Julia Masterson was a young woman who appeared in Series 2, Episode 6. She was portrayed by Lisa Diveney.
Overview[]
As a child, Julia and her large family lived above their family owned pub, The Master's Arms. Her mother, father, and six siblings were happy, until everyone but Julia and her father died of tuberculosis. Mrs. Masterson died first, then their five boys, one right after the other. The last to die was the youngest Masterson, Elizabeth, who was only four. This caused immense grief between the two surviving Mastersons, creating a rift as they receded into themselves to deal with the pain.
As soon as she was old enough, Julia left her father, going to college and then getting a job as a typist. Six years later, her father's pub manager, Terry, sent her a letter, informing her that her father was very ill and that she should come and see him.
A few months prior to this letter, Julia became involved with a man named Frank, who subsequently left her to marry his other "sweetheart". Julia, who had thought she was his sweetheart, did not tell him about the baby, but was hurt nonetheless when he left her.
Upon seeing her father for the first time in years, it is a very awkward, tense meeting. Mr. Masterson feels abandoned by his only child, while Julia feels she was abandoned by him years before when her siblings died. Both father and daughter are in fact lonely and in need of love and family. Despite the harsh reunion, Julia calls for Dr. Turner without her father's knowledge. Upon examining Mr. Masterson, the doctor diagnoses him with heart failure, and despite Julia's protests, the two men decide that Mr. Masterson will remain in the flat above the pub. Dr. Turner implores Julia to remain at the pub and to take care of her father, but she refuses, saying she will only stay the night.
Nurse Lee arrives the next day to manage his symptoms, which include massaging his legs to decrease the swelling and dressing the bedsore on his shoulder. After asking Jenny if she has children, she answers no. "Lucky old you", he snipes, casting a look at Julia. He tells Jenny about his lost children, and when Jenny remarks that he still has Julia, he remarks that "God chose carefully that day, and left me with an icy cold wind". Very hurt, Julia leaves, although her father looks upset as well, seeming to be sad she left.
Left alone with Jenny, Mr. Masterson says that after his wife and children died, Julia kept him from going insane, but when she left him as an adult, he was very hurt, and believed that Julia was selfish.
Encountering Julia as she takes her leave, Jenny notices that Julia looks faint, and gently asks her is she's pregnant. Julia confesses that she is pregnant, and is hiding it because she will lose her job if she's found out. Jenny is astonished to see that Julia's girdle is hiding an eight and a half month pregnant belly. The nurse scolds Julia, saying it is dangerous for baby to be restricted so terribly, and makes Julia promise not to put the girdle back on. Julia tells Jenny about the baby's father.
Julia hides her small belly from her father still, and tries once more to leave. When her father quips that Julia is selfish, the two have it out before Nurse Lee intervenes. She gets Julia to help massage her father's legs to help shift some of the oedema related to his heart failure, though both father and daughter feel awkward. Julia confides in Jenny in private that she wanted to come back to her father when she had "made something" of herself, not pregnant and unmarried. Jenny says that while her father may be a little ashamed of her, knowing he could live to see his first grandchild may give him peace.
The next day at the antenatal clinic, Julia comes in and is examined by Jenny. As Jenny feels her belly, she says the baby feels low, meaning she is actually nine months pregnant and due very soon. When Julia says she wondered what it would be like to have a "proper father" who cared about her, Jenny says that after losing so much, Julia would be "most precious" to her father.
Later that day, Julia brings porridge and tea to her father, and the two have a very civil moment, recalling on how when she was little, she used to count the bottles in the pub, helping her father keep count of them. He notices she's pregnant, and Julia suddenly becomes very apologetic, like any young woman who has to tell her father she's pregnant without a husband was in that day and age. When she tells him that the father has left them, Mr. Masterson says "I'll knock his bleeding block off".
Julia shakily apologizes for being the only one who lived, for "what consolation could I possibly be?". Mr. Masterson says he needed her, and she left him, further breaking his heart. Julia replies that she needed her father, and that she lost her family too. Mr. Masterson says they're very alike, being both stubborn and strong. He begs his daughter to stay at the pub, to have her baby there. Julia agrees and their relationship begins to mend.
Julia resigns from the typing pool, sporting her baby bump, much to the other women's shock.
A few days later, Julia begins to clean out her old bedroom in the flat (which has not been touched since her siblings died, as it still has toys lying about and children's shoes neatly lined up), and she moves in a baby cradle. Her father is very poorly, his condition worsening. Julia calls Nurse Lee, and Jenny says he may die soon. At Julia's behest, they try to alleviate the pressure on his heart to keep him alive until the baby comes. Unknown to Jenny, Julia begins to have contractions.
Much to the women's relief, Mr. Masterson recedes from the brink of death. Julia's waters break while sitting beside her father. Jenny calls Sister Julienne for assistance, and the Sister brings a maternity pack. She plans on sitting with Mr. Masterson while Jenny helps Julia. Despite being in labour, Julia doesn't leave her father's side until the Sister arrives, and promises to sit with him. As she goes to the other room, she tells her father's unconscious form not to die while she's giving birth.
Julia handles her labour like a pro, breathing steadily through the contractions, not even screaming. However, much to Jenny's concern, she finds a comfortable position kneeling on the floor, beside the bed, rather on the bed itself. She doesn't offer any explanation and Jenny soon lets the issue be.
As Julia goes through labour, Mr. Masterson begins to fade. Sister Julienne implores him to hold on a while longer. Julia quietly gives birth to a baby boy. Before she even holds him, she asks Jenny to take him straight to her father.
Mr. Masterson regains consciousness just in time to see his grandson, and Sister Julienne lays the newborn on his chest. Mr. Masterson is moved to tears. He tells the baby that he's "very pleased to meet [him]". An exhausted Julia arrives in the room, and sits by her father as he tells the baby to look after his mother, and to help her around the pub as she once helped him. Mr. Masterson dies quickly soon after, much to his daughter's agony.
In voiceover, Jenny narrates that "The world is full of love that goes unspoken. It doesn't mean it is felt less deeply, or that separation leaves a cleaner wound".
After the funeral, it is revealed that even though they were estranged at the time, Mr. Masterson left "The thing he loved most, to the person he loved most". He leaves Julia his pub, thus making her and her son's future secure. Julia is last seen showing her baby to Terry as he cleans a glass behind the bar.