# Call The Midwife



## ElizabethofYork (Jan 24, 2012)

Anyone watching this?  I'm really enjoying it ..... it reminds me of the London of my childhood!


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## madzone (Jan 24, 2012)

I've cried through both episodes and so has mr madz.


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## Badgers (Jan 24, 2012)

It was a nice twee programme. Wifey loved it and I confess it had some charm but went downhill when Miranda Hart arrived on screen.


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## girasol (Jan 24, 2012)

Love it and don't think it went downhill when Miranda arrived. I realise it's done through rose-tinted specs, and things were much harsher back then, and they tend to show the happy births, not the ones that go wrong. But it's meant to be a feel good thing, done beautifully IMO.

I started watching it from episode 2, completely by accident, and had to go and watch episode one! I cried too  I never cry!  It makes me want to be a midwife.


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

Missed the first one, keep meaning to try and watch it on iplayer. The book is excellent. The one that I've seen is relatively true to the book in spirit except that the head nun/midwife is getting given more of the socialist lines than in the book - that comes from the author. Also the televised East End is nowhere near as grim and filthy as in the book so far. it's well worth a read if you haven't.


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## madzone (Jan 24, 2012)

I thought Miranda Hart was excellent and I normally can't stand her.


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## ElizabethofYork (Jan 24, 2012)

I agree Madz.  I really liked Miranda - she played a well-meaning upper class twit to perfection!

It's been fairly happy so far, but I'm sure there'll be more harsh story lines as the series goes on.


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## girasol (Jan 24, 2012)

I also noticed how there are references to how wonderful the NHS is, which is great, I think at least once per episode! There was a line '10 years ago this wouldn't be possible, but it is now thanks to the NHS' (when the mother finally have a baby after a C-section I think?)


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## quimcunx (Jan 24, 2012)

It was the spanish woman having her 25th.

Watched first episode last night.  Enjoyable but get a bit annoyed when a nun gets a beautific  look on her face and says something philosophical and same with the voice overs.


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## madzone (Jan 24, 2012)

It was the Spanish woman _and_ the C section.


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

quimcunx said:


> It was the spanish woman having her 25th.
> 
> Watched first episode last night. Enjoyable but get a bit annoyed when a nun gets a beautific look on her face and says something philosophical and same with the voice overs.



the old nun that says the beatific things is a lot funnier in the book.


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## quimcunx (Jan 24, 2012)

Perhaps I should read the book instead.

I approve of the NHS bolstering though.


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

quimcunx said:


> I approve of the NHS bolstering though.



yes, it's rather well-timed on that front


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## susie12 (Jan 24, 2012)

It really is rose-coloured though, and obv because they are nuns they never say, actually there is contraception available, why don't you have a go at that instead of a baby a year that you can't really afford?


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> It really is rose-coloured though, and obv because they are nuns they never say, actually there is contraception available, why don't you have a go at that instead of a baby a year that you can't really afford?



It may not come up in the series but there's a bit of talk about backstreet abortions in the book and quite a lot of discussion about these poor mums popping out one baby after another til they're in their late forties.


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## girasol (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> It really is rose-coloured though, and obv because they are nuns they never say, actually there is contraception available, why don't you have a go at that instead of a baby a year that you can't really afford?



This happened before the pill, and poor people just weren't well informed on that front, or maybe they couldn't afford condoms? Were they readily available? I wonder what the book says about that.

Maybe richer people didn't have sex as often and that's why they had less children? 

I think the child mortality rate was still high in those days people just kept on having kids...  Not sure, this is just coming off the top of my head with no google assistance...


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## susie12 (Jan 24, 2012)

I don't know really how available but didn't Marie Stopes start her clinics in the 1920s in London?  Would be interested to see what the book says, as you say.


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## madzone (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> It really is rose-coloured though, and obv because they are nuns they never say, actually there is contraception available, why don't you have a go at that instead of a baby a year that you can't really afford?


