Call the Midwife stars were sickened by scenes they filmed showing the effects of Enoch Powell’s infamous Rivers of Blood speech.
The Conservative MP’s speech to fellow Tories in Birmingham in 1968 stirred up racial hatred after he attacked the country’s immigration policy and called for a programme of voluntary repatriation.
Linda Bassett, 72, who plays nurse Phyllis Crane, said: “Our scenes brought it back. I knew he got a lot of support but I didn’t know the dockers came out and marched in support of him [after Powell was sacked]. It made me feel sick but, of course, it’s what happened.”
Jenny Agutter, who plays Sister Julienne, said she sees similar stirrings now. “When you’re in a situation where you are frightened for your own life... Enoch Powell just grabs that moment and people turn. They hear a loud voice and the blame goes somewhere.
“We’re going to live through the same things today.”
Jenny, 69, said she could remember the impact of Powell’s speech, when he quoted from Virgil’s The Aeneid, saying he was filled with foreboding and saw “the River Tiber foaming with much blood”.
She said: “It really hit everyone as being extraordinary. When you hear it, it’s shocking to realise that someone would have done that. It was terrible.” Judy Parfitt, 87, who plays Sister Monica Joan, agreed.
She said: “When there is a terrible economic climate this happens. That’s why Hitler came to power. People get frightened and they have to find the whipping boy.”
In the drama, the speech and the racial prejudice that it incites have huge implications for Lucille (Leonie Elliott) and husband Cyril (Zephryn Taitte), who both came to work in Britain from the Caribbean.
While Cyril feels accepted in the UK, where he has landed his dream job, nurse Lucille feels racism rising Poplar in East London.
Zephryn, 34, said: “It puts their relationship in jeopardy. Cyril is like ‘everyone’s fine’ but he’s not on the front line like Lucille.”
Other stories in the new series, which starts next month on BBC1, include a woman not being allowed to be with her lesbian partner as she
dies, a patient with schizophrenia, and the introduction of vasectomies.
Executive producer Dame Pippa Harris joked: “It is a special treat for all the men in the audience.”
Viewers will also see Matthew (Olly Rix) and Trixie (Helen George) planning their wedding. Olly said it was easier to be romantic now that Covid restrictions on filming had eased.
He explained: “We had two years where we couldn’t get near each other. I really relished the opportunity to get on and do the job properly.”
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