about that when her license was at stake. 

It turned out she had little to worry about. Despite the entire disciplinary board being white, she had Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) to support her. Sister Julienne spoke of Joyce's achievements both in training and as a full-fledged midwife and commended her excellent bedside manner. Joyce went over her encounters with Mrs. Midgley (Eliza Collings) and explained how she had tried to treat the woman, but Mrs. Midgley refused because she didn't want a Black person to touch her. 

After that testimony, the board had little choice but to clear Joyce of all charges of misconduct. She was completely exonerated and able to celebrate with her found family at the royal premiere. 

Call the Midwife Season 14's finale episode airs on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET on most PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel weekly through mid-May. The series has already completed streaming as an early weekly release on PBS Passport for members, and all episodes will be available until the end of May. As always, check your local listings. Seasons 15, 16, and two spinoffs have already been greenlit.