'Call the Midwife' Recap: Season 15 Episode 6

Call the Midwife premieres Sundays at 7:00 pm on WTTW and is available to stream for a limited time. Recap the previous and following episodes and other seasons.
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Tony and Tina Bianchi are at the start of a road towards a new life. Tony has not followed his older brothers into the family tiling business, instead buying an ice cream truck with which to support Tina and their coming child. He rushes Tina to the maternity clinic in the truck when she thinks she’s in labor, but it’s a false alarm.

A tender nipple that Tony has been hiding from Tina is not a false alarm, however; when she calls Dr. Turner out to look at it, he sends Tony to the hospital to have what he believes is a cyst removed. 

After the operation, Shelagh and Dr. Turner visit the Bianchis at home. Tony has breast cancer. His mother died of it a few years ago, and he’s shocked that he can have it – but it is possible in men. 

Tony is embarrassed, believing it makes him less of a man, and so doesn’t want to tell his brothers. He also doesn’t want to burden Tina, who is due to give birth soon. Fred finds Tony crying in his ice cream truck.

Unfortunately, Dr. Turner wants to observe Tina because of some high medical readings and so she moves to the clinic. As she leaves for the clinic, Tony promises her that he’ll tell his brothers about the cancer. He doesn’t – nor does he go through with the scheduled mastectomy, leaving when a woman in the waiting room asks if he’s there with his wife. Nevertheless, Tony tells Tina over the phone that the surgery went fine. He ignores his brothers when they try to invite him to the pub.

Sister Monica Joan also receives an upsetting diagnosis. When her blood tests are finally processed, they reveal chronic disease that will kill her soon. There is treatment that could prolong things, but she is already in a glum mood seeing herself fade in age. 

Rosalind also gets a surprise. Her period is late, but she convinces herself it’s just her body adjusting to birth control, which she started just before losing her virginity to Cyril. Joyce worries Rosalind might be pregnant, and surreptitiously sends off a urine sample when Rosalind starts feeling nauseous in the morning. The test confirms that she is pregnant.

Rosalind cries to Joyce, because she doesn’t want an abortion – but having a child out of wedlock will cost her her job. Joyce promises to keep it secret while Rosalind talks to Cyril.

But first she must attend to another woman’s birth. Rosalind is on call when Tina Bianchi, back at home with Tony because Shelagh and Dr. Turner are worried about him, goes into labor. Joyce talks Tony through things while Rosalind rushes over. The baby comes fast: Tony ends up delivering it himself, with Joyce’s instructions. 

The Bianchi brothers are impressed by Tony. He finally decides to reveal his diagnosis to them, and they all promise to support him, without any teasing. 

Rosalind tells Cyril that she is pregnant and apologizes to him for thinking she had things handled. He says he always meant to marry her and build a life with her; things are just happening a bit out of order. But he’s excited for a child, which he has already imagined.

Beryl, also known as Sister Veronica, is also confronting a life change. She is living at a chapter house to assess whether she wants to give up her vows. Sister Catherine doesn’t know this, but is shocked to find Sister Veronica’s cross still in her room when she goes to look for scissors there. Sister Catherine, upset, asks Sister Julienne, who can reveal only that Sister Veronica is struggling and has gone off on a retreat. Sister Catherine worries about Sister Veronica, who is social and outgoing, being alone.

She tells Geoffrey, in whom Sister Veronica has already confided, and he waits outside the retreat house. He and Beryl, as he calls her, then go for tea. She has been indulging in creature comforts such as dining out and pastry, but confesses she hasn’t been praying. He suggests that the retreat house is too similar to Nonnatus House and offers to let her stay with him, a “confirmed bachelor.” She is shocked by the suggestion but eventually agrees. 

Geoffrey’s sister is also trying to help a single woman in need. Trixie first meets Gwen, who goes by the stage name Harmony Savage when wrestling, after she is knocked out during a wrestling match taking place in the same building in which Trixie attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The man who runs the matches rushes over to see if anyone can give Gwen medical attention.

Trixie urges Gwen to go to the doctor, which she does the next day. There’s no sign of a concussion, but Dr. Turner diagnoses a rash as from the wrestling mats. He doesn’t have a good answer for why Gwen is tired and her hips and knees hurt all the time.

Trixie delivers a skin lotion to Gwen at home and learns that she’s barely making rent and that she often over-sleeps and so misses bringing her son, Carl, to school. When Trixie acquires Gwen’s medical records, there’s still not a good answer to her medical mystery.

But then Gwen over-sleeps and wakes to find Carl gone. She rushes to school, relieved to learn he took himself there, and runs into Trixie. Since she has just woken up, Gwen hasn’t put on make-up – so Trixie can see a distinctive rash on her face that she usually covers up. This provides the answer to Dr. Turner: Gwen has lupus. Rest is urged on her.

But she needs to make money, and wants to buy Carl a bike he saw advertised. Women’s wrestling is illegal in London, but she likes following in her father’s footsteps. She has been on a losing streak, however, and so reluctantly agrees to fight in a bikini. Trixie sees the fight advertised and rushes to the match to urge Gwen not to fight: she could be putting herself in danger, given her diagnosis. Gwen goes on anyway.

Trixie watches and rushes to the mat when Gwen gets knocked out. She calls for an ambulance. At the hospital, she tells Gwen that there are other paths – and Gwen agrees to follow Trixie’s advice. 

Trixie finds a gym in the north, where women’s wrestling is legal, where Gwen can train other wrestlers, thus making money while resting her body. Gwen is able to buy Carl a bike. 

Trixie doesn’t have such a solution for Nonnatus House. Dr. Turner is informed by Threapwood of the board of health that the license for the maternity clinic will not be renewed, and it expires in weeks. This is why the clinic has been moved to the hospital. Soon, the board of health will be subsumed by the National Health Service. Threapwood urges Dr. Turner to consider a group practice.

Sister Julienne gathers everyone to tell them. Nonnatus House may soon close.