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?
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.
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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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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