Call The Midwife

[Daffodilly]

I'm sure after the Christmas special they said a new series would be starting in the New Year. So where is it?? [impatient]

[Dancergirl]

Who is the little boy living with the doctor and his wife? Not their own child presumably?

[Mrswellyboot]

He is the doctors son (he was widowed I think)

[Dancergirl]

Ahhh, thanks that explains it. Sorry, just trying to catch up as we missed the earlier series.

[Housewife2010]

I'm so thrilled after reading this thread that there will be another series. I knew that last night was the last episode of the series & had my usual sob. Then when it looked like it was the final episode ever, I sobbed so much more. I think it's such a lovely programme & such a nice cathartic end to the weekend having a good sob next to my husband with a cup of tea & a Gu Guzillionaire Dessert!

[SweetestThing]

I think the series will survive very well without the Jenny Lee character. The other characters have been fleshed out a bit more in this series and there's the Trixie-vicar romance developing, Chummy dealing with the aftermath of her mother's death, the new adoption, Patsy the new feisty midwife, Sister M-J's continued decline, etc. I think they could do a lot more with the Nurse Miller (Cynthia?) character - she has bags of potential and is woefully underused as an actor - and also we need to find out a bit more about Sister Julienne and the new nun. Plenty material to build on.

[ppeatfruit]

OMG I was crying too. I like jenny and will miss her. Soo glad there's another series though I'll miss it on Sundays too.

Cheryl Campbell and Miranda Hart were brilliant; shame they waited so long to make it up though. I wish I'd thought of giving MIL a manicure when she was dying

[5Foot5]

I felt very sad that no one gave a thought to the poor 17 year old who had had her baby taken away

But the doctors son did! When someone explained that the 16yo mother had been planning to keep the baby but her parents said no, the little lad said "That's awful!"

[Icimoi]

I suspect the adopted baby's mother may turn up in the next series.

Anyone else find Trixie as a curate's wife rather difficult to believe? Somehow I can't really see her presiding over summer fetes and meetings of the Women's Institute.

[squoosh]

The curate is hot though isn't he? She should have a fling and then dump him.

Why don't they ever give poor Cynthia a storyline, if I was that actress I'd be a bit peeved.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

He is extremely good looking unfortunately he tends to sound like he's desperately trying to remember his lines.

Yes, I'd like to see a bit more of Cynthia too.

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

I think Trixie would make an excellent curate's wife. Middle class, nurse, she'd fit right in at the WI.

[alemci]

I thought the same Sweetest thing about Cynthia. She seems to have no back story like the others and seems a lovely sympathetic character.

[longtallsally2]

I cried at the orphanage bit because I wanted her to take the little one stood up in the cot watching. He looked so desperate for a cuddle as well as looking like he could climb out that cot but had no inclination to because he had nothing to get out for

Nancy, I logged on to see if anyone had noticed that little one too. S/he was beautiful!! I too wondered how they got the babies to stand up but not fall out of those cots with low sides - maybe the toes of their babygros were glued to the matresses!

[Selks]

Storyline development with Cynthia could be along the lines of following her burgeoning interest in 'natural' childbirth etc and possible hippy leanings, as the whole hippy thing must have been due to erupt fairly soon in the time line.

[BeckAndCall]

Another one here who shouted at the screen - watch that baby! The mattress is too high!

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

In the books Cynthia suffers from depression, but they haven't touched on that at all.

[ppeatfruit]

selks wrf to hippie childbirth I had my ist dd in the one London hospital which did natural Leboyer births (also waterbirths) and that was in 1980!!!

I stand to be corrected but IIRC things got far more rigid and hospital based in the 60s and 70s before they began to get relaxed again.

[LittleBairn]

Oh dear I was a sobbing wreck by the end of the last episode. It was the baby nightdress that finished me off.
Anyone who's ever given up hope and put away something they were making for a baby will know that awful awful darkness to actually get to use it was a beautiful touch.

Strangely even amoungst all the tragedy they managed to wrap it up without being too downbeat baby was adopted, Jenny has a calling that may better suit her than midwifery and meets her future husband, Chummy got to make peace with her mum and tell her she loves her.

Anyone read the book? Is that the path/events the real life characters took or have we now deviated completely?
Its interesting Cynthia suffered from depression in RL on screen she seems like the one who is most content with her life.

[LittleBairn]

Oh I was another watching between my fingers at that little baby in the cot, I can only imagine the look on his mothers face as she stood on the sidelines watching the filming.

[cerealqueen]

What a fantastic episode. I used to paint my mum's nails (and pluck her eyebrows!) and I watched her die so was sobbing too.
The nightgown finished me off.
DP wonders what will have me (and him) in tears on a Sunday night now.
Are the books worth reading?

[AnneEyhtMeyer]

The books are good, but a bit darker than the TV series.

In RL Chummy went off to be a missionary and never came back, Jenny married Mr Worth (there was nothing about another boyfriend dying, just mention of her dalliances previously with a married man), can't remember any more at the minute (read the books on holiday about a year ago).

This series is meant to be based on other midwives' stories I think, but they have obviously fictionalised (is that even a word?) a lot about the original characters.

[hackmum]

cerealqueen: the books are definitely worth reading, but they are much grimmer than the tv series. Most of the books' storylines were used up in the first two series, but even there they tried to soften some of the harsher aspects.

It was slightly disappointing for me to discover that Jennifer Worth had either invented or elaborated on some of the real life characters - I saw an interview with some of the surviving nuns a couple of years ago, and they couldn't remember either a real-life Chummy or a real-life Monica Joan, and some of the things Worth said about Chummy couldn't have been true (e.g. she'd supposedly won a Florence Nightingale prize in training but there was no such thing). So that then made me wonder about how many of the stories were true too. That's quite important, because if they are true, then they're an incredibly valuable bit of social history about a community that hasn't been well documented - but if they're not true, then they don't tell you very much at all.

[MarthasHarbour]

I think they have kept reasonably to the book with the characters with some artistic license.

In the book Jenny didnt have the boyfriend who died and i think for the series that was unnecessary, mainly because i think she jumped too quickly into a relationship with Philip Worth last night - it would have been more realistic to Jenny's character to have the backstory of the married man, followed by refusing Jimmy's advances and then meeting Philip - this was all in the book. If you remember earlier in the series Jenny wouldnt rush into any relationship because she was still pining for married man - the real Jenny wouldnt have rushed to start dating Philip so soon after being bereaved.

Cynthia's depression isnt touched on in the books until near the end, i think there is the suggestion of an undercurrent which manifests in later life.

IIRC I think Trixie married a Senior Civil Servant and gave up midwifery. She did look the part of a curates wife when she was directing the choir!

I have loved this series - i had my reservations when it was on pre-watershed but it has really delivered IMO. I wept last night at Chummy and her mum. I sat with my best friend when she was dying of cancer, it was the little things for me - i held her hand and gave her sips of water from a straw and moistened her lips with a sponge - it was those scenes that finished me off.

That and the nightdress - littlebairn i know exactly what you mean - i have been there, and am now looking forward to our much much longed for little bundle in 7 weeks time

I also noted with interest that Timothy was the only one concerned about the poor 17 year old girl having her baby taken from her.

And yes - i was yelling at the screen at the little toddler trying to get out of the cot!!

My Sunday evenings are now bereft

[MarthasHarbour]

hackmum that is really disappointing, i hadnt heard that.

[MarthasHarbour]

oh crikey this pun wasnt intended (but pretty sharp for me!)

'i had my reservations when it was on pre-watershed but it has really delivered IMO