The saddest exits in Call The Midwife history
TV

Call The Midwife’s saddest exits from Nurse Barbara to Sister Evangelina

Better get the tissues out (again)

During the Christmas episode of Call The Midwife, the Nonnatus nurses remembered Nurse Barbara.

Barbara’s exit several years earlier had left us in bits, and that got us thinking – what have been the saddest exits from this amazing TV show?

The saddest exits in Call The Midwife history
Barbara made an emotional exit (Credit: BBC)

Call The Midwife: Nurse Barbara Gilbert (Charlotte Ritchie)

Back in 2018, Nurse Barbara (played by Charlotte Ritchie) met a very sad end.

The super-popular nurse contracted septicaemia caused by meningitis.

Read more: Call The Midwife viewers issue Trixie and Matthew plea to BBC

Bed-bound, she found that she had suffered tissue damage to three of the fingers and she failed to recover from the blood poisoning even though at one point she looked as though she would recover.

Her husband Tom and Nurse Phyllis stayed by her bedside until the tragic end. And fans were in bits.

The saddest exits in Call The Midwife history
Sister Evangelina was a firm favourite (Credit: BBC)

Call The Midwife: Sister Evangelina (Pam Ferris)

The magnificent Sister Evangelina (played by Pam Ferris) was a mainstay, always offering no-nonsense advice.

However, in series four her colleagues noticed something was wrong: she was pushing her meals away and putting her hand behind her back.

After being persuaded to see a doctor, she was diagnosed with fibroids and had to have a hysterectomy.

But that was just the start. Returning to Nonnatus House after a break – where she admitted she had had a stroke –  her health deteriorated.

She died of a second stroke in the series five finale. Waaaaaah!

The saddest exits in Call The Midwife history
Poor Sister Mary… (Credit: BBC)

Sister Mary Cynthia (Bryonny Hannah)

The sweetest of all Call The Midwife characters, Nurse Cynthia – later Sister Mary Cynthia – went from an inspirational nurse to a heartbreaking descent into depression and severe mental illness.

Best pals with Nurse Lee and later Trixie, Cynthia made the transition from nurse to nun.

But after an attack by a rapist left her injured and an inner battle that only increased, her colleagues were horrified to find her in a mental institution.

Sister Julienne and Dr Patrick found that she received electroconvulsive treatment.

And even though they find her a much less terrifying place to reside, sensitive Cynthia’s battle continues.

Call The Midwife Christmas special Nurse Lee in the very first festive special
Nurse Lee found things hard going in the end (Credit: BBC)

Nurse Jenny Lee (Jessica Raine)

The first three series of Call The Midwife saw green nurse, Jenny Lee (played by Jessica Raine), feature as the central character.

But after we had been through so much with Nurse Lee – the ups, downs, romances and everything else – it was time to say goodbye at the end of series three.

Nurse Lee left to become a nurse at a Marie Curie centre and to start a new life with her beau, Phillip Worth.

The saddest exits in Call The Midwife history
Poor Alec came a cropper (Credit: BBC)

Alec Jesmond (Leo Starr)

Speaking of Nurse Lee…

In series three, she thought she had found love with Alec Jesmond, but it didn’t pan out… in the worst possible way.

An architect, Alec thought he’d whisk his girlfriend on a weekend away in Brighton.

Read more: Call the Midwife series 11: The cast of episode two introduces newcomer Abi Corbett as Janis

However, before they left he fell through some unstable scaffolding at work, which led to his leg being amputated.

Tragically, an embolism formed and he perished, leaving Jenny devastated.

Call The Midwife's Charlotte Ritchie Reveals Why She Left the Show | Lorraine

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor