To think Sunday’s Call the Midwife was quite intense for Sunday evening at 8pm?

[EpicDay]

We sat down to watch this last night having recorded it. DS 10 was with us. It dealt graphically with backstreet abortion, prostitution and sexually transmitted disease. We are a very open family and happy to talk to DS about pretty much anything in age appropriate terms but even then I was struggling. Happy to be told IABU for not switching it off but is this generally considered reasonable for 8pm on Sunday eve?

Well it usually covers similar themes so nothing unusual for CTMW.

I noticed the BBC had changed their wording at the end to ‘anyone with pregnancy related issues’ in order to avoid the A word. Long way to go there.

I agree with you. I watched it with my 14 and 16 year old daughters, so older, but even they said that it was a bit much for eight o’clock on a Sunday.

I had some interesting conversations with my 11 year old DD too!

I absolutely love this programme, as does she but I also commented to my DH that 8pm seemed quite early.

They were tough times though and Midwife has never shied away from these issues.

Call the Midwife does a really excellent job of putting social issues in a context that allows for family discussion.

I thought the watershed was 9pm for adult content? Mind you, the average soap opera, shown even earlier, usually contains pretty grim themes.
My objection to CTM is not so much the content, more the nauseating sentiment and stilted dialogue!
They seem to have rose tinted glasses about 1950/1960’s medics and nurses though- I lived through that era, and professionals were much more brusque, stiff upper lip and dismissive of women. As was the whole of patriarchal society.

I married in the late 60's, life for women could be grim, pregnancy meant being married off or sent to an unmarried mothers home. My aunt was extremely upset at my cousin getting pregnant at 17 and her father gave permission for her to marry but didn't go.

It was upsetting but it was a reality for some. The next episode will follow up on the legal ramifications of this. With catchup the watershed is blurred so maybe there needs to be a warning about suitability for ages as in films.

I think anything after 6pm is fair game for more grown up content.
The watershed at 9pm is for even more graphic.
That said, I found it quite disturbing and had to look away.

I don't think the time itself was the issue, just that we expect CtMW to be gentle, feel good, viewing so it was a bit unexpected.

I've had to stop watching it which is a shame as I used to love it. My ptsd won't let me watch it any more due to the content - it just seems to be trying to shock these days.

yabu its about child birth, its never going to be pretty.
do you also complain about soaps?

I also watched it with a similarly aged child, and while it was dark, I am pleased we saw it together. We have talked about it since.

It is SO important to have open dialogue with children about these issues and historical facts. I think it's easier to see it in a period drama and then discuss it. It makes it slightly separate but can be made relevant.

So no, while it was full on, I don't think it was too much.

there was no particularly graphic images though. talking about abortion and STDs happens in hollyoaks and thats no a lot earlier than CTM. I think YABU.

Thanks for all your replies - am reassured by those who said they watched it with similar age children. I was concerned I had perhaps been really irresponsible. To those who mentioned soaps, we don’t watch them precisely because they are so unrelentingly miserable and awful. In fact we watch almost no TV partly because we struggle to find things to watch as a family which was why I was trying CTMW. I will watch it again but be prepared for the discussions afterwards.

Have you watched eastenders!!

If you want programmes to watch as a family I recommend The Simpsons, Young Sheldon, The Goldbergs etc. Especially the Goldbergs which is hilarious. I can't imagine many 10 year olds really want to watch things like Call the Midwife.
Oh my 10 year old also likes things like Secret Life of the Zoo or Secret Life of 4 year olds.

Will probably get flamed but I don’t mind. I’ve stopped watching CTM this series because I find the topics it’s focussing on at the moment too triggering due to personal circumstances. It’s moved away from the kind of programme it used to be and doesn’t have the feel good factor that it used to. I’m tired of TV always being politicised and while there is serious drama that I really do like, like The Handmaids Tale for example, CTM was always a nice sentimental break from all the shittiness that goes on in the world and it’s not that anymore. Like OP, I intentionally don’t watch soaps because of how grim and over the top they are in the terrible life choices the central characters make. I’m watching When Calls The Heart and Chesapeake Shores on Netflix instead .

OP do you have Netflix? Anne With An E is really good for that age group and deals with things like periods and teen homosexuality in a really sensitive age appropriate way.

It was never just a nice cosy unchallenging teatime soap! I assumed that's what it was like and didn't watch it earlier. More fool me. I bingewatched all the earlier series at Christmas and was electrified. They've covered prostitution, grooming/trafficking, rape, forced adoption, neglect of the elderly, abysmal mental health care, euthanasia of disabled newborns, maternal death, terrible housing conditions, coercive control, racism and abortion.

It was never a gentle sentimental programme! I am re watching the first series with my youngest as she really WAS too young when it was first out and it's incredibly gritty. Tbh, I think the early episodes that are actually based on the real book and true stories are better than a lot of later storylines.

Sorry, that reply was to ShadyLady.

ShadyLady53 try Heartland that is on netflix and very good.

Call the midwife has never been a feel good programme. It's dealt with hard hitting issues since episode one back in 2012. The only people who think it's a cosy show are the ones who have never seen it. Like it or don't like it as you wish, but the show hasn't changed.

I like it but do admit the earlier series, based on the books, were my favourite ones .

What I wonder is this . Both Val and Trixie are now saying "Sweetie" ever so often . Would that have been a word used that often in the 60s ??

I agree with PPs who say it shows social changes and the hardships they went through back then . My own Mum (born 43) tells me the Sixties were not that great if you were broke or near broke .

I don’t see a problem with it. I watched it my 12 year old and we had a discussion afterwards. We talked about how much has changed and how lucky we are to have body autonomy to be able to make decisions that are right for us. In that time there was none of it. Wikipedia tells me that in 1967 sepsis and death rates after illegal abortions went down.

It’s set in 1964 and abortion was not made legal in the U.K. until 1967. It’s what happened. We can’t erase history. As the grandmother said it’s not just the irresponsible girls who got pregnant. It’s the women with 12 children already who can’t cope, the women who were victims of domestic abuse and so on. I’m interested to see how they cover this storyline.

Call the midwife to me has never been a gentle programme. They have covered so many issues which I think is brilliant.

Watch with your children, have those discussions. It's the only way we will continue to move forward.

I agree with people who say that it has never been a cosy rose-tinted-spec type programme. From episode one it has dealt with very hard hitting subjects.

I used to watch from age 11 with my dd who is now 14. She's just chosen History for GCSE and has also written an amazing essay on Abortion.

We talked about social history a lot and she is very interested in Women's history and rights. I like to think some of it went in.