Call the Midwife season 13 episode 4 sees Trixie and Matthew hit a rough patch in their marriage after Trixie (Helen George) makes a mistake at work that leaves her torn between her vocation as a midwife and being a good wife to Matthew and step-mother to Jonty.
Meanwhile, Doctor Turner faces a heart-breaking case when a family is stuck down with tuberculosis, and Nancy fights to find answers about her past when a patient at work reminds her of her late mother.
Here's everything that happened in Call the Midwife season 13 episode 4...
Episode four takes us to July 1969 where the residents of Poplar are looking forward to the imminent moon landing of Apollo 11. But as the excitement for the historical moment grows, the new pupil midwives have more pressing things on their minds as they have coursework due.
Phyllis, Sister Julienne and Shelagh discuss the newcomers' progress and agree everyone is doing well, but it is decided Rosalind’s self-confidence could do with a boost and Joyce needs to be a bigger believer in home births. Soon Joyce is assigned to look after expectant mum, Prue Stanton, a warm-hearted local who proves to be quite a challenge.
Over at St Oswald’s Hall Doctor Turner, Sister Veronica and Nancy are running a BCG vaccination clinic for secondary school-age children, but first, the children must be screened for tuberculosis. While most children are negative, the Chidozie family is a cause for concern when Samuel and Esther come back positive.
Nancy offers to go to their family home to discuss the best course of action, but she is shocked to find the poor living conditions the family is staying in. As Nancy explains that the children will need to go to the hospital for an x-ray, it soon transpires there is a greater problem at hand when the father, Felix, starts coughing up blood.
Nancy calls for Doctor Turner and he quickly registers the whole family at his surgery, but while the medical care is free on the NHS, the prescription that Doctor Turner writes out for Felix proves to be too expensive for the cash-strapped family.
Nancy and Rosalind return the following day with food and orange juice for the children, and vouchers to support the family. While Felix and his wife are reluctant to accept the help, they finally agree and Nancy books x-rays for Samuel, Felix, and Easher, telling them they all need to be taken to an isolation ward to get better.
Meanwhile, Felix's thin hands and the blood on his hanky give Nancy a flashback to her past, and she suddenly wonders if her mother died from tuberculosis. Phyllis and Miss Higgins look into her past for her, and they find a Sister Agnes Mary from Cork who looked after Nancy in the orphanage when she was little. She now lives in a care home in London and although is very old, remembers Nancy's mother and is willing to talk to her.
Dr Turner arrives to see the Chidozie family and announces the ambulance is on the way to take them to the isolation ward, but before it can get there Felix starts coughing up more blood and collapses and dies in front of his family, despite Doctor Turner's desperate attempts to revive him.
Meanwhile, Trixie is finding it hard to juggle her career as a midwife and being a good wife and stepmother at home.
As Prue Stanton goes into labour, Trixie and Joyce arrive to look after her, however, it is a tricky birth as the baby is coming out face first. But halfway through the labour, Rosalind races in, telling Trixie that Matthew has called Nonnatus House looking for her.
Trixie panics that something is wrong with Jonty and so leaves Joyce with Prue while she runs to the nearest phone box. However, once there she is cross when Matthew simply complains of a headache and tells him off for ringing her at work when it isn't an emergency.
As Nancy goes to visit Sister Agnes Mary, who now goes by the name of Kathleen Flanagan, she finally gets answers about her past, learning that she came from a family of tuberculosis sufferers and the reason she didn't go to live with an aunty when her mother died was that they'd also all passed away from the illness. She is comforted to learn that her mother loved her very much and only left her at the orphanage because she didn't have any other option.
Back at Prue's house, Dr Turner has been called due to the complications with the baby's positioning and she eventually gives birth to a boy. However, when the placenta comes, Joyce isn't happy with the way it looks. But Trixie, who is still distracted after her argument with Matthew, says it looks that way because Prue is a heavy smoker and, in a hurry to get home, she signs off the paperwork.
The following day Joyce and Shelagh go to see Prue and she is in a bad way, with a high fever and heavy bleeding. It turns out she has a retained placenta that was missed by Trixie the previous day. As Prue is rushed to the hospital, Joyce is torn over whether she should tell anyone about Trixie being distracted the day before, and Rosalind tells her she needs to be honest as it could jeopardize her passing her course if she gets the blame.
The pair go to Sister Julienne and in the end, it is Rosalind who tells her what has happened as Joyce is too worried about getting Trixie in trouble. Trixie is called into Sister Julienne's office where she is horrified that her actions have caused someone to fall so unwell and offers to resign on the spot. Sister Julienne tells her that won't be necessary but that she might want to reconsider her work/life balance.
At home, Trixie talks to Matthew and he clearly wants her to give up her role at Nonnatus House, suggesting that perhaps Trixie takes up charity work like his mother and that she could help with Meals on Wheels. Trixie is horrified by the whole thing, explaining that midwifery is her vocation and that from now on she will stay at Nonnatus House for three nights a week so she can focus on her job, and then when she is at home for the rest of the week she can focus on being a wife and stepmother.
Matthew seems very unhappy about the whole thing, pointing out they have only been married for 8 months and will already be living apart, but Trixie is adamant.
At the end of the episode, everyone gathers around the TV at Nonnatus House to watch the Apollo 11 landing, and after the 'eagle has landed' everyone else heads off to bed. However, Sister Monica Joan stays up all night waiting to see man take his first steps on the moon, thankful to be able to witness this historical moment in her lifetime.
Call the Midwife season 13 airs in the UK on Sunday evenings at 8pm on BBC One. You will also be able to catch up on iPlayer after each episode has aired.
In the US, season 13 will start on Sunday, March 17, 2024 on PBS.
