Call the Midwife, I love Sunday night telly!!

[BrightnessFalls]

well, I will do for the next six weeks

I've just watched this episode on iplayer. Sob. Pregnant and emotional - should have read the thread for warning first!

Dear God - I have just finished Mrs Jenkins' story in the book - it does get worse. It is unbelievable that almost within living memory, a woman's children could die in a workhouse and she would not be told why or of what. Basically, these people were treated as if they weren't human. There may be a lot wrong with society now but it is nothing compared with how it used to be!

Yeah the story of mrs Jenkins is so sad it sticks in my mind now, even though it's been about 4 years since I last read the book

Am I the only person who thought for a few minutes that the mysterious kidnapper was the young nun who took her hair down?!

I thought it was going to be Mrs Jenkins. But did she just go around wanting to cuddle people's babies, not stealing them?

No, Mrs Jenkins just wanted to check they were born safely. She didn't want to cuddle them I don't think, although it was offered.

The workhouse stories in the books are absolutely harrowing, aren't they?

My grandparents had to take in my great-grandparents when they fell on hard times. I was always told that the alternative would have been the workhouse, and now I know what it is that they were afraid of.

I think the book says that the workhouses were abolished in 1929 although since there was no where else for the inmates to go, they persisted for a few years longer, but by then the inmates were allowed to come and go and wear their own clothes.

The hospital I was born in was originally built as a workhouse. It's a massive grim looking building that dominates the skyline, I wonder how many people it would have housed?

Might have info on here, Pixel: www.workhouses.org.uk/

There is a lot of info online about workhouses and their inhabitants. I discovered a few people from the family my granny came from (ie her name and her village) in the workhouse for being feeble minded in the late 19th c.

That workhouse site is really interesting. Shit life though :(

I've just ordered the book after watching the series - I was going to put it in my hospital bag for when I have DC2 next month but in my hormonal post-birth state will it be the best idea? FWIW one of my favourite books is Angela's Ashes, is the book more depressing than that?

Bertie that was interesting, thanks. The one I was thinking of wasn't on there but there is a lovely old building I drive past every day and I never knew it was built as a workhouse! All the buildings at the rear of it have been demolished for a housing estate and for a while I was worried they would knock down the main gatehouse too but they've had to preserve the historic frontage and flint walls. Might look at it in a different light now though.

SausageSmuggler, in hospital post-birth Call the Midwife might not be ideal reading. Aside from Mrs Jenkins' story, which is not really about birth, there are also one or two other quite harrowing ones, although lots of lovely ones too. As a whole, I would say Angela's Ashes is more relentlessly depressing but the stories of Mary and Mrs Jenkins in Call the Midwife give AA a good run for its money (long time since I read AA though).

FGS don't take in the next in the series, Shadows of the Workhouse, though. I am a third of the way through and am not sure I will ever recover from one or two of the stories I have read so far (though I have to say they both had sort of happy-ish conclusions). I guess choosing a book with that title was my first mistake....

Haven't seen episode 4 yet - am steeling myself. Having read the book (the first one, anyway), the Mrs Jenkins story is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It is all so recent too. Makes you appreciate, once more, how bloody lucky we are to have a welfare state.

Oh dear - looks like one of the stories from the second book Shadows of the Workhouse is going to feature in the next episode of Call the Midwife - Frank and Peggy. I must get a box of mansize tissues in for Sunday night.

Who is Mrs Jenkins?

Mrs Jenkins was an old lady, (of very unpleasant habits) who used to turn up at all deliveries. Her story was truly harrowing.

Frank and Peggy's story are more positive than that of Mrs Jenkins, although bad enough, as is the one of Jane - also a workhouse inmate.

For me by far the best story was that in the third book of Chummy going to a delivery on a ship. I hope they show that one.

Is she going to be included in the television series? I haven't read the books, but I'm going to download after watching this. How many are there?

Me being a Midwife helps me to realise how hard it was in the 50's for Midwives and mothers. I was watching it (after I had recorded it night before, footie match was on at the same time) on iPlayer and my DD came and watched it with me, she is interested in Midwifery (taking after Mummy?) She is 4 and I know it isn't one of the best programmes for a LO to watch but she seems okay and I don't think she even understands what they say she just watches and copies me haha

Anyone know if tonight's is a weepy?

Is anyone else having problems with their picture? Mine is very jerky