What contraception?


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## susie12 (Jan 24, 2012)

Marie Stopes started her family planning clinic in Holloway in 1921.


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> Marie Stopes started her family planning clinic in Holloway in 1921.



But she wasn't doing it for free. The people in Poplar/Isle of Dogs under discussion were dirt poor. Marie Stopes was doing it for the middle classes.


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## ElizabethofYork (Jan 24, 2012)

weepiper said:


> But she wasn't doing it for free. The people in Poplar/Isle of Dogs under discussion were dirt poor. Marie Stopes was doing it for the middle classes.



Exactly. The poor people didn't have access to contraception.

And when the pill became more readily available, it was considered rather shocking.  It was thought it would lead to promiscuousness.


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

In fact, she was pretty nakedly classist -


> Crushed by the burden of taxation which they have not the resources to meet and to provide for children also: crushed by the national cost of the too numerous children of those who do not contribute to the public funds by taxation, yet who recklessly bring forth from an inferior stock individuals who are not self-supporting, the middle and superior artisan classes have, without perceiving it, come almost to take the position of that ancient slave population


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## susie12 (Jan 24, 2012)

> Marie Stopes opened the *UK's first **family planning clinic*, the Mothers' Clinic in Holloway, North London on 17 March 1921. The clinic offered a free service to married women and also gathered scientific data about contraception. The opening of the clinic created one of the greatest social impacts of the 20th century and marked the start of a new era in which couples, for the first time, could reliably take control of their fertility. In 1925, the clinic moved to Whitfield Street in Central London, where it remains today.


 Free if you were married


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## ElizabethofYork (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> Free if you were married



Yes, but it was considered shocking and promiscuous. It took a long, long time for contraception to become "acceptable".


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## madzone (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> Free if you were married


Yes, but what contraception?


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## _angel_ (Jan 24, 2012)

There's always been an element of family planning/ pro abortionists that are nakedly classist. It's not changed. Except the likes of the Mail genuinely expect people (well women and girls) not to have sex fullstop. Ever, it seems!


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

madzone said:


> Yes, but what contraception?



Innit. The pill wasn't available on the NHS til 1961


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## susie12 (Jan 24, 2012)

> Yes, but what contraception?


 Diaphragm - not ideal admittedly.


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## girasol (Jan 24, 2012)

I don't think 'Call the Midwife' was inaccurate in that respect (contraception), it's just retelling history as it was in Poplar back then, the book is based in real facts, isn't it? I just think the adaptation makes life seem somewhat less harsh than it was, can't put my finger on why, it's just very 'feel good' most of time. But don't think you can expect gritty on prime time, Sunday evening.

Everyone seems so cheerful sometimes!

And you know what, I love it for that. I think they are striking the right balance given the slot it's in.

I think somewhere in the 60s the government started taking a more proactive approach to contraception, but before that it was up to individuals to educate/spread the word, no?


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## zoooo (Jan 24, 2012)

I missed the first episode but LOVED the second. I think Miranda's brilliant in it.
As was the teenage Irish girl (who I kept slightly thinking was Tracy Beaker).


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

zoooo said:


> I missed the first episode but LOVED the second. I think Miranda's brilliant in it.
> As was the teenage Irish girl (who I kept slightly thinking was Tracy Beaker).



she _did_ look like Tracy beaker didn't she!


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## madzone (Jan 24, 2012)

Well,obviously I can't speak for the women in the book but  I can't imagine any of my female relatives from that period being particularly happy about inserting a diaphragm for any reasaon let alone sex.There was still a taboo about tampons amongst the older members of my family when I was a kid. Inserting your own fingers into your vagina to put in a contraceptive would have been seen as something a bit dirty and certainly notsomething youwould have gone to some middle class women's clinic about..


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## susie12 (Jan 24, 2012)

I know. Don't know if condoms were available from there as well.

