Call The Midwife viewers are left angry and horrified by a racism storyline as the new series started on Sunday night, while praising the BBC show for its sensitive handling of the matter.
A week on from its Christmas special being one of the most watched programmes on TV on December 25, the much loved drama returned for a brand new series, over a decade after it first won a place in the nation's affections. A teaser for the first episode of the new run, which featured new character Sister Veronica, hinted that racial tensions would 'cast a shadow' over the Poplar, with the impact of Enoch Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech being felt in the community, still trying to come to terns with the repercussions of the fatal train crash that left Sister Julienne and Doctor Turner's lives in danger.
The tensions sparked by Powell's speech, which controversial language and violent imagery to strongly oppose mass immigration into Britain, came to fore in Call The Midwife with a protest in Poplar in support of Enoch Powell and then again when two expectant mothers went into labour in hospital.
One of the women, Mrs Patel arrived with what she thought were 'practise pains', when she was actually in second stage labour. She was rushed into the delivery room, meaning the other woman, a Mrs Pickard being left angry after being 'promised' gas and air. After moaning: "I didn't realise I was in a queue," she added: "Enoch Powell was right."
Taking her frustrations out on Nurse Robinson, she said: "I'm left in bloody agony because of someone who had no right to be here, coming in and queue barging like the place belongs to them.
After Nurse Robinson explained that Mrs Patel could experience 'complication,' Mrs Pickard raged: "The complication is immigrants. Coming here and taking all the jobs. Briitish people were born here, we come first. We should all go home."
Appalled y what she heard, an upset Mrs Robinson replied: "I came to make Britain my home and I did not expect to be made unwelcome."
Viewers were saddened by the scene, with one taking to Twitter to write: "The hate and racism from that white pregnant woman in Labour is horrendous . I can barely watch it," with a second tweeting: "Watching #CallTheMidwife is proving to be painful. I'm old enough to remember the dreadful Enoch Powel and his racist, xenaphobic speeches that did so much to inflame racism in the UK."
Praising the show for not shying away from a very important issue, another reacted: "And people still say call the midwife is a cushy show about babies….and here they are dealing with homophobia and racism while it’s still so prominent today THIS is why this show is important,"
The episode ended with a closing monologue which included the ,lie: "Change is not a threat; it's a chance and if we embrace it, we can begin again."
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