There are nights so dark that the dawn is not merely distant
but beyond imagination.
Oh...
These are the hours where grief lives,
where fear rules,
where truth lies exposed...
like a wound.
Hope hides, peace is for others.
The minutes extend,
repeating the distress of the hours that went before...
and every thought begins and ends in silence.
♪ And so will I go to thine altar... ♪
Valerie?
You didn't come to bed.
What was I going to do there? Sleep?
I wasn't exactly in the Land of Nod myself.
We're going to have to report what happened.
To Sister Julienne?
Absolutely to Sister Julienne.
And then to the police.
Have a good day at school.
Go to work on an egg,
as they say in the magazine advertisements!
You don't have to do all this!
You were up in the night with May.
May was as right as rain after a spell on the sofa and a hot drink.
I think it's the trauma of her impending move.
It's upsetting me, and I'm a grown man.
Here's the sauce. I've already shaken it.
Patrick, we have no choice but to wave May off with smiles on our faces,
because that is the best thing for her.
Of course it is.
And I've decided that we need to look to the future.
The maternity home needs its own incubator.
I'm launching a fundraising drive,
and the first event is going to be a dance called the Ballroom of Hope.
Are you booking the Hammersmith Palais?
No, the Institute.
Eat your eggs.
Sister Hilda, there's a new patient for the district round.
Julie Shroeder, 43 Menton Road, aged 17.
She's just been discharged from St Cuthbert's
after treatment for Hodgkin's disease.
Hodgkin's?
Poor lamb.
17 is awfully young to be fighting cancer.
Sadly, there's now nothing more can be done for her, in terms of treatment,
but she has some burns following her radiotherapy,
and we can help with dressings.
Sister Julienne...
there's something Nurse Dyer and I need to discuss with you.
Fred!
They're sending Reggie home!
There's been an outbreak of whooping cough,
and they don't want him to catch it.
You know he never does well with his chest.
I wasn't expecting to see him till Christmas!
Yes, but they've already put him on the coach!
What if he gets to the station before we can be there to meet him?
Come on, we're late.
I don't know how you like it, Sister, so you can help yourself to the jug.
I've been dying for you to tip up just so as I can have a sit-down.
You should seize all the rest you can get with both hands, Mrs Shroeder.
How many little brothers have you got?
They don't stand still long enough for me to count.
Eh, you poor darling.
These radiation burns look so sore!
They are sore.
Hello, love.
Ah, we have company.
I forgot my sandwiches.
Oh, they're on the twin-tub.
Spam and pickle.
He was a prisoner of war, in case you're wondering.
Julie was five when we met...
and petrified!
She'd only ever heard Germans being called the enemy.
I imagine you soon became the best of chums!
Something like that.
Although... going to school with a surname like Shroeder
wasn't much fun.
You Sisters, you are midwives, too?
You have a word with my Ena, huh?
She hasn't seen a nurse in six months.
Six months?! We shall have to take you in hand.
You must show me your co-op card before I go.
And it was in the ambulance that the foetus was aborted?
Yes.
I injected the girl with the ergometrine immediately afterwards.
While she was still pregnant, I wasn't able to.
All my life, she's had an oven full of readies.
Pound notes. Ten-bob notes.
Never occurred to me to ask where it came from,
or why it didn't run out after she gave up her stall on the market.
And do you know how much Miss Banley paid for the procedure?
Seven pounds.
Precisely seven pounds?
She said all the other abortionists charge ten.
Some even charge guineas.
But not her.
It's all coming together in the most splendid way!
There's a mirror ball in storage somewhere,
and with plenty of crepe-paper streamers, it should look most effective.
There'll be a number of speciality dances,
including a spot waltz with prizes and a pensioners' valeta.
What do you think?
I think it's the most marvellous opportunity
to dispense with the trapeze-line shift and run up some fabulous frocks!
I've rather missed the cinched-in waist.
Me too!
On other people, obviously.
Excellent! But we still need a judge
for Most Appealing Family Pairing On The Dance Floor,
and someone to organise the tombola.
I should be delighted to oblige with the latter.
Organise the tombola?
For as Plato once observed,
"Arithmetic has a very great and elevating effect,
"compelling the soul to reason with regard to abstract number."