Just googled and it says condoms were available from 1940s -


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## madzone (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> I know. Don't know if condoms were available from there as well.
> 
> Just googled and it says condoms were available from 1940s -


They weren't condoms as we know them now though. They were great big rubber things. I can't see many married men willingly using them. Don't forget pregnancy and babies were seen as something entirely for the women to deal with - hence the number of backstreet abortions.


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## Mrs Magpie (Jan 24, 2012)

susie12 said:


> I don't know really how available but didn't Marie Stopes start her clinics in the 1920s in London? Would be interested to see what the book says, as you say.


Yes, but largely available to middle-class married women. As far as Marie Stopes was concerned the poor shouldn't have been breeding and she was a frightful snobbish eugenicist.


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## Mrs Magpie (Jan 24, 2012)

....the book is really good. I haven't read it for years, but remember it fondly.


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## weepiper (Jan 24, 2012)

The BBC have already commissioned a second series


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## barney_pig (Jan 25, 2012)

It is lovely series that makes me cry. East London, with its two streets, one by docks, one with houses, is getting alittle repetitive. As is just how clean it all seems. Unfortunately the pro NHS comments appear like as much nostalgia as the nuns on bicycles.


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## Ms T (Jan 25, 2012)

Am I the only person who thought it was a bit shit?  Typical Sunday night bollocks.  It's doing very well though, and I am pleased for the BBC purely out of loyalty.


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## Badgers (Jan 25, 2012)

Ms T said:
			
		

> Am I the only person who thought it was a bit shit?  Typical Sunday night bollocks.  It's doing very well though, and I am pleased for the BBC purely out of loyalty.



It was, as you say twee Sunday fodder. I will watch the rest as Kitty liked it but would not lose a seconds sleep if I never saw the characters again.


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## madzone (Jan 25, 2012)

Badgers said:


> It was, as you say twee Sunday fodder.



That's exactly why I like it. Enough to keep me interested but not in the least bit challenging.


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## tim (Jan 26, 2012)

weepiper said:


> But she wasn't doing it for free. The people in Poplar/Isle of Dogs under discussion were dirt poor. Marie Stopes was doing it for the middle classes.


 
She was doing it for the middle and upper classes. One of her main aims was to reduce the birth rate of the lower classes.


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## quimcunx (Jan 26, 2012)

tim said:


> She was doing it for the middle and upper classes. One of her main aims was to reduce the birth rate of the lower classes.



eh?


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## weepiper (Jan 26, 2012)

tim said:


> She was doing it for the middle and upper classes. One of her main aims was to reduce the birth rate of the lower classes.



well yes, that was kind of my point... she wasn't doing it from any concern for women's rights, she was a nasty eugenicist with some pretty horrible views about the poor breeding too.


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## pennimania (Jan 26, 2012)

Ms T said:


> Am I the only person who thought it was a bit shit? Typical Sunday night bollocks. It's doing very well though, and I am pleased for the BBC purely out of loyalty.


 
No


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## kalidarkone (Jan 26, 2012)

Ms T said:


> Am I the only person who thought it was a bit shit? Typical Sunday night bollocks. It's doing very well though, and I am pleased for the BBC purely out of loyalty.


Why did you think it was shit?


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## pennimania (Jan 26, 2012)

Sentimental.

But 'One born Every Minute' gets on my tits even though I never miss it.

I'm a Spiritual Midwifery Nazi.


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## tim (Jan 27, 2012)

Ms T said:


> Am I the only person who thought it was a bit shit? Typical Sunday night bollocks. It's doing very well though, and I am pleased for the BBC purely out of loyalty.


 
Heartbeat with afterbirth.


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## treelover (Jan 29, 2012)

I think its great and on the sentimentality, much of it is in the books, though of course in other ways they are much more harder edged, Jennifer Worth seemed like a wonderful person...

and yes the elegies for the NHS are there...

oh, and soon maybe her depiction of the workhouses won't just be nostalgia, etc...


