The First Doctor 1964 adventure, The Aztecs enjoyed a surprise screening last night on hit BBC drama, Call The Midwife.
Now in its eighth series, the episode included a brief scene in which Judy Parfitt’s Sister Monica Joan watching as Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) gets embroiled in the politics of 15th Century Mexico.
Though Sister Monica’s peers were less than impressed, she exclaims:
“But it’s so exciting! The Doctor’s assistant has just been mistaken for an ancient high priestess who seeks to exploit her influence to outlaw human sacrifice!”
(Technically, she’s mistaken for a God, but let’s not split hairs here.)
Sadly, the household opted to listen to the radio instead of tuning into this newfangled Idiot’s Lantern.
Still, Sister Monica would only have to wait another two years to hear Doctor Who‘s audio debut – a narrated soundtrack of the Peter Cushing-led Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD film, as part of the BBC Light Programme in November 1966.
The episode of Call The Midwife mulled over the laws around abortion, making The Aztecs – which does indeed focus on human sacrifice – quite a pointed inclusion.
We already know that Graham O’Brien (Bradley Walsh) watches Call The Midwife, which must’ve been confusing when he met Charlotte Ritchie in Resolution. The two shows previously butted heads for a Comic Relief special in 2013, with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor popping into the ward.
If you, like Sister Monica, never got to enjoy The Aztecs in full, we highly recommend it – whether on TV, audio soundtrack, or novelisation.