There's a call for you, Nurse Dyer.
It's Sergeant Woolf.
A photograph! A photograph, Trixie!
And I quote, "Something from the family album,
"no more than two years old."
Can't the police take a picture themselves?
A mugshot, that's what I said.
But they can't do that until the person's been charged, so...
I need some scissors.
Your blood pressure is spot-on, Mrs Shroeder.
But I'm not very impressed with your ankles.
They're swollen.
Will you give over with that cricket ball in the house?
Just cos their dad's a glazier,
they think it don't matter if they smash the windows!
Four kids.
And a fifth on the way!
You wouldn't think it, the way she carries on.
She won't rest, Nurse!
She won't eat liver.
She won't even knit.
Everyone in the family way knits!
The layette is none of my business, Mrs Shroeder.
But if you do not make allowances for your health,
then neither will Mother Nature,
and you will end up on the books at St Cuthbert's.
Not going back there.
Even the smell of that place makes me gag.
Makes her gag, too. Don't it?
I dunno how I'm gonna get her through the door next time.
Mum!
What if there isn't a next time?
Those doctors will stop at nothing, Julie!
You say that, and Dad says that, but what if...?
The only way there won't be a next time is if you're cured once and for all.
Now eat that toast, I don't want it wasted.
Yeah. That's her.
You've never seen Come Dancing because it's past your bedtime,
but you're going to look just like one of the pretty ladies
in a lovely sticky-out dress!
- Isn't that exciting? - Yes.
Can I have a dress?
Oh, May!
You'll have gone to live with your new mummy and daddy by then.
You'll be having a lovely time with them!
How about I make Dolly Molly a frock the same as Angela's,
and then you can take her with you, all dressed up?
Hope you're not going to put me in handcuffs.
This has all been very misjudged.
And I've got neighbours.
Sergeant Woolf.
Escort her to the car.
You took ages.
That's a bit personal, Reggie.
Come on, let's go and have a gander at that dripping tap.
D'you want me to come with you to say hello to some of them?
See if you can make friends?
I've got friends.
But it's just not here.
It's the sort of thing that makes your blood run cold.
Young girl bent double...
blood running down her legs.
She'd been found down the side street, collapsed.
And what did the girl say to you?
All the way up the stairs, she kept saying sorry,
that she'd tried to bring on the miscarriage herself.
And why didn't you call for an ambulance?
Because she was ashamed.
She was scared.
And she didn't want the police involved!
Did the young lady describe the implement she'd used?
Something sharp.
Something sharp like... one of these?
Those instruments are top quality.
I buy them in the chemist, for lancing my carbuncle,
on medical advice.
I'm a great respecter of medical advice -
that's why I sent for my granddaughter.
Your granddaughter the midwife?
Who attended along with her colleague,
also a midwife.
We have statements from them both.
I thought a plant might suit today,
for ease of transportation once you're discharged.
I also called in at Nonnatus House
and collected some slacks and blouses for you.
Simple, easy garments suitable for light exercise
within a convalescent context.
I haven't been ill, Miss Higgins, merely immobilised.
When they let me out of here,
I shall be sprinting down the Commercial Road like Ann Packer!
"When pastures fresh beckon And new dawns the light
“Don't rush to be active And pick up the fight
“Instead rest and be thankful
"You're now almost hale
"But let friends support you
"Remember - you're frail!"
I take it this is Patience Strong.
No!
I wrote it myself.
Ah.
Gran!
Gran, open the door. I know you're at home.
I know you pleaded not guilty, Gran.
I read it in the papers.
You're gonna have to go to court now and...
and I'm gonna have to go to court.
I can't change what I did any more than you can.
But promise me you'll stop!
Promise me!
I can't wait to see all the frocks people are making!
I already need an extra supply of zip fasteners in sugared-almond shades.
Right, off you pop.
Get these orders in the post for me.
Oh, would you like half a crown,
to get some iced buns for our elevenses?
No. Not really.
Oh! Well...
come straight back, hmm?
Where've you been, Fred Buckle?
Using the facilities.
Oh, you're always using the facilities!
Reggie's not himself, Fred.
He needs jollying along.
Bringing out of himself.
