WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Call the Midwife Seasons 3-7.
Emerald Fennell was a fan-favorite on the BBC’s Call the Midwife for more than four seasons. While fans were sad to see her go after Season 6, she went on to achieve success in a variety of other projects. But why did she leave behind the character of Nurse Patsy Mount and what has she been doing since her last episode aired in 2017?
Call the Midwife is a BBC period drama about a group of nurse-midwives who live in London’s East End during the 1950s and 1960s (around the same time as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but with medicine). Patsy is one of many characters who have come and gone throughout the show’s 11 seasons. While other cast members ended their time on the show through tragic character deaths, Nurse Patsy was more fortunate. Fennell was able to leave Call the Midwife with Patsy still alive, but why did she depart in the first place?
Who Was Nurse Patsy Mount on Call the Midwife?
Nurse Patsy first appears on Call the Midwife in Season 2, where she was working as a nurse in a male surgical wing. In Season 3, she becomes part of the main cast when she joins Nonnatus House and quickly becomes friends with her roommate Beatrix Franklin. During her time on the show, her ferocious spirit, dry wit and progressive nature meant that audiences instantly fell in love with her. Speaking of love, Delia Busby makes her first appearance as Patsy’s girlfriend in Season 4. However, the two of them have to keep their relationship a secret from both friends and family, due to society’s views on the LGBTQ+ community at the time.
Patsy continues to be an important part of the series until Season 6. She receives a letter from her dying father in Hong Kong, and departs to spend the last of his days with him, leaving Delia behind to continue her training as a midwife. The last time Patsy makes an appearance is in Call the Midwife‘s Season 6 finale, in which she returns and is happily reunited with Delia. This is a welcome turn of events for viewers, especially after all the ups and downs the couple had gone through with having to hide their romance. In Season 7, it is mentioned that the two went off traveling together.
Why Did Emerald Fennell Leave Call the Midwife?
While Emerald Fennell isn’t the first actress to have left Call the Midwife, she is one of the most missed. However, Fennell was able to achieve even more success after her departure. Fennell’s reason for leaving the show in 2017 was to work as the head writer and showrunner for Season 2 of BBC America’s tragic spy drama Killing Eve, for which she received two Primetime Emmy nominations. She expressed her appreciation to Call the Midwife for giving her the time to focus on her writing, saying on Twitter that she was “very sad that I’m not filming the wonderful CTM.”
Fennell later played the Duchess of Cornwall in Season 3 of The Crown and received another Emmy nomination for her role in the Netflix series, which was recently burglarized. Fennell’s biggest project to date was directing and writing the Carey Mulligan-led thriller Promising Young Woman, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. She’s currently developing DC’s Zatanna film, which has yet to cast its title character. While it seems unlikely that Nurse Patsy will make a return to Call the Midwife because of Fennell’s other projects, viewers can be comforted by the fact that Patsy and Delia were given their own form of happily ever after through their off-screen exit.