Call the Midwife season 14 Christmas special spoilers follow.
The funfair wasn't the only thing coming to town in Call the Midwife's festive special as a new romance swept into Poplar this Christmas knocking Nurse Nancy Corrigan (Megan Cusack) off her feet.
She was blindsided by sparks when the warm and funny pharmaceutical salesman Roger Noble (Conor O'Donnell) walked into doctor Turner's (Stephen McGann) office while she was subbing for his receptionist Miss Higgins (Georgie Glen).
The attraction between the pair was instant and only became stronger when he returned to the surgery the following day.
Over a mop, a bucket and a smattering of child vomit they exchanged words, and that exchange was everything you want from Christmas romance.
It was that perfect blend of shy, awkward and sweet that gives way to cringe-worthy jokes made in an attempt at flirting, finished off with a smattering of not-so-subtle glances – building and building until he finally asked her out.
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His request, at first met with rejection (which Nancy later clarified was down to fear of rejection due to her single-mother status) was later returned with an enthusiastic yes.
Nancy has always been motivated in her career and passionate about nurses rights but her dedication to the aforementioned pales in comparison to her role as a mother. She has been so driven to provide a good life for Colette (Francesca Fullilove) and to make up for the years they lived apart.
So much so that there has been very little room for her own needs, including the need to be romantically fulfilled, so when Roger showed up at the Christmas carol gathering – no doubt hoping proximity would lead to another shot – you couldn't help but root for her to give him a shot.
Their funfair date felt magical under the glow of the fairylights dotted about, right up until the point that he told her to stop eating and walking, "because at some point in the course of this evening I'm going to kiss you. Possibly more than once. And it might as well be now."
Roger barely gave her a moment to gather her thoughts before he launched in for the kiss but in the half a beat before he did, she seemed to reciprocate and in the swell of the giddy, swaying music there was a temptation to forgive his presumptuousness because hey, maybe he was just reading the vibe. Right? And she did say it was lovely afterwards.
His twisting his ankle directly after could possibly be foreshadowing the trajectory of things to come, but for now it allowed for another opportunity for the pair to meet pretty quickly after their first date.
The next day in fact, when he turned up on the doorstep of Nonnatus to give Nancy thank-you flowers. It was Colette who received him and he was shocked to hear her call out "mummy" in regards to Nancy, who had failed to mention she had a child.
Seeing her two worlds of motherhood and romance collide put Nancy into a panic and she promptly sent Colette back inside and Roger packing while she pressed on with her daily rounds.
Ever the persistent romantic, Roger chased Nancy down in a car, pleading with her to talk to him. "Just a cup of coffee, Nancy," or an ice cream, and when those appeals didn't work he pulled out the big guns. "Nancy, sooner or later, I am going to tell you that I love you, I thought I might as well give advanced notice."
The music was in full swing now, pushing us, no, forcing us down Romantic Lane but no amount of violins could turn this grand gesture into anything other than what it plainly was: love-bombing.
And just like that, all those niggling bad feelings started to line up and paint the clearest of pictures: Roger's inability to take no for an answer, his showing up unannounced, overwhelming her with his strong emotions that she doesn't have time to think about, let alone to assess her own feelings. (That picture we mentioned? It's a flag, by the way, and it's crimson red).
She later confided in him about the importance of Colette and her fears about her being a mother scaring him off; he was anything but scared. "I want this to be real," he told her straight after assuring her that he was not put off by anything she revealed.
Nancy questioned, for the first time, whether or not things were moving too fast.
"Yes," he told her with absolute certainty. "But I think it's meant to." His confidence seemed to squash down any residual wish she had to analyse the situation and she responded, "Yeah, me too."
Without missing a beat Roger was quick to push the idea of taking Nancy and Colette out and because he had cushioned the ground in flowers and sweet talk she agreed.
There did seem to be a slight hesitation in her expression but already Roger had done a clever job at drawing her in with his Prince Charming act and the reality of not really knowing him – having met him only three days ago – just fizzled away the logic. The strength of his supposed goodness was just too strong to see past.
At this point there were enough red flags to make a string of festive bunting but Call the Midwife added the final one at the end of the episode, as insidious as Roger himself.
In the midst of all the merriment, while Vanessa Redgrave's warm and warbling voice played out the episode, Roger could be seen sitting at the Christmas table with Colette between him and her mother, like one big instant family.
Though the vibe was one of joy and love there was something haunting about their shared smile and a sinister feel to the way he slipped in and embedded himself in her life so easily.
If the signs are correct it seems Call the Midwife is tee-ing up a horrific storyline for Nancy involving coercive control next season and they've planted the seeds this Christmas.
If it does continue on in this vein it will undoubtedly be a painful but important watch about how charm can disarm and strip away your defences – and it starts small. Not with aggression or violence but with an insistent Christmas kiss.
Call the Midwife airs on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