I'm trying my best, Vi.
But there's nothing coming back the other way.
It's normally so lovely when he's at home.
Goodbye, little May.
Bye-bye.
Excellent, thank you. Put that up straight away.
I've only just got the glitter ball out of storage, Mrs Turner!
It doesn't want hanging straight away - it needs cleaning.
If we don't put it in position now,
we won't know if these decorative streamers
are going to prove effective, or even practical.
Mrs Turner, you can't climb a ladder in court shoes!
I actually appear to be doing so perfectly efficiently.
I take it your daughter was instrumental
in you keeping your appointment this afternoon?
She's been cracking the whip no end.
We're going past the wool shop on the way home, apparently.
Oh, no, Fred!
Any casualties?
Just the mirror ball.
And Fred's pride!
Present from Mrs Ena Shroeder.
Everything now present and correct.
Are you getting in some practice
for when your new baby brother or sister arrives?
I don't need to get practice in for anything else, do I?
I'm never gonna have a baby of my own.
You mustn't talk like that, Julie!
I want to talk like that!
They told us at the hospital.
They said that the treatment hadn't worked.
No doctor and no nurse should ever tell a patient
there is nothing they can do.
Well, why shouldn't they, if it's true?
Mum doesn't wanna believe ‘em.
Dad just goes along with it.
But I haven't got the choice.
I know.
Hello, Maureen.
What are you doing here? You expecting another addition?
No, I'm not expecting another bloody addition.
And I don't wanna buy ballroom tickets either.
Elsie Dyer might be your grandmother,
but she's got family all over this borough.
She's my mother's aunt.
- ITknow... - Oh! You know all sorts of things.
Valerie Nose In The Air, Up My Own Backside Dyer.
Valerie Look At Me Swanning Round With All The Nuns!
You might know a lot of things about the human body,
but I don't s'pose anyone's ever told you -
blood is thicker than water!
You stop this right now!
This is a clinic, not a fish market,
and you are talking to a uniformed professional
who is entitled to respect.
Iam, am I?
Cos I thought I was just talking to a stuck-up turncoat
who's forgotten whose side she's supposed to be on!
You heard me. I want you out of that door.
Oh, welcome, gentle sir. And enter!
I wouldn't leave this left standing unattended, Sister.
You got two bottles of sherry and a tin of pilchards left here for the tombola.
Come.
Are you absolutely certain the hospital told both Julie and her family?
That's what Julie said to me. And I listened.
Because it seems to me nobody else wants to hear a word she's saying.
Good evening, ladies!
Oh!
Ah!
None of them were déshabillé when I was summoned by the bell.
What in the good Lord's name are you doing coming round here
without notice?
Mrs Theodore called a prayer meeting at her house.
I thought you might like to come.
Sister Frances!
Get that shopping list off the table, and send him to Violet Buckle's with it.
Tell him to make himself useful!
Thread - machine twist 40,
one each of orchid, mid-orchid,
blue-green and light gladioli.
Netting starch.
How much netting starch?
Oh, Lucille didn't say.
But there is a lot of netting.
Oh, no. Oh, Mrs Buckle, no.
Erm...
Where do you keep the handkerchiefs?
Erm...
initialled, lace and fancy, third drawer down.
I know it's silly,
but, erm, Fred's always been so...
cheerful up till now.
And Reggie, well...
usually, he's very uncomplicated.
Mrs Buckle, I haven't seen my mother for a year or two,
but she would always talk about a woman's intuition.
And what I say is this.
Where men are concerned,
sometimes a woman's intuition doesn't get her anywhere.
You need to let the men talk to the men.
Let them sort it out between themselves.
Hmm?
Knock-knock. Special delivery!
Oh, is that my gas and air?
This is oxygen, Mrs Shroeder.
And it's for Julie.
Oh.
It will help her with her breathing, if she starts to feel unwell.
We'll have a practice with the mask later on, poppet.
Oops! Sequin on the carpet.
No. Two.
Apologies, Mrs Shroeder.
Sister and I must've brought them in on our shoes.
Can I see?
Oh.
Are these to do with that dance?
Nonnatus House is becoming quite the frock factory!
I've always wanted to go to a dance.
