Is there a Call the Midwife thread?

[Oodbrain]

The poor little boy

hack

also he used to meet a few from the local Army barracks,being his mate for 25yrs has made me much less shockable and more open minded

the book sounds very interesting

i thought the policeman put his hand on top of the mechanics,thus signalling a trist (cant think of another word)

just a look will be a sign,i have many years of finding these things out,my best mate is gay and at one time very promiscouse and at first was shocked by what he told me,

the active gay seen used to be alot more blatant than the straight seen,not sure if its like that now,im talking 10-20 yrs ago

Think it was the other way round and the mechanic touched his hand first? could be wrong though.

im gonna have to have a look later on catch up

Only watched the 1st two episodes (must watch last night's one soon) so have read up until end of Jan. Amazing stories from real life posters that I'm welling up just reading them after watching the 1st two tear jerker episodes. I cry every blimming week.

My mum was one of twins and no one knew apart from my grandma who suspected she was but doctors poo hoo'd it. My mum therefore didn't have a name as my aunt took the one name my grandma had chosen if a girl as born 1st so the midwife named my mum.

My aunt had a still born baby back in the 60s and she wasn't told what sex it was and it was taken away and not talked about. Baby was about 7mths. I've had a MC so we had a little cry together and I think it almost gave her closure about it as I could empathise - I hadn't known about her baby until I MC. That generation are very private.

I agree limitedperiodonly IMO predatory people of whatever sexual persuasion should have a wank in private and leave others alone.

Where do they get the babies from? Do people really sign up their newborns to acting agencies?

I think they ask at antenatal groups/hospitals if people are interested for the tiny tiny ones.

There was an MNer whose DD was in it last series I think, in a yellow cardi I seem to remember!

We noticed the young nun was one of the last to clap. Wondered if she's not so accepting as the others.

Heard the babies are recruited from hospitals in Hounslow area and there is an arrangement with the council re performance licences. I dare say cast and crew contribute their newborns too.

She was the one who mentioned that the bible said sodomy was a sin as well.

There was an article in one of the newspapers a few months back about the newborns on CTM. They do pay.

It's not so simple to say that gay men should meet online. Many do, of course, but online can be quite traceable and I think there are still a lot of gay or bisexual men, especially older, who are married. Presumably because previous generations were a lot less accepting and often they feel like they ought to get married, or to "prove" something to themselves/others if that makes sense. Usually they do actually care a great deal for their wives and don't wish to hurt them hence the secrecy. I think that must be a very difficult life.

Although gay relationships are far more accepted now I am sure there must still be men who get married out of denial or fear.

I thought it was an interesting episode, if a little clichéd and clunky. I really felt for the Irish woman giving birth with dissentry. She was such a proud woman and I felt that Nurse Cranes desire to make sure she was tracked down and was well cared for was fabulous. I hope she stays, even when Sister Evangelina comes back.

As for the doctor smoking, I am more shocked that he appears to advocate smoking in his wife, especially given her fight with TB in the previous series!

Yes but dancestomy In those days (and we could be talking about another planet!) The medics had only just discovered that smoking was bad and the companies were fighting the conclusions like mad! It used to be advertised as being GOOD FOR YOUR CHEST!!!!

It looks like the link between smoking and lung cancer was made public in 1957 and I think this series is about 1960 isn't it? I guess it's a little surprising that the doctor still smokes but also its still early days really.

WRT the babies, I vaguely remember that they line up a number of pregnant women due at the right time - far more than they need as some give birth too early or late. Also, some are not real but are scarily realistic.

Yes I would guess the still born baby was a realistic 'fake'.

They are all less than 10 days old apparently and can only film for 3 days.

Maybe it was enough that the policeman didn't pull his hand away, and looked over at the other chap? Perhaps that was all the communication that was needed?

Ppeatfruit - I love the Lord Peter Wimsey novels, and in one of them he works at an advertising agency, who advertise cigarettes, amongst other things, and there is discussion about different adverts, from different agencies, for the different brands, talking about how one will say it is good for the lungs, and another will then get a leading physician to say their brand boosts lung power, and so on. In a side plot to the detecting bit, Lord Peter thinks up an advertising campaign for Whifflets cigarettes, where each pack contains a token, and you can collect for all sorts of things - day trips, holidays, weddings, houses, cradles, even a kit airplane - the tagline being 'Whiffle your way round Britain'. I loved that plot.

I am a community nurse and remember doing a joint visit with a dr where the patient (who was elderly and very posh) offered the Dr a cigarette!! It really made me smile as he was obviously of a generation where Drs and patients smoking together was the norm!!

Ilovedyou Thanks for that link, it's hilarious, that fake smile of the woman and the smoke coming from the exhaust of the doc's car !!

I haven't read all the post and am a fan of CTM. I was born in 1944 and I don't think girls had hairstyle like Trixie's in the late 50s/early 60s. We all looked like our mothers (!) until the 60's were underway and Vidal Sassoon changed everything related to hairstyles and out went the old fashioned waves and curls and in came the geometric cuts and Mary Quant and mini skirts!!

Re: the Child Migrant Trust - this was indeed a scandal and the first book by Margaret Humphries was called Empty Cradles published in 1994. There are photos of the actual children who were sent to Australia - have seen the film "Oranges and Sunshine" but didn't know there was a book. The government stole those children - it was commonplace in those days to tell children in care that their parents were dead when this wasn't the case and birthparents were not welcomed in the main to visit their children. So many of those children were physically and sexually abused, but then so were many children in care here in the UK.

Anyone interested in these sorts of things might like to read "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee" and will see the hypocrisy of the Irish catholic nuns who sold children to rich Americans, and lied into the bargain - horrendous.

Anyway on a lighter note, can anyone tell me how they manage to acquire seemingly new born babies on the programme - they seem to appear from the mother after a very short labour of course!!

I miss Chummy and the little nurse who went off to be a nun. The "battle axe" midwife seems to have another side to her, but I find it a bit daft the way she can talk people around to her way of thinking so quickly. Was she in Lark Rise?

So do I . Mrs de vere My ballet teacher used to smoke while taking the class!!!

Yes Nananina Linda Basset was brilliant in Larkrise I thought.

Though I remember the girl groups the Ronettes having beehive hairdos and other older girls in my school before the twiggy look.