The Last Post

[Hepzibar]

Group Captain Townsend, Jenny Lee, desperately trying to get their previous characters out of my head.

Liking it so far, not a period I know much about.

GORGEOUS clothes!!

I'm somewhat disappointed that after all our musings on whether Alison was pregnant or ill, the implausibility of diagnosing twins at such an early stage in a low tech era or conversely the implausibility of a woman at a more advanced stage of twin pregnancy fitting into a skin tight dress like that, the exact meaning of the doctor's words, the significance of going into the desert to see the sun set not to mention what might be wrong with Alison and Ed's marriage, it turns out that she is in fact pregnant with twins however unlikely and unrealistic that may be and just seems wants to get drunk and complain about being an army wife whilst trying to make profound and meaningful statements. It actually got on my nerves a bit this week - shame as I've liked it until now.

Glad little George was rescued though.

But am annoyed that given the weather nobody is wearing sunglasses or hats! Is it because it wouldn’t be helpful to the camera
(As difficult to see faces) or did they really not wear them??

Were sunglasses a thing back in those days? I only ask because 10 years or so later in the same region we didn't really wear them?

And hats? I think I can count one one hand the amount of times in 4 decades I've seen foreigners wear hats whilst going about their daily life. In fact Ive just started doing it myself but really only for walking and excercising outside. I have a Tilley hat.

The modern version of vertical blinds was invented in 1950 -

I am surprised. Going on my experience of the Civil service, I doubt whether the military would have been any more up to date with the latest inventions though - broken venetian blinds which pulled up skewy, seemed to be the standard issue.

I thought she was unbelievably thin too for someone who wouldn't have even been diagnosed as being pregnant until she'd missed two periods.

I was glad to see her being the loving wife when it mattered.

Alison was sort of loving, although I noticed she kept a lot of physical distance from him. Don't think that marriage is going to last (or should?)

Is the obs/gyn also the A and E surgeon? Lots of multi tasking there.

Glad that ?Yusra (sp?) was a goody in the end (they'd kidnapped her younger brother to make her cooperate, I surmised?) How did Mary realise - just the fact that George's hair had a parting didn't seem enough to go on to me!

Anyone brave enough to discuss the ethics of Joe's decision? No, nor me. making a child the hostage makes that very very difficult.

-Is the obs/gyn also the A and E surgeon? Lots of multi tasking there.

I’m that kind of set up years ago the Station Dr quite often multitasked.

Agree that wearing sunglasses and hats wasn't usual in the tropics at that time; from my memories of a similar set-up in Singapore when I was a child.

Back in the 1960s lots of sunshine would have been seen as a good thing. It was only much later that we began to realise the dangers of too much sun.

I can't get over Laithwaite making such a quick recovery, or Mary getting her pre-pregnancy figure back so quickly, as well as already said, Alison still being almost impossibly slim for someone pregnant with twins.

But I still think it's good, and something most of us know little about. I knew someone at school who had come back from Aden, and we used to hear about Yemeni tribesmen, but that was about it.

I can't get over Laithwaite making such a quick recovery, or Mary getting her pre-pregnancy figure back so quickly, as well as already said, Alison still being almost impossibly slim for someone pregnant with twins.

I'm finding it hard to see past these things as at least two out of the three are so evident in the storylines. It's putting me off a bit to be honest.

Mary's still wearing her maternity dress, isn't she - just a bit pulled in at the back?

Mind you, that baby's astonishingly quiet and unobtrusive.

Years ago Women weren't as big during pregnancy as the can be now.

I can recall my mum and aunties being pregnant in the 60's and they'd just thread a piece of elastic and a safety pin through the button hole of what were still pencil skirts in order to make them fit. And they'd have like a smock top to go over the top. People didn't really go in for pregnancy wear.

It was also perfectly normal to leave the maternity unit the weight you were before becoming pregnant.

Eh Rosy?

I think the point people are making is that to be sure of two babies without a scan Alison would need to be 16 weeks or so pregnant already. She has absolutely no bump whatsoever and has a very fitted dress.

Years ago Women weren't as big during pregnancy as the can be now.

Some of this was down to corsets. Mary looked the type who would have believed in a good corset.

Do you mean people as a whole were bigger, or their pregnant stomachs were bigger? I had 4 babies during the 60s, and certainly looked very pregnant, but didn't put on excess weight, and returned to my usual weight very quickly. Who on earth wore corsets when pregnant? In fact it would be older people who wore corsets; younger women might wear a pantie-girdle - a kind of precursor of Spanx!

I thought actors only put on, or lost noticeable amounts of weight for Hollywood blockbusters rather than TV dramas. Since it's not massively their healthy I thought that they only did it for the mega £££'s. That said the orange dress that Alison has been wearing (somewhat constantly) is very figure hugging.

Who on earth wore corsets when pregnant?

My DM did - she was rather embarrassed about looking pregnant. I imagine she was typical. This was earlier than the mid sixties, but Mary as the wife of the CO would probably have been a bit old fashioned.

I can recall my mum and aunties being pregnant in the 60's and they'd just thread a piece of elastic and a safety pin through the button hole of what were still pencil skirts in order to make them fit. And they'd have like a smock top to go over the top. People didn't really go in for pregnancy wear.

My recollection is that they tended to go on for tents and smocks - in fact precisely the sort of dress that Mary was shown as wearing when pregnant.

I can’t get over Laithwaite making such a quick recovery.**
Me too, I really winced when George launched himself on him to thank you and he didn’t even flinch.**

Last episode tonight, hope it gets another series.

We think this is a brilliant drama

Hope there is a 2nd series

No 2nd series in the pipeline apparently.

I need closure on what happens between Ed and her from CTMW

This is my favourite BBC drama for a long time. Yes, there are some details that are a bit dodgy but all the other excellent elements make up for it. I particularly liked the final scene which showed the four key couples and how they’d changed. So sad for Armstrong and Yousra. If only it could have worked.

I really liked Markham. Liked that actor in the Crown as well but I don’t think he will be featured in the second season.

Also liked how Jenny Lee was so messed up, and Honor was a fabulous character too.

The quick recoveries annoyed me though, Mary, Ed and even the little kid. And how un-pregnant Alison looked despite apparently being far enough along to be definitely having twins.

I’m a bit of a plane geek and I’m almost certain that the VC10s shown would not have been there at that time. i’m being pernickity though it was a classy drama.

Yes it was classy I agree. another pedantic question - would the trial/court-martial really have happened quite so quickly? It must have been a matter of days between arrest and trial mustn't it, as Alison still didn't look in the slightest bit pregnant. Still maybe things happen faster in the military.

It was a good denouement - though I was not wholly convinced that Martha would really have given up her story to save Joe.

Much as I liked the Laithwaite character, I don't see that marriage surviving. Was he offering to leave her at the end? Didn't really understand that, as surely she could just have left him if that was what she wanted?