Twirl around under the mirror ball, like you see in the films.
Before I was ill, I was too young.
And now...
Well, it's just now.
I can see another sequin!
It's lying over there like a tiny little star.
Do you know, Julie,
there really are plenty more spangles and furbelows where that came from.
We'll have you turning every head in the Ballroom of Hope.
Oh, no.
I can't dance.
I'll teach you.
I was a dab hand at the foxtrot, before I took the veil.
Do you think the doctor will let me?
I think you might find it's just what the doctor ordered.
Corned-beef hash, beetroot, or pickled cabbage.
The choice is yours.
Are you going out?
I've got a meeting with Mrs Turner about the decorations
for the Ballroom of Hope, now that we seem to be minus a mirror ball.
Here's ten shillings - take each other to the pub.
You've never given me money to go to the pub in four years of marriage.
Reggie's only to have shandy.
And I want the change.
As you'll doubtless be performing only partial duties
on your return to Nonnatus House,
I thought you might like to join me
at the Townswomen's Guild on Thursday afternoons.
I think you'll find I shall be in harness every afternoon,
including Thursdays.
Sergeant Woolf!
- What an unexpected pleasure. - Oh, please.
Aubrey when I'm in my sports jacket.
Miss Higgins, have you met Sergeant Woolf?
We are acquainted, of course.
Especially picked from my own greenhouse.
How nice.
My father used to grow chrysanthemums.
From the Cubs.
We had a potato-stamping session.
Some of the lads got quite creative.
Well, Miss Higgins makes greetings cards -
perhaps we should ask her to give them some lessons.
That's absolutely charming.
And such a well-chosen verse! I'm a great admirer of Patience Strong.
No, Miss Higgins wrote that herself.
- A poetess! - Oh!
One dabbles, Sergeant Woolf.
Well, what's up with you, Reggie?
What's up with you?
Honest to God, man to man?
I've been having a bit of trouble with me old waterworks.
You fixed that tap.
No, no, I mean, er, down below.
When I go to the gents'. My bladder.
Oh! Go to the doctor.
Nah. It'll go away.
So what about you?
I miss my girlfriend.
You've got a girlfriend?
She's called Jane.
Is she pretty?
No. Beautiful.
Oh, Reggie! Can I tell Violet?
Eh, but not a word about my waterworks, eh?
That was men's talk.
She'll be needing a pair of dance shoes, too, Mr Shroeder.
I can't imagine the get-up we're planning going very well
with a pair of brown lace-ups!
I'd rather she preserved her strength than went out dancing.
Well, I shall delve into our storeroom and see what I can find.
What a positively doleful-looking Madeira cake!
I'm not saying I don't like Madeira cake,
I'm just always glad when I've had enough.
Before we say grace and commence our meal,
I have two pieces of news.
Firstly, and most happily, Nurse Crane returns to us the day after tomorrow.
At last! I'll make sure her bed is aired.
And secondly...
I had a telephone call from the police.
Teresa Banley will not be giving evidence.
But her evidence is absolutely vital.
She's not just the victim, she's the complainant!
And with no complainant, there's no case.
The charge still stands against Mrs Dyer.
Miss Banley has been granted a medical exemption certificate,
and her statement will merely be read out to the court.
But can't anyone talk to her,
tell her just how important it is that she tells her story in person?
I've been given this information as a fait accompli.
The law will take its course and we will not discuss this further.
What good is just reading something out going to do?
A few words typed by a secretary and read by a man!
You're women, and you're midwives,
and you can describe exactly what you saw.
If we do it well enough, I'L be putting my own grandma behind bars.
And if Mrs Dyer had pleaded guilty, you wouldn't have to do that.
And if the laws were different,
she wouldn't have needed to run a sideline in abortion.
Why does it have to be us who try to stop her?
Why should I have to go to court?
Jane?
Jane?!
How could Reggie have told you such a thing,
and all you bothered to find out is that she's called Jane?
We don't even know her surname!
He told me she's got cheeks the colour of pink ice cream
and she likes pansies.
But no, no surname.
What if it's all one-sided?
What if she's just someone that he's seen somewhere?
She could be a member of staff, and either he's got it all wrong,
or she could be taking advantage!
