Call the Midwife: series 2, episode 6, review Life's last and first breaths were taken simultaneously in the sixth episode of the Fifties-set drama. As an ailing old man was dying from heart failure in one room of the East End pub he owned, his estranged, pregnant daughter was, without a scream or yelp, giving birth in another. It was one of Call the Midwife's most controlled, quietest yet urgent births ever. The understated segment came at the end of an episode about the devastation of tuberculosis, particularly rife in the crowded living conditions of this poor Poplar community. The juxtaposition of birth and death was particularly poignant as the old man (Karl Johnson), whose six other children and his wife had died from the disease, held his new-born grandson in his arms. I'm just leaving, I'm afraid. We're passing you and I..." he said as he slipped away. Yes, we love the fashion and the camaraderie and the cakes of this Sunday-night period drama, but it is in the powerful scenes of birth and death that the programme excels. Although the all-too-graphic back-alley abortion scene from last week was so affecting that it still pierces the memory. Another achingly tender one featured prim Sister Bernadette (Laura Main), who has been quietly waiting in the wings for a main storyline all series. The burgeoning relationship between her and Dr Turner has been bubbling along nicely and viewers may have thought that after last week's kiss (on the hand - she's a nun, remember!) that love was about to blossom. And it did, sort of, but under very tentative circumstances. Dr Turner (Stephen McGann, husband of series creator Heidi Thomas) succeeded in securing a visit from a mobile TB-screening van. The people of Poplar could now be included in the mass X-ray programme. The hordes lined up, under the control of the fabulously fierce Sister Evangelina (Pam Ferris) - "There's no point pushing, I shall not topple so easily" - and Sister Bernadette assisted in guiding each patient to the intimidating machine. A young girl was too scared to have an X-ray so Sister Bernadette made an "I will if you will" pact with her. Dr Turner was very proud of his assistant but when he received the test results, Sister Bernadette's was not good news. Again, beauty was found in a moment of silence as Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) helped the young nun to undress so she could be examined by the doctor. Producer Hugh Warren has recently revealed that some of the cast may not feature in the third series. "There will be a turnover of both nuns and nurses," he said in an interview with the Mirror. Is Sister Bernadette's fate sealed? Surely we're not going to lose one of the programmes most-loved characters? Vanessa Redgrave's soothing voice-over seemed eerily portentous: "Everything that makes the heartbeat must be hushed."