Call the Midwife fans devastated as tragedy rocks the show

Call the Midwife spoilers follow.

Fans of Call the Midwife have been left devastated, after tonight's (February 13) episode saw a train crash rock Poplar and put its residents at risk.

Last week's episode saw Sister Monica Joan (Judy Parfitt) visit clairvoyant Dulcie Greenhalgh (Frances Tomelty), after a raven turned up in Nonnatus House. Dulcie revealed that she foresaw "something unfortunate" occuring but didn't give any further details on what kind of accident might endanger the nunnery, leaving both characters and fans in the dark.

Related: Call the Midwife season 11 finale photos suggest tragedy

This week, however all became horrifyingly clear. On the way back from an obstetrics conference, Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), Doctor Turner (Stephen McGann) and Nurse Corrigan boarded a train bound for Liverpool Street station. However, the train was being driven by Lionel Corbett, who had been seen earlier in the episode suffering from an unknown medical complaint, which he wrote off as tiredness as he and his wife awaited the birth of their second child.

As the train carried on along the tracks, viewers were shocked to see Mr Corbett having some sort of episode, losing control of the train and causing it to pick up speed, eventually crashing into another train running alongside.

Related: Call the Midwife's final season 11 episodes could be the best yet

Residents of Poplar had their windows explode and their houses rocked as the train derailed, but of most concern to the viewers were Sister Julienne and Doctor Turner, who lay trapped inside the train, seemingly unconscious. (Nurse Corrigan was in the toilet at the time, so she escaped relatively unharmed.)

As the residents scrambled to evacuate their houses and help the wounded, viewers were left none the wiser as to the fate of two of the show's best-loved characters (Doctor Turner and Sister Julienne have been staples of the show since it started in 2012) and took to Twitter to express their shock and sadness.

Earlier this week, Max Macmillan, who plays Doctor Turner's son Timothy, teased forthcoming drama, tweeting: "In all 10 years of doing this show this series was by far the most physically and mentally exhausting and challenging it's ever been, in such a rewarding way. Equally excited and terrified for people to see it."

We'll be waiting with bated breath until next week when we'll hopefully learn the characters' fates in the season 11 finale.

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