The actress last seen as Sister Evangelina in 2016 made a welcome appearance as Poplar turned out to bid a loving farewell to Sister Monica Joan
Call the Midwife wraps up in emotional finale
The powerhouse TV executives behind Call the Midwife have told of their joy at making secret cameos in the series finale tonight, alongside returning favourite Pam Ferris.
Showrunner Heidi Thomas glided through as a ghostly nun behind Pam, who appeared as the late Sister Evangelina after a decade away to lead her friend Sister Monica Joan into the afterlife. Executive producer Dame Pippa Harris was also in evidence, playing a mourner in St Oswald’s church during the funeral.
Pam, 77, was last seen in the BBC drama in 2016 when her much-loved character died suddenly in the final episode of the fifth series. Tonight, in scenes which left the audience deeply moved, she reappeared in order to give guidance during her old friend’s final moments.
Fans of the hit BBC1 show have known for several weeks that Sister Monica Joan’s days at Nonnatus House were numbered, since she was diagnosed with kidney failure and Doctor Turner warned that his elderly patient had “not long” left.
In tonight’s series 15 finale, the 99-year-old nun, played by Judy Parfitt, who is 90, was given a magnificent send off ahead of the drama taking a break from the screen to allow for the making of a prequel series, set during the war, and for a movie, based in Australia.
On screen, as Sister Monica Joan was led out of the room and away from her mortal body on the bed, other nuns followed. One of them was Heidi, who has been writing the series since it launched in 2012. She told the Mirror that it felt appropriate to join in with the action because of the series now being off screen for at least a couple of years.
“Throughout our 15 years on air, I have always said I would appear in the final episode, dressed as a nun – and so I did, even though I was basically a ghost and see-through,” Heidi told the Mirror. “I thought I looked quite good in a wimple, but when my husband (Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Turner) saw me he went white, and said I was the double of the nun who taught him sex education when he was at school.”
Pippa, who first came up with the idea of adapting Jennifer Worth’s memoir for television, said she’d also long harboured a desire to put in an appearance. “Over the years I’ve always thought that one day I’d like to actually appear in Call the Midwife, just fleetingly, in the background, but the timing was never right,” she explained. “Then when I realised that this crucial sequence was about to be shot, and I’d get the chance to put on full mourning attire, it was too good an opportunity to miss.”
Ferris, 77, made the decision to leave the series after production moved to a new set in Surrey, which was further for her to travel. Speaking soon after her exit, she said: “Making the decision to leave Call the Midwife was a wrench but because I then became involved with telling the story to the best of my ability, there was no time to feel regret. I’ll miss my friends on set — in front of and behind the camera — and I’ll miss my habit, which is so well-worn and comfortable. But I shan’t miss my wimple.”
There are big changes ahead with the nuns, no longer allowed to perform midwifery duties in Poplar, now planning new missions abroad. Other big changes in last night’s episode included nurse Trixie Aylward taking a controlling stake in private maternity facility the Lady Emily, Cyril and Rosalind getting married ahead of their baby arriving despite not having the blessing of her parents and nurse Joyce Highland landing a job as a sister at St Cuthbert’s hospital.
A three-part prequel of Call the Midwife, featuring younger versions of Pam’s character Sister Evangelina, Judy’s Sister Monica Joan and Jenny Agutter’s Sister Julienne is expected to launch on Christmas Day. No casting has yet been announced.
Filming on the movie, featuring all of the current cast and featuring Poplar and Australia, is expected to start next year, set in the year 1972. Heidi has said series 16, likely to be based around a new community hospital, will return to BBC1 in due course.