Sister Mary Cynthia: She Went And Became A Nun

[Tara Ariano]

Girlfriend needs a new hairdo or something.

[PRgal]

LOL on the hair thing!  Don't think she's the type to copy everything the celebrities are doing.  She's the opposite of Trixie.

[JudyObscure]

She would have been really cute in Trixie's pixie cut though. I wish they would feature her a little more. I liked the episode where the old twins who were married to the same man kept asking for "the little one."

[Swedish Chef]

I have a great deal of fondness of Cynthia.  I, too, wish she were more prominently featured.  She's charmingly earnest and competent and seems to keep her shit together a lot better than Jenny, to whom she is a pretty amazingly supportive friend.

[BkWurm1]

I enjoyed her getting a chance to shine with practicing the breathing techniques. Quietly determined, but quiet can still get the job done.

[Ohwell]

I think she's adorable.  Now if I could only get her to a hairstylist......

[JeanneH]

How is Bryony Hannah's (Cynthia's actress) given name pronounced? Is it Byron (like the man's name) with a -y on the end of it? 

I have a great deal of fondness of Cynthia.  I, too, wish she were more prominently featured. She's charmingly earnest and competent and seems to keep her shit together a lot better than Jenny, to whom she is a pretty amazingly supportive friend.

 

I've been reading the books, and she's barely in the first two, pretty much just the odd mention here and there, Yet I suspect the real Cynthia and the real Jenny were close (from things written in the 3rd book). Perhaps the real Jenny didn't want to tell too many tales about her friend or something. Whatever the reason, it's too bad because it didn't leave the TV people much to work with for Cynthia when they were mainly drawing stories from the books.

[skyscapes]

I've been reading the books, and she's barely in the first two, pretty much just the odd mention here and there, Yet I suspect the real Cynthia and the real Jenny were close (from things written in the 3rd book). Perhaps the real Jenny didn't want to tell too many tales about her friend or something. Whatever the reason, it's too bad because it didn't leave the TV people much to work with for Cynthia when they were mainly drawing stories from the books.

The real Cynthia was Helen Worth's lifelong friend.  She was apparently quite plain in appearance but had a very seductive voice which charmed men.  She married a vicar.

[dcalley]

Bryony Hannah has a small part in Cemetery Junction and her hair's even worse in that, believe it or not. (It's set in the '70s.)  I could not find a picture, but here she is in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment from the trailer.

[JeanneH]

In the S06E05 thread Libby96 asked:

Quote

What happened with the real Mary Cynthia?

Cynthia's story is in the last part of the 3rd book. This is long and spoilers for real life.

As we know from the show Cynthia joined the religious life, and was a working Novice since she was already a trained midwife. She'd had signs of clinical depression since puberty and continued having problems with that. She ended up leaving the order, became a hospital staff nurse, then came back to the convent to resume her vows, but left again.  All the while she was in and out of psychiatric hospitals, drug treatment, electric shock therapy.

When she was 39 she met a clergyman named Roger (a widower with a son), and they got married. According to the book he had mental issues worse than her own, and having to look after and organize him became "the focus of her existence and cured her". Apparently she was happy as a vicar's wife, and was also a health visitor (nurse?). Roger retired at age 65 and for several years the two of them "lived like a couple of hippy teenagers." On a very small budget (3 pounds/day!) they backpacked around Greece, Israel, Jordan & Turkey, studying the ruins (Roger was some sort of classical scholar too). Roger also joined the Church of England World Mission Association, which meant he could be called to act as locum for any church anywhere at any time. One time he actually got called to go to a church in Lima, Peru on 2 weeks notice for a likely 3-6 month stay. So off they went. Cynthia had a bout with cancer in 2000, but it was successfully treated and so she and Roger continued their roaming ways.

Roger got sick in 2004 and died about 18 months later. With him gone depression returned to Cynthia. She had a recurrence of cancer and died quietly in June 2006.

Jennifer Worth wrote: "Cynthia – quiet, sensitive, depressive – led a life of high romance and breathtaking adventure in her old age that few of us would have dared contemplate, still less had the courage to carry out."

Edited May 2, 2017 by JeanneH

[MissLucas]

Oh, that was not what I expected at all. Sad but also beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

[JeanneH]

It is sad, but beautiful. One other thing I forgot to include was that the real Cynthia was godmother to one of Jennifer Worth's daughters. The 3rd book includes a note that she sent to Cynthia as she was on her deathbed.

[Red Fields]

What a life story!

[AuntieMame]

What a heroic life story, really. I've been contemplating human resilience and flaws and it sounds like real life Cynthia played a hand made middling by depression very well. 

[debraran]

Will Cynthia's character ever return to Call the Midwife?  Maybe they don't have to do that interesting of a story, but something like it would be a fun ride. ; )