Call the Midwife's Joyce sees fate hang in balance after racist complaint

"I feel like it's a lot of her balancing all the cases that she deals with, but also the intersections of being a Black woman from the Caribbean in this country, where she's not always going to be wanted, but still having to be a professional and having to paint on a smile and still go to work every day," the actor said of how her character copes in the face of that trauma.

"We all do that in different ways in the workplace anyway, but that is a big thing for her this season as well… the mask that you have to wear as a health professional when you're experiencing or witnessing people experiencing things that you might have experienced yourself … and having to just push it all down and still show up."

And in tonight's episode (Sunday 9th February), we witnessed the very real threat that racism poses for the midwife.

From the moment Bernie laid eyes on Joyce, she didn't like what she saw. While pleasant to Rosalind and Catherine, she was abrasive with Joyce, unable to hide her disdain, despite the midwife's efforts to make her as comfortable as possible following the birth of her child.

"We wouldn't want you experiencing any unnecessary discomfort," said Joyce during a routine examination, and she meant it. She is nothing if not professional.

But Bernie would not extend the same courtesy to her – and also ordered Joyce to leave her house without her assessment being completed.

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And yet, despite Bernie's ill treatment of her, Joyce returned in the hope that she would be able to examine her properly, only to be thrown out once again.

"I never wanted a Black person touching me then and I sure as hell don't want one touching me now," she said.

But even when faced with such vile abuse, Joyce still took the time to ring Dr Turner and explain the urgency of Bernie's situation – a move which saved her life.

She had developed deep vein thrombosis, the signs of which would probably have been picked up by Joyce had she been allowed to do her job properly. But she wasn't and as a result, Bernie had to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance, herself a victim of her own bigoted views.

It was a harrowing ordeal for Joyce – and sadly not an unfamiliar one. But Bernie wasn't finished with her.

"If I'd died, it would have been her fault," she said, blaming the midwife for her ill health while ignoring Sister Julienne's attempts to smooth the matter over.

"I know what she did and I know what I'm going to do about it. Just so you don't think this is some idle threat, I made sure I got the full name and the address of the supervisor of midwives.

"This is a major complaint and I'm going to make it properly."

Oh, Joyce.

In the teaser for next week's episode, she receives a date for her disciplinary hearing, but despite her exemplary professional record and the many people who can vouch for her, will the system do as it's supposed to do and protect her?

Naturally, Joyce is sceptical.

"How can I trust in a process that might be as prejudiced as the person who made the complaint," she says.

Call the Midwife airs on BBC One and iPlayer.

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