To think that call the midwife is promoting smoking!

[ScottishJo31]

Just for the record I am no puritan or prude in fact I would consider myself a social smoker... Therefore I am not judgmental about smoking) however in the recent few episodes of Call the midwife... literally every other scene involves the cast and extras smoking... I can understand the need to show how life was in the 1960s ( more people smoked and fewer knew the dangers) but someone is lighting up in nearly every scene.. in the last episode a pregnant woman was offered a fag! ( again I get that pregnant woman didn't know the risks)
However It just seems like overkill, and almost like cigarette companies are advertising through the show!

What are other people's thoughts on this?

They’re depicting life as it was then. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That’s how it was!

Yeah, bastards. Ban the programme immediately.

Honestly.. You're being ridiculous. Authenticity is the goal.. I'm sure there's plenty thats inaccurate, according to my parents who grew up in Poplar in 1950s/60s but people did smoke like tgat. I have absolutely no doubt someone will contract lung cancer at some point and they'll do a whole episode on how bad it is. It's a show, a period piece. 🙄

My mother said she only started smoking as a way to keep the babies small and easy to deliver... Three of us born in the sixties.

Don’t be ridiculous

Don't be daft OP - that is how it was! Please don't try and sanitise history

It was a social norm in those days that smoking was promoted to pregnant women to help keep babies small. It’s a fairly accurate depiction of how life was back then.

The GP lit my MIL’s cigarettes for her in between contractions when she was in labour with my husband in1953.

Maybe I am being ridiculous then. I am partial to the odd fag myself so am certainly not against smoking! I know my grandfather was a chain smoker and many relatives of that generation were. I have never really noticed it before the last few Episodes... I know it wasn't that long ago where smoking was acceptable in pubs!

Plus - if you don't portray life as it really was, how on earth do you expect future generations to spot the difference?

Should any mention of the BBC Black and White Minstrel Show be barred in case it causes offence or a rise in racism? Looking back it was dreadful - but it was prime time TV and very popular light entertainment AT THE TIME

Smoking was normal in the near past, nearly everyone did and would be considered odd if you didn’t. My parents both did and they gave each other gifts of cigarette boxes. Later when the truth started coming out they stopped.

I think the programme is reflecting reality!

Ah, having read you latest update I guess you are very young (anything under 40)

Yeah, I was a non smoker until I watched it now I'm on 80 a day.
I also ride a bike everywhere and put my hair in rollers every night.

Its set in the past It is showing what life was like in those times. Smoking, particularly in men, has always been shown on it - and increasingly women as times have moved forward and women began to smoke more socially.

I suspect at some point we will hear more about the smoking and the negative effects it has on health, and on babies both before and after they are born.

Under 40... just!
Not very young and normally not a snowflake 😂

Smoking was allowed in the postnatal ward in my local hospital up until the 1970s.

Actually I noticed it in this week's episode more than usual OP. Obviously smoking was the norm at the time, so it is historically accurate, but I did think there were restrictions around portrayl of smoking on tv and in films so was surprised how obvious its been in recent CTMW episodes. I wonder if it is building up to a "something bad happens because of smoking" episode?
Come to think of it, I am sure Dr Turner gave up smoking in a previous season.

Don't watch The Crown then. It's full of smoking. All the time. But as most of the Royals before the current crop died of smoking related illnesses, it wouldn't be true to life if they weren't all smoking all the time.

Ditto with the Christine Keeler mini series that's just been on.

How do they actually do this on TV? Do the actors really have to smoke? How do they get around smoking inside, in the workplace etc?
Sorry if they are silly questions

Don't watch Mad Men OP

In that case, they also promote slum living and driving without seat belts

I think they are setting up for a story line, but yes I noticed it too.

Mad Men was also set in the 1960s and was full of smokers and the beginning of the negative effects of it (one of the main characters develops incurable lung cancer in the last series). I imagine as the decade moves on storylines will show the impact this has on health.