Doctor Who fans come from all walks of life and, of course, all time periods – including, it seems, nuns in the 1960s...
Episode four of the eighth series of BBC1's Sunday night drama Call the Midwife saw Sister Monica Joan, the elderly nun played by Judy Parfitt, fangirling over an early outing for First Doctor William Hartnell and his companions. Although the other residents of Nonnatus House weren’t quite so impressed...
As Monica Joan was glued to a black and white TV set watching 1964 serial The Aztecs, Nurse Phyllis Crane (Linda Bassett) delivered a less-than-favourable verdict of the show: “I can’t be doing with this. Grown men running about in fancy dress, making out a phone box can travel through space and time!”
And after she left the room, Nurse Lucille Anderson (Leonie Elliott) suggested that the group listen to the radio instead.
Monica Joan was undeterred, however. “But it’s so exciting!” she enthused. “The Doctor’s assistant has just been mistaken for an ancient high priestess who seeks to exploit her influence to outlaw human sacrifice!”
Although the midwives opted for the radio in the end, Whovians absolute loved The Doctor’s brief appearance.
Even if some fans noticed how this created a fantastic paradox concerning the two shows.
Let’s just hope that Monica Joan will be allowed to watch the end of The Aztecs at some point – it’s in that story that The Doctor accidentally gets engaged to a woman after sharing a cup of cocoa. Not even Nurse Crane could fail to enjoy that.
This article was originally published on 4 February 2019
