“You’ve been lying to me about this for months.”
It would have been foolish to expect Trixie and Matthew’s marriage in Call the Midwife to be entirely smooth-sailing, but the speed with which they’ve entered uncertain territory has come as a surprise to a number of viewers.
And the stormy waters aren’t set to quieten anytime soon.
Matthew spent much of tonight’s episode (Sunday 4th February) wrapped up in his own thoughts as his financial woes worsened, despite Trixie’s efforts to buoy his spirits, which included a trip to the seaside with the rest of Nonnatus House.
He’s grumbled about stakeholders and “tiresome” meetings, but Matthew has yet to explicitly inform his wife about just how desperate their situation is becoming, leaving Trixie in the dark – hence her request for a shiny new sports car, and raising the possibility of sending Jonty to pre-school, which Matthew described as an unnecessary expense.
But in the teaser for next week’s episode, the couple have yet another argument, which seemingly leads to Trixie finally learning the truth.
“You’ve been lying to me about this for months,” she says, visibly hurt by his lack of communication.
“I haven’t been lying to you, I’ve been shielding you,” responds an exasperated Matthew, clearly at his wits’ end.
(Helen George) in Call the Midwife.
It’s the latest locking of horns between the pair in what has been an especially turbulent period, which last week saw Matthew ask Trixie: “Are you a wife or a midwife?”
A panicked phone call from him while she was on duty prompted the nurse to take her eye off the ball, which resulted in a patient being rushed to hospital with heavy bleeding.
Following the incident, Trixie is now spending several nights a week at Nonnatus House to avoid further mishaps, which also isn’t helping their situation.
Read more:
- Call the Midwife star on Trixie and Matthew: “I don’t see it as a deterioration”
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Speaking previously to RadioTimes.com and other press about the deterioration of their marriage, Helen George (Trixie) said: “Because of the time period, he [Matthew] feels the pressure and the need to take the fiscal responsibility on without including her, but she’s such a collective, community-driven person that she wants to be involved.
“She wants to be involved in the decisions and has a very modern outlook on this idea of a relationship. But because of his upbringing, he’s very much into the notion of the man solves the problem, I will sort this, and that’s hard.”
Olly Rix (Matthew) said of filming the couple’s confrontational moments: “The walls felt like they were closing in. It was exhausting and it was tough to get through.
“And it was a different experience filming the final episodes. [The directors] were so conscientious about telling the story with respect and honouring what we’d done for four years because it meant a lot to us to say okay, if we’re going out, we’re going out swinging, we’re going to leave everything on the table.”
Call the Midwife continues on Sunday at 8pm on BBC One. For more, check out our dedicated Drama page or our full TV Guide and Streaming Guide.
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