Call The Midwife

[Homethroughthepuddles]

Surprised there's no thread on this. Did anyone watch it last night or has the series reached its natural end and is no longer attracting viewers?

Ooh interesting idea about Val's mum.

What made you think Val was connected rosy71? I would have a clue. Looks like I'll be shelving my hopes of being a detective and well as a doctor. Two dreams shattered in one night 😢

Ohhh that would make a LOT of sense if Val’s mum is the abortionist . I can see that fitting to other events .

Really? I must have missed some clues.

Although Val hasn't had much in the way of a storyline recently/ever?

There’s an episode where Trixie says she can’t bear to tell Christopher about her drinking and Val says , everyone has secrets , some people can’t disucss them because they might be prosecuted .

Another part where she tells Magda (?) the au pair not to have an abortion ‘if you’d seen the things I’ve seen ... ‘

She also seemed to know exactly what to do with the lass who had a botched termination in a previous episode , seemed very empathetic in a way the others haven’t always been . Surely as an ex military nurse she wouldn’t have had that much experience of terminations on a professional level .

She’s also got a gutsiness and a willingness to argue for women that the others (apart from Trixie) don’t always have - they’ll fight for women’s rights but Val seems to give it that bit more , eg contraception, unmarried mothers, sex education , defending right to privacy and dignity etc . She seems a lot more hardened in some ways . —she might be my favourite at the moment—.

nervousbreakdown possible, but all that could be because she has actually lived in the East End and the others haven't. On the other hand, why else would her mother be brought into it next week? The short clip suggested she hadn't seen her for a long time so maybe they were estranged over it. I think val lived with her aunt in the pub when she first came into CTM.

Do you think it may be that Val's mum turns out to be the abortionist but she doesn't know... in the abortion episode last week didn't she say something like, 'If I could get my hands on her...' referring to whoever had performed it? I agree she's connected to abortion in some way though - there have been references right from her starting the show.

I thougt the intersex storyline was another great example of why people call CTM twee & nostalgic - ludicrous to think it would all be happy ever after!

Introducing Vals mum as the abortionist would make perfect sense. I really think that might be the twist as it would explain some of her remarks and her beliefs. I think she possibly used to be involved.

I think we're going to start the "keeping May" story line next week, too. I saw in the trailer that the Turners are going to a meeting about her.

I find Lucille far too highly strung and drippy. I really hope whatever Cyril did is something trivial and she unbends a bit.

Am being thick, what are the links to Val's mum being the abortionist?

Cross post. It's already been explained

Not sure about her mum being the abortionust. Otherwise why would age have said 'if I get my hands on them " she might go to her mum because she knows she'll know.

Unless her mum performs abortions, but not the botched ones (or they werent but it turns out she is now).

Mulling it over, I wonder if Vals mum will be the abortionists go between or a link in the chain rather than the abortionist. There's involvement or a connection somehow, I'm sure.

Yes, I think you all have something there. I'm wondering if Val's mum used to do it and Val remembers seeing some horrible things when she was a child? And now has started to do it again, but Val doesn't know?

I hope Cyril doesn't do anything bad.

I don’t think Val would stand idly by if her mum was the one killing women. Or if she knew anyone killing women with botched abortions.

I’m sure she has some personal experience but not with the butcher types who use filthy instruments and then giving them terrible infections.

I bet val would have told her mum/whoever it was to make sure their instruments were boiled to be sterilised before being used

I keep wondering if Cyril and the family with Sickle cell would really have been accepted as much as they are. Wasn't there still a lot of racism around in the early 60's?

There would have been. Not every single person though. And, of course, definitely not in Nonatus House!!!!

I don’t think Val’s mum is the abortionist. Val is just too ‘nice’. Despite her working class roots she hasn’t got the mettle to be in league with an abortionist.

Last nights was really good, the minute I saw the examination being started I paused the telly and starting giving out about it to myself, the lack of privacy, no consent, no explanation, just shine the light on her and we'll all have a good gawk, bloody awful treatment of anyone.

I had a consultant once very similar to the one in CTM, he barged into the room told me to lie flat and take my knickers off, he then proceeded to let some students in, I hadn't moved and he said, get on with it dear we are all busy people, I stood up looked the prick in the eye and said well you'll be less busy now and walked out, I complained to my gp who was fuming and wrote a letter of complaint and rearranged for me to see someone else.

Good thinking about Val up thread, you could be on to something there.

I let out an audible groan as soon as the consultant came out the room. Instantly recognisable as a god complex with zero empathy. Sad we all seem to have experienced one.

What's the difference between god and a consultant?

God doesn't think he's a consultant

Val's mum could maybe be tied into the cervical cancer screening storyline?

I think Vals mum might have been someone who helped girls and women who had botched abortions.

I agree about Lucille, I really went off her last night, she was so frustrating - all that defensive prickliness with Cyril. Just lighten up, woman!

The consultant was the same one that Shelagh had when she was in hospital thinking she'd lose her baby. He was almost as much of a twat to her, he just didn't examine her. Dr Smug appears to have forgotten that though.

And the fandom has been muttering about Val somehow being linked to abortions almost since she came into it. Seems fairly likely.

Maybe Lucille has an issue/abuse back story otherwise she's more uptight than the nuns.

I think Lucille is supposed to be the product of a god fearing upbringing but she does seem a prude. I think the Cyril rejection might be the start of some dots to join there.

Vals so perky, it would bring some real depth to the character to be connected to such a story line. She's been a bit under used til now I think, too.