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Original poster

Is there a Call the Midwife thread?

906 replies

Oodbrain · 18/01/2015 20:39

The poor little boySad

OP posts:
BOFster · 02/02/2015 12:04

Bertie, didn't you think it was daft that the place was stacked with nun types, but it took the gay husband to initiate any applause? There'd have been at least a smattering of claps just from social convention, surely, rather than a wall of stony disapproval?

BOFster · 02/02/2015 12:14

Oh, and a pest control company on Twitter has reliably informed me that the cockroach was a Madagascan Hissing Cockroach- not many of them around in the Poplar of 1958 Grin.

BertieBotts · 02/02/2015 12:21

Ha! Yes.

I think they were quarantined after that birth, in case they caught it - suspect they skipped over showing the two of them running back and forth to the toilet!

QueQuesto · 02/02/2015 12:22

I thought the new midwife was Jean's sister Peggy in dinnerladies but maybe I'm getting them mixed up.

maudpringles · 02/02/2015 12:27

I think the new midwife played Jean's sister in dinnerladies.
Is it accurate that the new mum would have been up and about so soon after giving birth? I have always heard that new mums stayed at home and possibly in bed for a few days.

iklboo · 02/02/2015 12:28

Agree they could have 'employed' a European cockroach. I know there were quite a few immigrants in the 50s/60s but I don't think that stretched to insects.

ppeatfruit · 02/02/2015 12:32

BOFster Poplar in the 1950s\6os was right by the Thames where many of the imported goods from all over the world were shipped in, there were many strange insects coming in with the bananas or whatever!

Oh you read the books! thanks Bertie Grin

BOFster · 02/02/2015 12:45

Iklboo, I can only think that the Madagascan didn't insist on Equity rates Grin.

SoupDragon · 02/02/2015 13:22

PMSL at the Madagascan Hissing Cockroach :o

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 02/02/2015 14:06

Thank-you, QueQuesto and maud - I was racking my brains to work out where I had seen the new midwife before!

I am a bit late to this thread, but it broke my heart when the siblings were put onto the boat for Australia, as Child Migrants, because I read Margaret Humphrey's book about the scheme, so I knew it was unlikely to be a happy ending.

ppeatfruit · 02/02/2015 14:54

Yes silly me! Blush I've googled and it was Kay Adshead who played the 'jobs worth' stand in manager in Dinnerladies and `Linda Bassett who plays Nurse Crane and also played Peggy in Dinnerladies though I don't remember her! You must admit they look alike!

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 02/02/2015 17:42

Well (if we leave the gay bit aside), forcing yourself on somebody probably does deserve to get you arrested... What I couldn't work out was if he'd done it before, hence the report about the loos? Or did the just know they had a reputation and so went there?

BOFster · 02/02/2015 17:50

They just knew the toilets had a reputation for cottaging. And he didn't force himself on anyone- the undercover officer gave him a clear come on by taking hold of his hand, iirc.

LIZS · 02/02/2015 17:57

I thought it was the mechanic's hand which grabbed the pc's. Amazing how the main characters have no prejudices of their own and appear above reproach, would they and the nuns really have been so liberal minded and tolerant?

BOFster · 02/02/2015 17:59

Perhaps you're right there, I couldn't swear to it.

limitedperiodonly · 02/02/2015 18:06

He didn't force himself. He laid his hand on the other man's hand and then kissed him rather roughly but not aggressively and undid his trousers, or the other man's trousers.

In that way I feel that the 'pretty policeman' description was fair. It was entrapment. However...

Prosecutions for cottaging still occur. It depends on the level of offence - by which I mean offensiveness to others.

In 1960 maybe there was little way to meet other men (don't know how gay women were supposed to hook up).

These days it's not a problem for gay men to find other men to have sex with but I find outdoor sex, whether hetero or homosexual to be extremely aggressive in some circumstances and think it should still be policed under decency laws.

There's a toilet block 2 minutes' walk away from me which is now key-only for the market traders. It's because it was a well-known cottage and women were hissed at by aggressive gay men for just walking past it on the way home.

I also remember George Michael getting nicked for indecency on Hampstead Heath and bleating that it was his culture. WTF?

I don't want to come across the detritus of sex or people going at it while out for a stroll in the park with my kids.

LornMowa · 02/02/2015 18:06

Just thought I'd mention that Linda Bassett was also in that other Sunday night staple Lark Rise to Candleford playing Queenie. She did a lovely turn singing a folk song if I remember correctly.

limitedperiodonly · 02/02/2015 18:13
ILovedYouYesterday · 02/02/2015 18:16

I think they were quarantined after that birth, in case they caught it

Ah, yes! That's why they were sharing a room for a few nights. I was confused about that. Thank you.

ilovechristmas1 · 02/02/2015 18:17

there are many sites men hangout with where i live,i think its similar where ever people live

my friend who is gay was a male escort for men,he said he slept with many married/straight men

limitedperiodonly · 02/02/2015 18:28

When you say sites ilovechristmas1 do you mean websites or public spaces?

Because I don't feel that it's okay to take over public spaces for yourself or your friends for excessive behaviour - whether that's drinking, drug-taking, sex, dog-fighting or whatever you might dream up.

breward · 02/02/2015 18:37

I loved the rat storyline with the old nun. The rats being the 'undesirables' and her trying to save them. She wanted to make them a home- just like the 'undesirable' Irish needed a home. She swept up the poison and stopped the boys taunting the rats in the street- just like the 'undesirable' gays had poisoned with hormone injections and taunted publicly in the press and community.

Lovely acting by the old nun with all her flowery language and very cleverly written. Love Call the Midwife!

hackmum · 02/02/2015 18:40

I do think that entrapment is pretty nasty and shouldn't be allowed.

Joe Orton's diaries are a fascinating read. He spent a lot of time "cottaging" - never got caught afaik. (In fact, the time he went to jail it was for defacing library books.) But it was a hell of a risk.

hackmum · 02/02/2015 18:43

ilovechristmas: "my friend who is gay was a male escort for men,he said he slept with many married/straight men"

There's a fascinating book called Tearoom Trade by an American sociologist called Laud Humphreys. He followed men around who were cottaging and then somehow managed to trace them afterwards (I think by getting their car reg numbers). He then contacted them pretending to do a survey about something else entirely. (Yes, the ethics were dubious.) It turned out that about half the men engaged in cottaging were married.

SoupDragon · 02/02/2015 18:44

The policeman didn't lead him on or offer any hint that he wanted gay sex though.