Call the Midwife's Cyril and Rosalind face racist backlash over relationship
The couple faced their first real test in this week's episode.
Call the Midwife's Joyce warned her friend and colleague Rosalind that she would face bigoted backlash for stepping out with Cyril – and that's exactly what happened in tonight's episode of the BBC period drama (Sunday 23rd February).
The pair, who have just started dating after it was confirmed that Cyril and Lucille are to divorce, were on their way to a film premiere when she tripped and stumbled into him, laughing as she did so, which was enough to incite a reaction from a couple of particularly odious men.
"Oi! Can't you do better than that, little blonde like you?" said one.
"You'll lose him in the dark," laughed another.
But when Rosalind challenged the passersby, Cyril told her to ignore them, advise which she initially pushed back against.
"If I ignore them, they'll assume they've made their point and then make it again with someone else, and nothing's ever going to change," she said.
"Change will come, Rosalind, but it's going to take time," he responded, spoken like a man who has had to exercise superhuman levels of patience since arriving in England.
Ahead of season 14, Zephryn Taitte warned viewers that there would be "hard times ahead" for Cyril and Rosalind as their romance blossomed, including "a little spat with some people on the streets".
Natalie Quarry also echoed those comments, adding: "They will have a lot of trouble [to contend with]."
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But will the couple be able to block out the external noise and carry on as they are? Or will it prove too great a strain?
They clearly had very different ways of managing that particular situation, with Rosalind challenging the racist remarks while Cyril paid them no notice, which is an overt example of the privilege gap that exists between them.
Cyril, as a Black man, is far more likely to be painted as the aggressor in any confrontation, even if he is the one on the receiving end of the abuse, which Rosalind is unlikely to have considered in the heat of the moment.
But while they managed to put that behind them and enjoy the rest of their evening, will future clashes cause friction between them?
Are they strong enough to weather countless storms?
The Call the Midwife season 14 finale airs on Sunday 2nd March on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Authors
Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
