Call the Midwife introduces new character with 'devastating' backstory
Nonnatus House is welcoming another friendly face.
Call the Midwife is introducing a brand new sister to Nonnatus House, whose backstory exemplifies the high personal price that people are sometimes forced to pay for their faith.
Sister Catherine (played by The Rig star Molly Vevers) comes from a family consisting of three siblings and two working parents, who have built a "prosperous" but strictly non-religious life for themselves.
For that reason, her relatives were "bemused" when Sister Catherine (then known by her birth name, Sandra) started attending church – and this confusion spiralled into frustration as she told them that she had been called to serve God.
Subsequently, she attempted to hide her faith in order to please her family, but ultimately found that she could not repress her desire to become a nun, which caused her to become entirely estranged from them.
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Sister Catherine will find some solace during her time at Nonnatus House, where she'll be training as a midwife, but there will be doubts and hurdles along the way – and ultimately, a big decision to make.
A teaser, courtesy of the BBC and Neal Street Productions, reads: "The closer Catherine gets to taking her First Vows, the more afraid she becomes.
"Is she doing the right thing? Can a life lived in the service of God and strangers ever justify the pain she has caused to those who have loved her all her life?"
While Sister Catherine is in for a challenging personal journey in the current season of Call the Midwife, things were very different for actor Vevers, who said she felt "absolutely" at home on the show from her first day of shooting.
Vevers explained: "In my first episode, I was filming a lot with the lovely Linda Bassett [as Nurse Phyllis Crane]. I was so grateful to do that in the first few days because she was just so kind and welcoming and helpful.
"In my first few days, we had a birth to do, which is quite scary when you haven't done it before. But Linda's just such a calming, warm presence, and she really helped me during that.
"Playing a nun, I also had a lot of scenes with Jenny [Agutter] and with Judy [Parfitt]. So it was lovely just working with all of them and becoming one of the sisters at Nonnatus."
Call the Midwife continues Sunday at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
