Birth of a new era:
The nuns have to deal with the changing times of the mid-1960s in the new series of Call The Midwife. James Rampton reports.
The nuns face social changes as Call The Midwife returns.
The David Bowie song Changes was released six years after 1965, when the new series of Call The Midwife is set, but it would still make a great theme tune for this latest season.
The ninth series of Heidi Thomas’ perennially popular British period drama depicts a time of enormous social flux and is all about the changes experienced by the group of midwives working in the impoverished Poplar area of East London.
In 1965, no one is more affected by these changes than Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter,), who is the linchpin of Nonnatus House, where the midwives work.
The 66-year-old Agutter explains that, “For Sister Julienne, this is the most difficult year yet in terms of dealing with outside problems. She is always focused on looking after
people – to her, their circumstances don’t matter, people do.
“However, circumstances are getting to a point where they are beginning to influence what happens at Nonnatus House. One of the major problems is working out how relevant the midwives’ work is within their community. Of course, it is still relevant, but it has changed.”
The actress, who has also starred in such movies as The Avengers, Captain America, The Railway Children, Walkabout, Logan’s Run and An American Werewolf In London, sketches out what has changed in particular.
“Midwifery is happening in a different place,” she says.
“The hospitals are taking more babies, as a lot of mothers would prefer to have a hospital birth.
“One of the major problems is working out how relevant the midwives’ work is within their community.”
– Jenny Agutter
“There are also various other social changes happening and the streets next door in Poplar are beginning to be torn down. It’s a matter of finding a place for Nonnatus House in the new world.”
The actress has played the senior nun since the first series of Call The Midwife and she still derives huge satisfaction from the part.
“I love the fact that I’m always learning something new about Sister Julienne,” Agutter reflects.
“I have met people like her and Heidi has told me back stories that have given me a great deal of insight into her faith, her feelings, her compassion, her understanding of people. I’ve learnt that she has led a full life and that she had a romantic link with somebody in the past.”
So is it that doomed romance which has motivated Sister Julienne? Not according to the actress.
“It wasn’t the failure of that part of her life that has driven her. She’s very driven by a desire to serve and a desire to serve in particular this community, to serve women and their families and to bring children into the world.”
Agutter goes on to disclose that, “We discover new things about Sister Julienne in this series because the problems are such that she has to question what the habit in fact means and how the nuns are viewed in people’s minds. “We’re in 1965 and getting into a time where people’s views on religion have changed. Things that had been totally accepted in the past are changing. That causes many more questions, which Sister Julienne has to deal with.” That’s not all that is new in this ninth series. Agutter reveals that we also learn about, “The wonderful new gifts that science brings. The nuns have managed to raise the money for their incubator. “It is a big step forward to be able to have something at the maternity home for women whose babies arrive early and who need that kind of care in an incubator.” Looking back on her nine years as Sister Julienne, the actress underlines what still excites her about Call The Midwife. “I’m always excited each year when the new scripts arrive because they bring with them all of the things that are happening in that particular year.” She adds, “The 60s was an extraordinary time of change – socially, in science, in the arts, in music, in world peace – or lack of it – and those things can’t help but affect the society that you’re in. “And Nonnatus House is not cut off from the world. I love seeing the scripts come in and the particular problems of that year being faced. “The scripts always keep me hooked.”