Call the Midwife writer so nearly died the same way as Barbara
Scenes spark husband’s painful memories
NOBODY felt the shock death of Call the Midwife nurse Barbara Hereward more than actor Stephen McGann.
He was in pieces along with eight million viewers because his wife Heidi Thomas, who writes the hit series, nearly suffered the same fate in real life.
Stephen has been in the same position as Tom, who was playing Barbara’s husband when sepsis took her life in Sunday’s show.
The star, 55, who plays Dr Turner in the BBC drama, wrote: “That episode has had me in bits. I’ve sat where Tom has. I was lucky then. So many aren’t.”
Heidi, 55, contracted sepsis, which can be triggered by blood poisoning or septicaemia, after giving birth to their son Dominic.
But, initially, a doctor had diagnosed food poisoning and gave her Valium and paracetamol.
Stephen recalled: “It was a serious misdiagnosis – from an overworked locum who’d drawn hasty conclusions.”
Soon her pain had been replaced by raging fever. The pain stopped because her intestine was dying off and her small bowel was constricted and turning gangrenous, Stephen wrote in last year’s memoir Flesh and Blood.
The gangrene was infecting her blood and when her lips turned blue, Stephen called another GP, who rang for an ambulance.
During sepsis the body’s immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight an infection. This can reduce the blood supply to vital organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys.
Heidi spent all night in surgery and Stephen recalled: “I sat and watched Heidi’s face for hours and hours. Fragile and brave and beautiful. I felt a love for her that still astonishes me with its force.”
The actor said the experience 20 years ago changed him forever.
Jack Ashton, who plays Tom, revealed his character’s tears were real, because of his sadness over the departure of Charlotte Ritchie, 28, who was Barbara. He is also leaving the show. The Mirror told yesterday how Charlotte was upset by the plotline. “I’ll miss Call the Midwife more than I can say,” she added.
One fan of the drama, which started in 2012 and is in its seventh series, said: “It was the best episode I’ve ever seen, never cried so much at the TV before.”