PBS Call the Midwife fans slam character as 'creepy' as they say she 'gave them the ick' and hated t
Call the Midwife viewers were left conflicted over a certain former character from series six - Sister Ursula. The nun’s brief appearance on the hit drama appeared to not only ruffle the feathers of her fellow characters, but also some of the fans.
In a new Reddit post, one user who is watching the earlier episodes of the show said the nun gave them the “ick” and that they couldn’t find “anything nice about her”. They also didn’t like the way the character, played by Harriet Walter spoke to Barbara (Charlotte Ritchie), calling her a “slacker”.
The post discussed characters who were “non-Nonnatus nun”, highlighting their love for Miriam Margoyles’ Mother Mildred and resentment for Sister Ursula. u/Princess-She-ra’s post read: “I found Mother Mildred to be somewhat annoying (or maybe clueless/opinionated/unaware?) but in the end extremely bright and very kind hearted.
“I am watching the episode with baby Primrose - the way she sized up the situation in two seconds and protected that mother was truly beautiful. Also the way she started off on the wrong foot with that family of Dock workers and in the end was out there fighting for their rights.
“Sister Ursula, on the other hand, I can't find anything nice about her, she frankly gave me the creeps. There was the episode when that young boy with the thick glasses ran up the stairs to get help for his mom and she offered him to go find a cookie, and ... I know she was trying to be nice or do the right thing, but she gave me the ick. And the way she spoke to poor Barbara about "slackers", it was so not the right thing to say. What did you think?”
Other Call the Midwife had mixed opinions about Sister Ursula, but most had an overwhelming dislike of her, much like the original poster. One person wrote: “I can’t find a single redeeming quality in Ursula, even after she realises she made a mistake and was praying.
"But I end up liking Mildred after the first episode with her. I think a lot of the older people have a different experience with life due to the war, and it shows and I appreciate that they have both toughness and kindness. I will miss her presence on the show.”
Another said: “Miriam Margolyes is brilliantly hilarious, so I LOVE Mother Mildred. She's a treasure. Sister Ursula is a scheming, uptight control freak with NO compassion AT ALL. Although, Harriet Walter is a fantastic actress. I liked her few appearances on Downton Abbey.”
However, a third empathised with Sister Ursula’s character. They wrote: “I'm an outlier but I can see where Sister Ursula was coming from. At the time there would have been a genuine concern that Nonnatus House would be shut down in favour of hospital based care rather than community midwives and nurses. Sister Ursula had seen it happen before and was committed to making sure that the nuns could fulfil their calling. She just considered that the solution was disciplined and military style effectiveness.
“We've seen across the seasons that Nonnatus is reliant upon charity and goodwill to keep going. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that Sister Ursula was sent by the Motherhouse to make sure everything was running appropriately. This isn't to say I agree with how she went about it and she's definitely a hard character to like.”
Mother Mildred, originally Sister, first appeared on the show during the 2018 Christmas Special, where she arrived at Nonnatus House with four Chinese orphans. She takes over as Mother Superior from Mother Jesu Emmanuel, who’d been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
The character appears both on and off screen during the coming series, returning for Christmas specials on occasion. Her last appearance was on Christmas Day in 2021, when Nonnatus House faced threats of closure, before being bought by Sir Matthew Aylward (Olly Rix), who married Trixie in the Series 12 finale.
Sister Ursula’s tenure on the show was slightly shorter, arriving in Poplar at the beginning of season six. The character comes to take over the running of Nonnatus House while Sister Julienne and other staff were in South Africa. In an attempt to “improve” the running of the house, she introduced a string of strict rules which were hugely unpopular with the other Sisters and nurses.
In her last appearance in the third episode of the season, Sister Ursula introduces a new 20-minute time limit on all ante-natal, post-natal, and district check-ups in an attempt to cut out inefficiency. However, the rule has negative results when Barbara, distracted by the time limit, fails to notice that the baby is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning and ends up in hospital. After this, Sister Ursula returns to the Mother House.
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