Call The Midwife viewers are left angry and horrified by a racism storyline as the new series started on Sunday night, while praising the BBC show for its sensitive handling of the matter.
A week on from its Christmas special being one of the most watched programmes on TV on December 25, the much loved drama returned for a brand new series, over a decade after it first won a place in the nation's affections. A teaser for the first episode of the new run, which featured new character Sister Veronica, hinted that racial tensions would 'cast a shadow' over the Poplar, with the impact of Enoch Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech being felt in the community, still trying to come to terns with the repercussions of the fatal train crash that left Sister Julienne and Doctor Turner's lives in danger.
The tensions sparked by Powell's speech, which controversial language and violent imagery to strongly oppose mass immigration into Britain, came to fore in Call The Midwife with a protest in Poplar in support of Enoch Powell and then again when two expectant mothers went into labour in hospital.