I'm not happy about this at all.
Nonnatus House, midwife speaking.
This is Mr Alfred Shroeder of 43 Menton Road.
They don't care who you are, Dad!
Just tell 'em Mum's in labour.
Right.
I've spoken to Reggie's gardening supervisor.
He seems to know him quite well.
Jane is one of the residents.
And she's as sweet on Reggie as Reggie is on her.
And, erm, she's like him, Fred.
Oh, good on him, that's what I say!
I mean, we sent him there so he could meet folk like himself.
I just hope it lasts.
I mean, if it's real.
I don't want him to be hurt!
No-one can go through life without experiencing any pain at all.
I'd miss you if I had to go away.
That's right, Mum.
You show those contractions who's boss.
Back with you now, love.
I thought it would hurt you more.
No.
Things only really hurt when you're scared,
and I'm not scared.
I thought I'd pop in and have a look at my star patient.
Your star patient's got a patient of her own this morning.
Come and get this gown on. We've got work to do.
Eh, Reg.
Basildon Bond!
No expense spared, eh?
And I've written our address in the corner,
just to get you started off.
But then the rest of the letter is for you to say
whatever it is you want to say.
Fred and I are just here to help you with the spelling.
I'll start, "Dear Jane."
Very nice.
Then, "I love you."
No, no, no.
You gotta keep ‘em keen, Reg.
How about..."I hope you're well"?
Nurse Anderson says your wife is doing splendidly.
Tea, and a plate of bread and butter.
There's absolutely nothing like it when one's been up since the small hours.
When I was a child in Germany,
the smell of bread
could make my stomach clench...
like a fist.
It was other people's bread, you see, not mine.
Hard times?
The economy had collapsed...
and the inflation came.
A loaf of bread cost 200,000 million marks.
My little sister, Berta, she was so sick.
She was white as paper.
Her hands were thin, like leaves.
She died with her head on my shoulder.
So light...
I could scarcely feel it resting there.
How old was she?
Five.
The same age as Julie was when I met her mother.
I would look at Julie and I would think,
"You are so well-fed.
"You are so warm."
I thought then that she did not need my love.
But I think it more true that...
I could not give Julie my love then,
and I cannot now.
But you could give it to her now.
She needs it now.
Just as much as she needs to feel normal and...
and dance underneath a mirror ball!
Not that the latter will actually be happening,
thanks to an episode of clumsiness by the janitor.
I cannot discern whether you are dusting or at prayer.
Whichever should be the case, I deduce you are not succeeding.
Will I get better at it?
From experience, I would advise that you will not.
But you will become more patient,
and therein know true grace.
Sister Monica Joan...
may I talk to you?
Always.
Not here.
I've had enough.
I will have none of that defeatist talk!
With your next push, we're going to have baby's head,
and this whole room is going to be rejoicing.
You keep it coming now.
Short, short, short pushes, short breaths.
Yes!
Yes! We have a head!
Magnificent work!
Are you all right, poppet?
That's it! That's it!
Come on, Mum! Come on, Mum!
Well done, Ena!
You have a daughter, Ena!
Well done.
Do you want to hold her first?
Look at that!
My eldest and my youngest.
You two girls'lL be giving your brothers the runaround for years!
We should let Dad in.
He's gonna love her.
Good morning, Reggie.
Nice flowers.
Thank you.
They were a gift from a... a friend.
Mmm.
This for Dr Turner.
Ah.
Oh, and it's very, very personal.
“Fred bladder sore. Fred sad."
Thank you.
I shall pass this on to Doctor.
You may...
return to the night of the criminal incident in the bathroom.
I remember everything that happened to that girl,
from the moment she knocked on our door with her sister.
I remember us whispering, because Sergeant Woolf was in the house.
I remember...
the blood on her legs...
the tears on her face...
and the smell of the foetus as it came away.
It had festered within her.
She was ill with an infection.
I'd put money on it being streptococcus...
if we were allowed to gamble.
But there's so much we aren't allowed to do!
I couldn't shout, "Why? How can this happen?"
I couldn't...
I couldn't ask what had happened to the baby.
I couldn't...
demand that anyone be punished.
Punishment is not ours to administer.
Can't the anger be ours to feel?
