Sister Dora on AllMovie

The true story of trailblazing British nurse Dorothy Pattison (1832-1878) was dramatized in this three-part miniseries. Hoping to marry the son of a local deacon, young "Dora" Pattison (Dorothy Tutin) was prohibited from doing so by her control-freak father, the village rector. As an alternative to personal happiness, Dora entered an Anglican convent called the Sisterhood of the Good Samaritan, spending the rest of her life in pursuit of the nursing profession, and determined to improve the lot of patients and caregivers everywhere. The plot thickened when, late in life, Sister Dora again suffered the pangs of love. Central to the drama were the heroine's courageous and tireless ministrations to the victims of the Pelsall Colliery Disaster of 1872. Adapted by eminent playwright Christopher Fry from a novel by Jo Manton, Sister Dora was originally broadcast by Yorkshire Television in 1977.