Is there a Call the Midwife thread?

[Oodbrain]

The poor little boy

I've not watched tonight's as dh hogged the tv for top gear but I've had a catch up session and watched 4 episodes in the last few days. It struck me the other day that initially when it was from the books out was the story of the people that mattered, the other characters were just there. Plus we always got an ending of some sort, we knew what happened just as JW would come back to a story in the books and tell us what happened. We don't always get that now, the nurses and nuns seem to have taken precedence, JW would never have left us not knowing what happened to the young couple with the diabetes girl. Instead of just the harsh realities and the social history we have a nurse having an issue and conveniently something will occur to mirror it. it is really starting to annoy me.

Will have to catch up on tonight's tomorrow, got a kitchen to finish emptying before someone comes to rip it all out tomorrow.

I am very late to the joys of 'Midwife'
Can anyone tell me if the previous series are available online anywhere please?

can someone summarise for me?

I was curious that there was not much of the Thalidomide story but I suppose '- thd outcome is extremely well known now; and as someone said upthread, the link eould not have been made straightaway.

My (paternal) half brither's mum took Thalidomide when she was expecting him, but was so sick she couldn't keep it down. No effects on baby. I had hyperemisis in both pg and took many othr drugs. I can see why Thalidomide was so widely taken if all previous treatment for hyperemisis was "mind over matter".

Series 1 and 2 is on Netflix.

Watched now! I didn't see thalidomide story coming either. How almost eerie it was to watch the Turners wave her off with a grin.

Still not happy with how Patsy's relationship was ended.

God I thought that episode was dire, one of the worst I've seen. The only thing that moved me past 'meh' was the mention of thalidomide - the mere name gives me a sick feeling in my stomach :( and how awful that the Turners were so happy about giving it to her. I knew that storyline was coming and that they'd roll it over to next series but just hearing the name and knowing what it did to all those unsuspecting women and babies is heartbreaking.

God tonight's episode floored me, I bawled about the deaf lady's baby, the bike accident, Trixie, the thalidomide, the wedding..DH came through and thought someone had died.

The Turners' constant inane grinning at each other is starting to become sinister rather than just annoying now.

It was so obvious that disaster was round the corner for Patsy and her girlfriend - it was like an episode of Casualty, waiting for the accident to happen.

The Thalidomide story might as well have had neon signs as soon as the woman vomited into her handbag.

Sr Mary Cynthia taking the phone off Trixie when she was speaking to the Samaritans was appalling. Who the hell does she think she is?

I'm glad the series is over. I really hope they take time to reassess the way they are going with the storylines before the next series.

Apart from Fred and Mrs G getting married I didn't enjoy the episode tonight.

I can't believe I'd forgotten about thalidomide so that it didn't even cross my mind. I just thought of them covering the HG issue only...

Thought the deaf woman's husband was given some very sickly sentimental lines. Looking at last week's and this, it does not bode well for a new series.

Sr Mary Cynthia taking the phone off Trixie when she was speaking to the Samaritans was appalling. Who the hell does she think she is?

Trixie's friend.

It was interfering and controlling. Not a friendly thing to do. She could have offered support afterwards, but to take away the phone was awful.

Poor Patsy. Felt sorry for her that no one could know how close she was with her gf. Her mum just thought patsy was someone her dd helped at cubs :(

As soon as Dr turner said the drug was called thalidomide I thought 'Noooo', should've been obvious that was what it was really.

Christmas special next I guess.

It's all very contrived isn't it, but I love it!
Specially loved tonight's episode as a good friend's deaf daughter was playing June

I have only recently started watching.
Not keen tbh, all predictable so far.
The thalidomide story
and the lesbian couple. They are never allowed happy endings in dramas and soaps.

If my mother hasn't lived so rurally (too far to get to gp regularly) she said she would have asked for thalidomide when she was pg with my big sis. She had horrific sickness and 2 small children to contend with.

I'm exhausted from watching that episode.

I really felt sad for Patsy tonight - so unfair :(

Thanks mammu

Getting far too predictable I'm sorry to say as I still love all the characters (apart from the dreadful Marlene). It is indeed like an episode of casualty where you guess all the deaths/illnesses in the first five minutes!
I found the deaf girl's long 'speeches' rather annoying and over-dramatic.
Liked Violet's wedding hat. Agree that taking the phone away from Trixie was terrible and actually said "How dare she!" to dh. Poor old Trixie, wonder if she'll get back with the Vic when she's sorted her drinking out? Had to laugh at the cake board though. How did she know it was the same one? Every single cake board looks the same unless you go a bit mad at Christmas and get one with holly on .

I found the deaf girl's long 'speeches' rather annoying and over-dramatic.

Should they have given her fewer lines than a hearing actor then?

It was interfering and controlling. Not a friendly thing to do

I disagree. IMO it was caring and the act of a good friend. They were very good friends before the nunnification.

Am heartened to see that a deaf actor played the deaf girl, that's brilliant to read. She was very good.

As soon as the Mum starting extolling the virtues of the sickness drug and saying she would tell everyone how brilliant it was I knew it would be Thalidomide.

I thought it was the most depressing, miserable episode. It's really lost it's way and such a shame they are going on with it. The Casualty effect is inevitable. Don't give a stuff about Fred etc and Miranda Hart is totally wasted. The bike accident was SO OBVIOUS.

I knew the Thalidomide storyline was coming, because they gave it away in the Radio Times.

The whole thing felt rather clunky and contrived to me. I didn't see why Patsy and Delia couldn't have just carried on living happily as flatmates - that would have been interesting to watch. Instead we have this ridiculous story where Delia falls off her bike and suffers amnesia - how likely is that? Most cases of amnesia are short-lived. There seemed to be an implication too that the accident had given her temporal lobe epilepsy.

We did notice with pleasure that Delia's mum was the character from Stella who says "cocking" a lot.

I also agree about the deaf woman's speeches - they seemed to be shoehorned in unnecessarily, particularly the one about how she felt about meeting her baby and whether her baby could hear or not hear. I liked the fact that they had a deaf character but it just felt terribly leaden. I also disliked the way once again it was the working class mums who were a bit rude to her (at the antenatal group) while the middle-class midwives and nuns were all terribly sympathetic and right-on. In those days the medical profession was terribly paternalistic and it was very hard being disabled (a lot of people insisted that deaf people should lip read rather than sign) so that didn't seem terribly realistic.

Just felt irritated by Trixie and her Alcoholics Anonymous storyline, which was an unnecessary add-on.

Fred's daughter was horrible, and then suddenly became nice. That didn't seem likely either.

All in all, thought it was a pretty dismal effort.