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## barney_pig (Jan 29, 2012)

I came down from my bath after missing the whole of episode 3, I just sat down as the new dad, took hold of his wifes, black, baby. just the sight of him holding the babys hand in his own had me in floods of tears, and my wife complaining of me being all soppy.


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## London_Calling (Jan 30, 2012)

I'd rather blow my bollocks off with a stick of dynamite than watch this - but I suppose that's what the License Fee is all about. Enjoy!


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## Schmetterling (Jan 30, 2012)

barney_pig said:


> I came down from my bath after missing the whole of episode 3, I just sat down as the new dad, took hold of his wifes, black, baby. just the sight of him holding the babys hand in his own had me in floods of tears, and my wife complaining of me being all soppy.


And didn't we just soooo know that this was why the wife had been apprehensive about the birth?

Plus, black people had been signposed in the ante natal class when there was a black woman sitting to the married couples' right.


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## girasol (Jan 30, 2012)

Was watching with teen boy last night, at least now I don't have to explain how babies come out in detail (well, he knew already but not sure he'd seen it in full technicolour).


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## zoooo (Feb 1, 2012)

Schmetterling said:


> And didn't we just soooo know that this was why the wife had been apprehensive about the birth?
> 
> Plus, black people had been signposed in the ante natal class when there was a black woman sitting to the married couples' right.


Lol, yep! And the old man's horrible neighbour complained about having a black lady on the other side of her.

I know they're doing one main character's storyline per episode kinda thing, but more Miranda please!


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## Rebelda (Feb 5, 2012)

Poor Mary


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## Bassism (Feb 13, 2012)

i love my catchup on a monday of this. Its great, i bought my daughters grandma the book last year might ask her if i can borrow it back.


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## weepiper (Feb 13, 2012)

Just caught up with this. Glad they didn't shirk from the Frank and Peggy story.


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## Sirena (Feb 20, 2012)

It's Sunday evening chocolate, isn't it: heartfelt, homely, reassuring piece of life in the Golden Age?  I love them all, from 'All Creatures Great And Small' through 'Larkrise To Candleford', even 'The Ladies No 1 Detective Agency'.


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## crustychick (Feb 23, 2012)

I'm really loving this  despite/because of it's Sunday-night-BBC-drama-ness... it's FAB. and I usually can't stand Miranda Hart - thought her TV series was dreadful - but she's truly FABULOUS in this. just keeps me wanting more this show...


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## zoooo (Feb 23, 2012)

I loved it. Apparently it got more viewers than Downton Abbey!
Which is weird because people are constantly going on about how much they're obsessed with Downton and I've ever really heard anyone mention they were watching this.


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## Schmetterling (Feb 23, 2012)

'Sorry; no longer entitled!'


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## crustychick (Feb 23, 2012)

awww, I didn't realise it was over already  boohoo...


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## Shirl (Feb 29, 2012)

I missed this on Sunday and I was going to watch it on iplayer but I can't find it  is it there and I am being dumb or what?


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## muvva (Feb 29, 2012)

I've really enjoyed it too, I read the book a while ago and I'm not disappointed with the series. My partner is from Poplar and when I was reading the book so much was familiar from his stories of childhood.


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## Sirena (Feb 29, 2012)

Shirl said:


> I missed this on Sunday and I was going to watch it on iplayer but I can't find it  is it there and I am being dumb or what?


It was on there till I went to look for it last night....and now it's gone


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## Shirl (Feb 29, 2012)

Sirena said:


> It was on there till I went to look for it last night....and now it's gone


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## Divisive Cotton (Feb 29, 2012)

I only watched a couple them cause it's not really my ting but unusually high quality drama for the Sunday night 8-9pm slot. The Beeb must have put a fair few bob into it and storylines were really quite hard hitting.


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## kittyP (Feb 29, 2012)

madzone said:


> I thought Miranda Hart was excellent and I normally can't stand her.


