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]

ppeatfruit, no I didn't notice the newspaper with the Vidal Sassoon article! How observant are you!!!!! I suppose that answers the question as to whether his name would have been known by the general public at that time.

It will be sad if Shelagh and the doc can't have their own child. She would have definitely kept on to last night's baby.

I didn't realise that contact with birth mothers' wouldn't have been encouraged back then. It was heartbreaking when Doris's letter wasn't accepted.

Thanks nikkiholis The mums of illegitimate babies were treated as less than human then it was disgraceful. Think the 'homes' in Ireland for them.

diddl I'm shocked (but shouldn't be) that Stephen McGann is 50. His brothers were all my heart-throbs as a teen / early 20s.

Heavens-he's the youngest McGann brother!

I'm old.

juggling thank you it was very hard and last night was poignant as you say. However you are right - my DS was a little ray of sunshine during that time - his words really were a comfort

Old, Anne?

I'm 50!

Are you still old

Maybe not as old as that. But I feel old when the younger brother of the men I fancied as a teen is 50.

Not that 50 is old (realise my last post was badly written!) - my DH is 50.

It's frightening isn't it? My mum chose my middle name after her cousin who caused something of a family scandal by going out with a black man and getting pregnant by him. They were running away and she was unfortunately involved in a car accident and died :( She was 16, would have been about 1975. Every time I think about her I think there's no way that would have happened today. If she hadn't had a need to run away there's every chance she wouldn't have been in the accident. What a waste.

Just going to mark my place for later.

My memory of the books is there were three mixed race baby stories:

• The one we saw last night - angry husband rejects child
• One that they used in series one or two, where the husband just pretends not to notice the baby is black, and brings him up as his own
• One where the mother is convinced the baby is black, and then when it's born, it turns out not to be and nobody mentions it again.

oh thank you, I didn't dream it!

Oh yes I remember the last one too. Wonder if that one will be in the series eventually.

Ah that was the other one! All 3 have been featured now. I think the last one was in series 1

I don't remember the last one!

The one where the husband pretended to be oblivious was just beautiful especially in the book. The way that people reacted to him and the child (Christopher?) was (from memory) lovely. I'll have to go back and read it again.

I'm wrong, he was called little Ted after his dad.

My other half loves Midwife.

diddl i think it was in series 1 - and covered quite briefly - i seem to remember Sister Evangelina and Cynthia being at the birth but i could be wrong. I just remember the woman being terrified the baby would be black but turned out to be white... happy to be corrected though

As a old glimmer (70) I can shed some light on the debate about trousers and hairdos from my own experience.

Trousers were definitely worn by women in the 1950s/60s. I wore them most of the time. The mid 50s were notable for jeans rolled up to just below the knee and paired with fluorescent socks (!) and this was followed by the late 50s/early 60s by black close fitting trousers (almost leggings) held taut by a band under the arch of the foot, usually topped by a 'sloppy joe' sweater.

Re haircuts. Trixie actually had a Jean Seberg (I think it was mentioned when the midwives were walking along to Sister's office). It became popular after the actress Jean Seberg played Joan of Arc in the 1957 film St Joan though Trixie's was a little longer. I had a Jean Seberg cut when I was 16.

Also, Vidal Sassoon. Opened his first salon in 1954 but his first really famous cut was the geometric Mary Quant cut, mid 1960s as it was revolutionary after the huge backcombed beehive styles. I went through the beehive phase (ugh) and then had a Mary Quant: also a bit later his famous Greek Goddess cut when I was working near his Bond Street salon. You can google pix of all these styles….

You are all reminding me just how old I am. To you it is history: to me memories.

Love Call the Midwife.

gimmer - not glimmer, bloody autocorrect.

grimble I quite prefer ' glimmer' I bet it suits you!