I was sent to clean the floor, and nothing more was said.
What do you want to say?
That...
I know her name was Cath.
That she was beautiful.
That... she looked like a model, in a dress the colour of lipstick.
And that...
there are women and girls that have to do what she did all the time!
Afternoon, Fred!
What's brought you here?
Something a little bird said to me.
Now, shall we eat these pies while they're still warm?
I looked up what's been happening in one of Sister Julienne's medical books.
Huh! She's a midwife, Fred.
Well, it wasn't a particularly well-thumbed page.
But it frightened the life out of me.
I mean, prostrate cancer?
People die of that.
Well, firstly, Fred, it's prostate, not prostrate.
And secondly, if you're in pain and struggling to pass urine,
there are plenty of other things that could be causing it.
Will I have to have, er, you know... examination?
Yes, but you survived your Army medicals.
And at least you don't get shot at if you pass.
Careful!
Sorry, Sister.
Sister Monica Joan,
Sister Julienne said the matter was not to be discussed further.
You may obey Sister Julienne,
or you may obey me.
I am the elder of we twain,
and the orders I have given are precise...
and urgent.
Cath went to live up West.
She was made for up West.
She had the legs, which I never had.
And the yearning, which I never had either.
I thought that,
after she got rid of the baby,
after she had to have the operation,
I thought she'd come home.
But she has not.
She said she had to make what had happened worth it.
She rings me sometimes.
But...
She says every time she sees my face, she sees that bathroom.
That's right.
Just keep your knees drawn up as much as possible.
Good man.
The prostate is a gland that surrounds the neck of the bladder.
It's shaped like a doughnut and about the same size as a walnut.
If it becomes inflamed,
it can cause all sorts of bother with your waterworks.
And that's it!
What, that's it, you're finished?
Yes.
Sit up when you're ready.
If there was any sort of growth or tumour, I'd be able to feel it.
And I can't.
So I haven't got cancer, then?
No.
There is a bit of generalised enlargement,
probably caused by an infection.
But your urine test will confirm that,
and I'll prescribe some penicillin in the meantime.
Thank you, Doctor.
Patrick, May's adoption has broken down!
What's happened?
The father of the family has had a relapse,
and they don't feel they're in a position to give her the care she needs.
A Hong Kong Project worker picked her up this morning,
and took her back to the Mother House.
I don't know what Mother Mildred's going to say about that!
Mother Mildred's already called me and said plenty!
Well, have you sufficient petrol in your car?
Service!
Good evening, ladies.
May I be of assistance?
Our response is in the affirmative.
Wakey-wakey, little one.
Do you know where you are?
Home.
How's that?
Good morning.
I have been kept apprised of events.
I take it Trixie's still touching up her lipstick.
She found a ladder in her stocking.
Badges on straight?
Yes, Nurse Crane.
You'll do.
Welcome back, Nurse Crane.
You'll find your Rolodex is in satisfactory order.
I'll be at court today,
if you might hand out the morning orders?
Of course.
You're coming with us?
Where would I be, if not alongside you?
You were born into our hands.
Your trials are ours.
I fear you express perplexity at our presence.
All will be made plain.
Trixie...
how's it come to this?
Sister Hilda reckons she's overdone it.
Maybe she just needs to stay in and rest.
This looks like anaemia.
Oh, well, then, she can have a blood transfusion.
She's had loads of them!
I'm not having one today.
If you put me in hospital, I'll miss the dance.
Miss Franklin, when you arrived at the Black Sail
with your colleague, Miss Dyer,
what did you see?
I saw a girl I now know to be Teresa Banley
lying on a table and bleeding heavily
and a woman I recognised as an acquaintance standing next to her.
Can you point out that acquaintance within the courtroom?
I most certainly can.
She's sitting there.
Thank you.
Mr Clementson says he can arrange for a transfusion today.
I'm ringing for an ambulance.
And I'm not having one if it means I'll miss the ball!
Poppet, if we can't boost those red blood cells of yours,
you won't be able to go at all.
They never said that to Cinderella!
There were rodent droppings on the floor, as well as blood.
And I remembered
that Mrs Dyer suffers from an infectious skin condition.