 
I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. 
Perfect Sunday night (or Monday for us as we don't have TV, only iPlayer) veiwing. 

I don't normally like Miranda Hart but I was reading/listing somewhere that before the author died, when she knew it was being made in to a TV series, had said that she though Ms Hart would be perfect for the role from what her memory of what that person was like. 

This may be BS as I cannot remember the source but still.....


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## kittyP (Feb 29, 2012)

susie12 said:


> It really is rose-coloured though, and obv because they are nuns they never say, actually there is contraception available, why don't you have a go at that instead of a baby a year that you can't really afford?


 
I know I am quoting from before the series went on but there was an episode where condoms were introduced. 
Sorry I didn't see this thread before


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## kittyP (Feb 29, 2012)

madzone said:


> Well,obviously I can't speak for the women in the book but I can't imagine any of my female relatives from that period being particularly happy about inserting a diaphragm for any reasaon let alone sex.There was still a taboo about tampons amongst the older members of my family when I was a kid. Inserting your own fingers into your vagina to put in a contraceptive would have been seen as something a bit dirty and certainly notsomething youwould have gone to some middle class women's clinic about..


 
My nan (who is 92) still talks of the embarrassment of going to by deodorant ffs, let alone contraceptive devices. 
I do come from a Catholic family though. 

My mum is the second youngest of 7. She remembers talking to her oldest brothers wife about the fact that there were other options than 'just having more children and it didn't mean you would go to hell '. 
Sad but also great in some ways.


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## kittyP (Feb 29, 2012)

susie12 said:


> I know. Don't know if condoms were available from there as well.
> 
> Just googled and it says condoms were available from 1940s -


 
Just because they were available doesnlt mean that people felt they had access to them.
This was as much to do with social expectations as religious ones. And accepting the two are twined.


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## kittyP (Feb 29, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Yes, but largely available to middle-class married women. As far as Marie Stopes was concerned the poor shouldn't have been breeding and she was a frightful snobbish eugenicist.


 
Thankfully though, what she did has been changed to remove that snobbish eugenicist from it. 
It may have taken a long time but it has happened.


Sorry I am posting loads. I missed this first time around.


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## kittyP (Feb 29, 2012)

Divisive Cotton said:


> I only watched a couple them cause it's not really my ting but unusually high quality drama for the Sunday night 8-9pm slot. The Beeb must have put a fair few bob into it and storylines were really quite hard hitting.


 
'Apparently' they didn't realise how much it would take off or they would not have clashed it with Eastenders.


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## Divisive Cotton (Feb 29, 2012)

I just checked 11m people watched it. That's quite impressive for a quality drama

http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/890835-ca...ched-than-downton-abbey-as-11-million-tune-in


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## zoooo (Feb 29, 2012)

That's flipping loads.



kittyP said:


> I don't normally like Miranda Hart but I was reading/listing somewhere that before the author died, when she knew it was being made in to a TV series, had said that she though Ms Hart would be perfect for the role from what her memory of what that person was like.
> 
> This may be BS as I cannot remember the source but still.....


Yep, I saw that said on TV somewhere too.


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## aqua (Jan 27, 2013)

I'm really loving this second series, I missed the first one. Can't be trusted to not cry at it though.


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## Poot (Jan 27, 2013)

Isn't it great? I could watch this every night.


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## moomoo (Jan 27, 2013)

I've just sobbed all the way through it.


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## weepiper (Jan 27, 2013)

ooh was it on tonight? *goes to BBC catchup*


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## kalidarkone (Jan 27, 2013)

Bollocks missed it...will watch on catch up ..


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## pennimania (Jan 27, 2013)

I don't watch it, one episode was enough.

I have read the first book though, and I do think it's a shame that they don't seem to have featured the brothel with the prostitute who could shoot ping pong balls out of her fanny.

Or perhaps they have?


