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?

Just read that 1.5-2% of the population is intergender. I knew it was relatively common but not nigh on one in 50 people.

Regarding Lucille, there is something very uptight about her which I'm sure will be revealed in due time.

It's not, unless you take a really broad definition of intersex (no idea what intergender is).
This is a really good podcast on the subject

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000222z

I’ve tried to watch some on amazon prime tonight and you have to pay extra 😩

Beat me to it, drspouse. I was going to mention More or Less. There are many disorders of sexual development. The one in the programme is very rare indeed, as far as I can see. If I understood another thread I read here today (not a given) she may have been XY with a genetic mutation that meant a bit normally found on the Y chromosome wasn't there. That has the effect that the testicles develop but there is no sensitivity to androgen, the hormone that should trigger the development of a fully male reproductive system, so the fetus develops female external genitalia, but no womb or ovaries.

Yes AIUI to be male you need a working Y chromosome and some people's don't work so they are female but no womb.

Dr Turner just gets worse and worse. Basically he's unwatchable.

I’ve started re-watching from series one as I’m off sick. I much prefer the series with Jenny in the 1950s. The episodes are based on the books and it seems a lot more “real” and gritty.

I agree @Polarbearflavour

This is interesting in the light of the abortion discussions upthread... It popped up on my Twitter feed... the BBC say it's too contentious to give out information on abortion if you use their, 'If you have been affected by this programme' assistance... which seems a little hypocritical given they are happy to run with the storyline for the viewing figures!

www.bpas.org/about-our-charity/press-office/press-releases/women-s-healthcare-bodies-call-on-bbc-to-reverse-stance-on-abortion-information/

Just checking in for tonight!

Polar - yes it's all got a bit too chocolate boxes and twee for me these days. Much better in the earlier episodes. The Doctor and his saccharine wife are really beginning to grate!

Goodness Dr Smug is more wooden than a garden fence. The show should be sponsored by Cuprinol.

Surely Val's gran was brought in for more than a boil on the bum.

Goodness Dr Smug is more wooden than a garden fence. The show should be sponsored by Cuprinol

I completely agree. Dr Smug and Sheila Smug are unbearable. The simpering and world-weary smirks at one another are really getting on my tits.

And the Lucille and Cyril story was a fuss about nothing.

The world has moved on...the 17 year old unwed mother can get national assistance and a sympathetic landlady.
Lucille is learning to be less judgemental.

I feel like tonight laid some groundwork; Lucille lightened up, Vals family are probably going to crop up again in more depth and the Turner-tug-of-war has been started. The only element lacking was Phyllis saying she missed Barbara because she's laid up and Barbara would have been there in an almost daughterly fashion. Definitely not a show stopper, just a plot mover-alonger! Very progressive wrt the young mum though!

And the Lucille and Cyril story was a fuss about nothing

Knew it would be. His introduction as a character was much more built up than a one date wonder would have been.

I liked the Lucille and Cyril storyline, Cyril seems like a lovely man and the show has needed some romance!

Interesting re the single mum storyline, I am a single, unmarried mother and often think how different things would have been for me and my dd had she been born in the 1950/60/70 and even 1980s! Tbh there is still stigma and stereotyping even now, luckily though I was not disowned by my parents!

I was cheering Violet on when she took on the CF nuns poor Fred being taken advantage off.

Surprised that the chap survived anthrax, I thought it was almost always fatal?

Interesting to see the unmarried mother storyline, my friend was in a mother and baby home in 1965, and she gave her baby up for adoption. She said there was help available by then, and some girls opted to live alone,work, and keep their baby with the National Assistance help. She lived with such sadness and regret, saying she just didn't have the courage to do it, and just wanted to go back home to her parents - she was very young.

I wonder what the pause on the money in the oven was about when val took her ice cream money?
I think the nan is the woman doing abortions??!!

I agree Brie. That actress had played a bad lot before.

I know u all think Val's dgm is up to no good but I loved her insisting Val take the ice cream money. My dgm only stopped doing that when I had a dh and ds of my own! It's what grannies are for!
I think the storyline about Elaine was intended to show how support for single mothers had changed since previous series but my god I couldn't do it. She would only get 'National Assistance' until the child was 5! That's bugger all.

Don't understand the connection people keep making between Val and the abortionist? Did I miss something in a previous episode?

Brie I never thought of that! The actress was Dolly in Linda La Plane’s Widows.