Just a few months ago,
a young Poplar woman had an abortion,
contracted streptococcus, and then died.
She was called Jeannie.
And I'm not saying her whole name
to protect her widower and their children.
May I enquire as to how you became aware of the case where the young woman died?
Did you perhaps read about it in the press?
I didn't have to.
I was her Keep Fit instructor, and she became my friend.
You weren't brought here as Keep Fit instructor today.
You were summoned as a midwife,
to give your impartial, professional account of events.
And I suggest to you, Miss Franklin, that by raising the matter
of your late friend as part of your evidence here in court,
you are not being impartial,
and you're not being very professional either.
I don't know how they're supposed to make people better
when they can't even send an ambulance!
I'm going to drive her there myself.
Cath?
Too much has gone on behind closed doors.
Ithought I wanted it left there.
But when the Sisters came to see me,
I realised other people want more.
Now you do everything they tell you.
The paint on those shoes will be dry when you get home.
No, no, no, Ena!
She'll be back. She will be back.
She won't be back for ever.
She won't be back to live any kind of normal life.
She won't be back to live any life at all!
I know.
Shh-shh-shh.
Can you point out the person you engaged to carry out
the procedure in question?
Now tell us, in your own words, the outcome of your experience at her hands.
I got an infection.
A fever.
I had to have a hysterectomy.
She'd damaged my womb with whatever it was she used.
I never saw it.
I only know that it was sharp.
I've got a scar on my stomach that's ten inches long.
Goes up all the way to my ribs.
The surgeon did that.
He had to.
But every time I look at it in the mirror,
I think of her.
Every time I look in a pram,
every time I think about the way I nearly ran up those stairs
into that back room,
thinking, "This is my way out of the shame and the disgrace of it,"
I think of her.
And how I thought that she was saving me.
Didn't seem such a lot of money, seven pounds.
But it's a price I'll never stop paying.
And that concludes the case for the prosecution.
No further witnesses will be called.
Valerie...
you don't have to testify.
Why? What's happened?
Your Honour, I have now received fresh instructions from Mrs Dyer
in relation to her original plea.
May I ask that the indictment be put to her again?
Very well.
Mrs Dyer.
What do you plead?
Guilty.
- That's bloody criminal! - Order! Order!
Six years, Val...
Six years.
It's almost the maximum.
I reckon he took a bit off for my age.
The light in there was very unbecoming.
I'm sorry.
It's not your fault.
It isn't anybody's fault.
This is the way the world works -
a toss of a coin
deciding whether you get what you want,
or what you deserve.
You don't deserve six years, Gran.
Good of you to say.
According to my solicitor,
there are 44 prisoners in my line in Holloway alone.
I don't reckon I'll be getting stuff chucked at me.
Women came looking for you.
Women paid you. I know that.
And you know what else?
Until you girls, with all your training and all your learning,
sort something out with the men who make the law,
there'll be names being whispered and money changing hands
in every back street in England!
Because when lives go wrong, we can put them right.
I can't put mine right, not now.
Maybe it doesn't matter.
Maybe it's for the best.
One way or another...
we're all just crying for the moon.
Ladies, if you'll allow me to say so,
you all look absolutely spectacular.
Although I think I preferred you in your petticoat.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm delighted to welcome you all to the Ballroom of Hope tonight.
As the money you're so very kindly helping us to raise
will be going towards a brand-new incubator
for our maternity home,
Dr Turner will be announcing
most of the speciality numbers this evening.
However, the very first dance
is one in which he will be taking part himself.
So I am inviting you to take your partners
for the Fathers and Daughters Waltz!
May I have the pleasure of this dance?
Yes, you may, Dad.
Gathered together, we find our light.
And each spark shifts and multiplies,
scattering its radiance on our ordinary lives.
Like everything precious, more valuable when shared.
Like every common miracle, made of the stuff of stars.
Hello, Jane.
Hello, Reggie.
Your favourite.
Yes.
Let the light shine.
Watch for it falling on each other's faces.
Count the beams, catch them,
let them be reflected back.
See the hope, see the promise.
Never hide your fears in silence.
Listen to those you cherish.
Hold them in your arms.
Let them hear your heart.
Tell your truth. Tell your story.
Tell your love.