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?

What a disappointing final episode to the series.

I've been enjoying the exploration into all the issues of abortion but thought their coverage of some other things was very heavy handed!!!!! The cervical cancer screening thing was clearly bollocks - way too early - and I felt the understanding of prostate cancer was also far too advanced for its time. It seems so far fetched that a handyman back in the late 1960s would be delving into midwifery books to diagnose his own likely prostate issues. The trauma issues around separation and adoption also seemed unlikely too. As someone adopted in the late 1960s myself, I know that there was fuck all understanding or knowledge widely available about attachment theory and the effects on the baby/child of separation!

Anyhow, it is a drama and not a documentary but it grates a bit when they get this stuff so wrong.

I watched last night's episode and I think they may have set us up for the next series.
My prediction: Fred will continue with his prostate problems and Dr Smuggy McSmugface will have misdiagnosed him.

I thought the "German" dad sounded more like he was from Scandinavia, rather than Germany. They also had spelled "Schroeder" wrong on the board outside the house, missing the "C". Towards the end of the episode, I almost expected the girl to die after having her dream of going to a ball.

Maybe the midwives are expected to be a bit more demure?

Maybe the midwives are expected to be a bit more demure? I agree. Sure they would have had an off-duty code of conduct in those days, particularly when so closely allied to Nonnatus House and 'living in'.

I'm watching this now and howling at the Timothy double trying desperately to hide his face - so funny!

This series is the first half of the 60s (no later than 1964 as the queen was giving birth in episode 1!) so that, coupled with the fact that the midwives are living with nuns, may account for the fashion choices. Some of the younger outside characters have been in mini dresses.

When the continuity announcer said that it was going to be a tear jerker, we kept on waiting for someone to die - Reggie, Fred... it was like Casualty. So it was all a bit of a disappointment! Val''s acting knocked it out of the park though - which just shows Dr Turner''s gurning acting up.

From Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth.

The exodus of the traditional Cockney people [rehoused elsewhere - my brackets] affected the Sisters' practice, especially when the docklands became 'smart'. Newcomers did not know, nor particularly want to know, about the nuns. The National Health Service and the fashion of going into hospital to have a baby reduced their midwifery practice considerably. The advent of the Pill in 1963 brought it to an end altogether. Women, for the first time in history had control over their own fertility, and the birth rate plummeted. Throughout the 1950s the Sisters had delivered around 100 babies per month. In the year 1964 that number had dropped to four or five.

That last statistic doesn't really seem to have been reflected in the stories yet, but it should be. They should already be winding down and changing their focus now. Nonnatus House closed down in 1978 after 99 years serving the people of Poplar.

What am I going to do on Sunday evenings now??????????😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

Val was superb.

The events of the last episodes of the series always pull out some great acting. I’m think of Nurse Crane when Barbara died too.

She was. So was the makeup artist. She looked like a different person.

The Val actress and the Nan actress were brilliant again. So talented. Agree re the makeup too, Val looked like a ghost. I also thought that Julie's makeup was great.

Sad that there'll be no Crane+Wolff pairing, but I'm looking forward to seeing him with Miss H at Christmas.

I think that Fred has been misdiagnosed. Seems a bit of an odd story that went nowhere, if not. I agree that a character like Fred would not have read medical text books.

Love Reggie. Love Lucille and Cyril. Love Sister Hilda.

Bored of Trixie and the Turners (apart from Timothy).

I'd like to see Patsy and Delia back but it's unlikely given Emerald Fennell (Patsy) is joining The Crown (portraying Camilla) and is also a writer on Killing Eve.

Just watched the last bit on I-player as hadn't noticed the fake Timothy. It is funny

Linda Basset (Nurse Crane) is a proper stage actress. I remember seeing her in an Alan Bennett play a few years ago. She's been around for a long time.
Didn't Fred used to be in Eastenders? Also Gran, aka Cora, from EE. Six years seems a long sentence for a first offence. I did like her message at the end though, about women facing up to the men who make the laws about what they can do with their own bodies. Will miss CtM, it's good Sunday evening entertainment.

On a historical note I bought my first mini skirt in 1964! But I had been wearing above the knee skirts for a couple of years before that.

I was disappointed with that last episode as a whole.

I predict Trixie getting much more involved in her women's clinic, was it the Brook? She has been quite outspoken this series. She will start wearing mini skirts and get the sharp haircut. Agree about the possible interracial relationship.
I wonder if Violet will become mayor eventually.

Nurse Crane is in the film Kinky Boots as well. Fred popped up in Shakespeare and Hathaway too.

Fred was Minty in EE I think.

BBC has announced 2 more series.

Fred was Minty in EE yes. Ages ago. DH and I still call him that.

I thought everyone did.

a young cllr violet was in soldier soldier anyone remember her in that

Whatever happened to Minty?