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## Sirena (Jan 27, 2013)

I'm really impressed with the quality of the women involved:  Judy Parfitt, Jenny Agutter, Vanessa Redgrave just for starters.


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## Idaho (Jan 27, 2013)

It's a genre the Japanese have a great description for; cosy fiction.

It's taught me that 1950's prostitutes all had a heart of gold.


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## Sirena (Jan 27, 2013)

Idaho said:


> It's a genre the Japanese have a great description for; cosy fiction.
> 
> It's taught me that 1950's prostitutes all had a heart of gold.


 
Up to a point, it's just Sunday night chocolate.  But the first series had some really quite harrowing scenes which ranked it as quality drama.


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## weepiper (Jan 27, 2013)

Oh that was a sad one


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## aqua (Jan 28, 2013)

weepiper said:


> Oh that was a sad one


wasn't it just  I lost it at the sight of the babies coffin and nearly had to go upstairs to cuddle pickle  but just at that moment she snuffled in her sleep so I decided waking her up because of this episode wasn't the best move


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## Pickman's model (Jan 28, 2013)

I suppose i'm the only person here who noticed that although the cop's supposed to work in the east end he wears insignia indicating he works in p division, in south london, rather than h division which covers the former metropolitan boroughs of bethnal green and poplar. At least the cops in ripper street are in the right division!


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## aqua (Jan 28, 2013)

Pickman's model said:


> I suppose i'm the only person here who noticed that although the cop's supposed to work in the east end he wears insignia indicating he works in p division, in south london, rather than h division which covers the former metropolitan boroughs of bethnal green and poplar. At least the cops in ripper street are in the right division!


I wouldn't know what to look for but I do always like people spotting stuff like that  thanks!


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## girasol (Jan 28, 2013)

pennimania said:


> I don't watch it, one episode was enough.
> 
> I have read the first book though, and I do think it's a shame that they don't seem to have featured the brothel with the prostitute who could shoot ping pong balls out of her fanny.
> 
> Or perhaps they have?


 
I don't think they have, have been watching since the first episode... Found myself losing interest lately, feels a bit samey and pulling on the heartstrings a bit, don't like the emotional manipulation that seems to be happening on every single episode.


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## Pickman's model (Jan 28, 2013)

And another thing, where's all the bomb damage which still existed in the east end in the 50s?


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## Balham (Jan 28, 2013)

Watched the Christmas one while I was in London. Enjoyed it and thought Miranda Hart was good as the upper class one.


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## Badgers (Mar 10, 2013)

Robert Elms is not keen... 

Robert Elms (@RobertElms) tweeted at 9:53 PM on Sun, Mar 10, 2013:

Wouldn't Call the Midwife have been more balanced dramatically if Miranda's character had died? Two happy endings? Prefered Ripper Street.

(https://twitter.com/RobertElms/status/310870994292195328)


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 10, 2013)

I think it's based on Jennifer Worth's autobiography though so all the people are people she worked with and things that happened to them.


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## Badgers (Mar 10, 2013)

I like it. Still not keen on Miranda's character but the twee Sunday night viewing is welcome.


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## weepiper (Mar 10, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> I think it's based on Jennifer Worth's autobiography though so all the people are people she worked with and things that happened to them.


 
Yes, how inconvenient of her not to have died. It would make a much better story.


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## Thora (Mar 10, 2013)

weepiper said:


> Yes, how inconvenient of her not to have died. It would make a much better story.


Though in reality didn't Chummy stay in India?


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## ElizabethofYork (Feb 24, 2017)

I started off liking this programme, but the last couple of series have really annoyed me.  All the nurses and nuns are SO NICE!  and SO POSH!  It's not realistic at all.


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## Sirena (Feb 24, 2017)

Badgers said:


> I like it. Still not keen on Miranda's character but the twee Sunday night viewing is welcome.


She won a TV award for her role and I thought that was purely for her celebrity and not for her acting.

