Call the midwife 8pm today!!!

[Soubriquet]

Who's excited about this?

Just seen my first full advert for today's episode!

Roll on 8pm

[ShelaghTurner]

Me. Totally beside myself with excitement! Probably won't see it till later tonight though. I might burst with anticipation

[Soubriquet]

Knew I could count on you Shelagh

[ShelaghTurner]

I'm absolutely not counting down in my head, not at all.

[Hulababy]

Awaiting it too :)

[Groovee]

Can't wait.

[smEGGnogg]

Thrilled about this and the new series.

[Soubriquet]

My Dh actually likes it

[smEGGnogg]

My dh loves it too. I think he's just as excited as me, he's got himself all settled with his wine and chocolates on the sofa.

[TheDrsDocMartens]

My dh likes it but doing bed time.

[PossumInAPearTree]

Don't normally watch this but seeing as it's in Africa I thought I would. I used to work as a midwife in a very rural hospital in east Africa, no water, no electricity, an hour from the nearest road, etc......its scarily similar to where I was.

[Imissmy0ldusername]

I'm really enjoying it - possum - how does it measure up to your experience?

[PossumInAPearTree]

Honestly it's really quite similar. Though we did do sections under general anaesthetic not local! But no monitoring, no drugs, no equipment. Lots of still births. Women would turn up after labouring in the villages for days with an obstructed labour. Where I was they had to pay for care at the hospital so tended not to come unless they were worried.

It was two to a bed top and tail, no glass in the windows so mozzies everywhere. No running water so you'd do a round of all the hospital and not wash your hands from one patient to the last but no infection problems that I saw. Lots of malaria, burns, snake bites, accidents, malnutrition, cholera, hiv. One woman starved to death while I was there following being raped and having a broken pelvis because she was disowned by her family....families had to provide food and basic care. So the hospital grounds were like a shanty town with families sleeping outside.

[PossumInAPearTree]

And God the long drop toilets. Nothing like using the loo and swarms of flies coming out from the depths and hitting your bits and then swarming round your head in an enclosed, dark space while you finish off!

[Soubriquet]

Oh i loved that episode.

Predictable in places but then they usually are.

Looking forward to the new season now

[Yoksha]

When I saw the adverts I thought Meh!, this looks boring. But I actually bloody enjoyed it. Was over too quickly.

The way they dealt with apartheid left me cold. Still remember that period. It made me feel positive that we are moving in the right direction, although not quickly enough.

Roll on the new series. Sign me up for a place on the virtual bench.

Merry Christmas everyone, & all the best for 2017.

[hackmum]

They were in an extremely hot, dirty country where there would have been mosquitoes everywhere. Given they had very little running water, they wouldn't have been able to shower. And yet at the end of the episode, no-one was sunburnt, no-one looked dirty, no-one was covered in mosquito bites. They all looked as immaculate as they did at the beginning.

Apart from that, the whole episode was enormously condescending. They must have had enough of patronising the poor white working class of Poplar and decided to patronise poor black Africans instead.

[ShelaghTurner]

Total bollocks. If you want a debate about it then at least watch it first.

[JustDanceAddict]

They actually were sunburnt at the beach and one of them complained of being bitten.

[EsmesBees]

I wonder who was providing the midwife services back in Poplar when they were all away? They seem to be in demand all the time normally.

[IAmAPaleontologist]

I'm just watching it now. Very good. Almost finished. They did a good job I think putting across the difficulties while still keeping it soft and call the midwifey. Of course water pipe bloke was predictable but still it was lovely.
Nice to see Trixie really becoming a leader. I can see her deciding to stay somewhere like that.

[MarthasHarbour]

Well I absolutely loved it. It made me cry as per!

All predictable but it wouldn't be the same without it. Sorry but I was glad to see simpering Cynthia stayed in Poplar.

Trixie was amazing, the scenes with her and Barbara at the end were fantastic.

And Hackmum, you must have missed the nuns sunburn, the beach scene with sunburn and mozzies and the filthy state of the reverend all the way through. Oh and apartheid was all about patronising 'The poor black Africans'. They were sympathetic to the era (although it was a hell of a lot worse).

Lovely touch with the boy with polio and his brother. That made me weep when Shelagh sent for the braces.

Altogether brilliant marking place for the next series.

[ShelaghTurner]

I'm assuming that the midwives aren't in as much demand as they were due to more hospital births which was beginning to happen last series, and the pill. They're going to have to branch out into more general medicine in the show - it's what happened to the real Nonnatuns.

[NormaSmuff]

it was lovely, agree fairly predictable in places but imagine it is based on true events.
loved it

[NormaSmuff]

and also if a Nun is asked to go somewhere, do something, there is no argument