In the beginning, 'Call the Midwife' was really high quality TV drama.  Original and dramatic.  

But now I think, like others, that it's well past its best and should be left to slip away.


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## ElizabethofYork (Feb 24, 2017)

Yes.  The first couple of series were based on Jennifer Worth's autobiographies.  Now it's a mish mash of stuff, and it's far too twee.


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## oryx (Feb 25, 2017)

I read the book last year (50p in the chazza!) and thought it was great. It gave a real feel of 1950s East End life.

The story I really liked was the Spanish mum/English dad who had never learned each other's languages but were devoted to each other and had 25  kids. The way Jennifer Worth tells it is really warm and non-judgmental (she became friendly with the family and one of the daughters made clothes for her).

They have an extremely premature baby whose head is the size of a ping-pong ball and who was left to die, not in an inhumane way but the attention was given to saving the mum's life and the foetus was put to one side. Lo and behold, said foetus is breathing etc. and hangs on as the mum refuse to go to hospital and practises 'kangaroo' care where he is next to her 24 hours a day and he lives. As happens with good books this story has really stayed with me.

Never seen the TV series but the book is very highly recommended. Not for the fainthearted as it's graphic and tells it like it was. Some very sad stories about infant death and the after-effects of the workhouse, and a fair few gynaecological details.


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## T & P (Feb 25, 2017)

The Christmas special was somewhat cliche-ridden but still enjoyable. Obviously bigger budget as they filmed it on location. Apparently one of the highlights of Xmas telly, which I guess doesn't speak too highly of the quality of the offerings.


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## Idris2002 (Feb 25, 2017)

Pickman's model said:


> I suppose i'm the only person here who noticed that although the cop's supposed to work in the east end he wears insignia indicating he works in p division, in south london, rather than h division which covers the former metropolitan boroughs of bethnal green and poplar. At least the cops in ripper street are in the right division!


WTF is wrong with you?


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## snadge (Feb 26, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> WTF is wrong with you?



Pickmans is the trivia king, nuff' said.


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## Idris2002 (Feb 26, 2017)

Anyway, I assume this Call the Midwife is available on the old Digital Versatile Discs? It sounds like my mum would love it.


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## Pickman's model (Feb 26, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> WTF is wrong with you?


pay attention  if they're wrong on the obvious stuff what else are they wrong about?


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## Sirena (Feb 26, 2017)

Because of this thread, I'm watching tonight's episode.

It's changed absolutely.  It's shot more like an episode of 'Holby City'  than the gritty period drama I remember.....

It's a wonder it doesn't have a comedy sub-plot going on.....


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## toblerone3 (Feb 26, 2017)

Idris2002 said:


> Anyway, I assume this Call the Midwife is available on the old Digital Versatile Discs? It sounds like my mum would love it.



Its good stuff so far as I can see. I've only watched a very few episodes so haven't picked up on the cliches/annoying stuff so far but its well worth a watch. I'm really interested in the social conditions in London relating to medical and social care services in the 1950s.  So the context is interesting entertaining and informative to me sometimes more so than tear jerker almost to the point of exploitation nature of the programme.  The book is a bit different.


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## hash tag (Apr 26, 2021)

This thread has died a death!
Mrs tag is still watching. I was worried about Reggie and was concerned something had happened to him. Turns out he is the son of Leslie Grantham!








						Daniel Laurie - IMDb
					

Daniel Laurie, Actor: Finding Alice. Daniel Laurie is an actor, known for Finding Alice (2021), Vera (2011) and Call the Midwife (2012).




					m.imdb.com


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## Buddy Bradley (Apr 26, 2021)

We're still watching, about the only thing we all watch together as a family. My youngest is currently rewatching the whole show from the beginning - it's interesting looking at how stark the early series looks, with much colder lighting.

Also Emerald Fennell (Patsy from a few series back, red-head lesbian nurse who moved in with the lady ambulance driver iirc) just won an Oscar!


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