Call the Midwife.

[Toddlerteaplease]

What is going on with Mother Mildreds make up?

I thought there might have been a whirlwind romance between Val and the less confident doctor she was paired with for rounds.

Well Dr Turner was talking about taking another dr into his practice .....

Only just started watching last night’s episode but Dr Smug is doing a brilliant job of mansplaining to everyone

Plus I bet pigeon man has pigeon fancier’s lung - although I thought we’d already had that!

My grandmother qualified as a doctor in the early 50s.. before promptly getting married. She only worked for a year. After having children she only helped out when the local GP was ill, overwhelmed or occasional holiday. (They lived in the Hebrides)

@FlamingoAndJohn

Yes definitely Parklife plus the young doctor reminded dh of Kenneth Williams - I like Phil Daniels? though

I did like the fact they brought in 4 new male characters, only bothered giving two of them names, showed them how little they knew compared to the women and then booted them out in their teal car at the end of it

Val's doctor is presumably going to be a GP at the surgery.

I think the main issue now is the strange involvement in the NHS of the nuns, it's like they're shoehorning them in now. It's just odd. They need to decide if it's a series about nuns or it's a series about midwifery/nursing in the 60s.

Yes, only 2 of the doctors spoke, presumably because they have to pay actors more if they have lines! So Dr Turner is finally thinking of taking on a partner! Poor bloke must be seriously overworked being the only GP in such a densely populated area.

Dr T runs the surgery,maternity hospital, does home visits and squints a lot at his paperwork he is exhausted poor chap !

I take it Shelia wasn't working this week to busy making scotch eggs and potatoes with a side of ham sandwiches

I know it’s so unrealistic that he’s the only GP in such a large area

It would be more believable to have background unnamed doctors, just sort of seen occasionally in the home or calling for patients in the waiting room. Likely to be a few more nuns and support staff around Nonnatus as well... A cook, cleaners, etc.

There used to be random nuns you would see them singing at the evening prayers.

Yes there were more random nuns before although I suppose orders decreasing in size is to be expected.

How to the midwives manage to all be off at the same time so often?

"Do you think that's what your birds would want?"

Best line.

Might top whatever Sheila called the baby bunnies the other week.

Had a fab conversation about this with my gran last week . She was cared for by nuns as a teenager in a convent ... albeit catholic nuns , but she said they certainly didn’t talk much - conversation was banned largely, they had to have absolute silence at night . She was allowed to comfort her younger cousin only; they’d both travelled 200 miles for the convent and the younger one cried at night . Gran was allowed to plait her hair and comfort her a bit .

My mum and her brothers were delivered by nuns - one set of twins . Elderly nun refused to believe that Gran would have twins, fell fast asleep in the corner and left a very young student nurse to deliver the twins alone ! Apparently student was very able and in my gran’s words ‘a wonderful wee lassie’ .

I was also brought up around nuns and very used to them - they came to tea at my mum and my gran’s a lot ! One wee one drove a fabulous purple mini until she turned 85 - she could hardly see over the dashboard and you’d hear the horn before you saw her ... at work a few years ago we had a nun admitted . ‘Is Mother like her real name’, asked my colleague ... all agog when I took her to a taxi on discharge and said ‘God Bless and keep you sister’, my colleague stared at me and said, it’s like something from the 50s ...

Sadly gran refuses to watch CTM as she says it’s too sanitised, the nuns are too friendly/chatty and no longer realistic at all !

Did anybody notice the turner stairs death trap !

Now you come to mention it. And Dr Turner did say to the little girls no running in your socks. I wonder if this is foreshadowing a horrible accident later in the series when Angela or Mae goes skidding down headfirst to terrible consequences?

I was scared of those stairs when I was little. Lots of houses seemed to have them

I diagnosed the pigeon man in the first 10 seconds. Silly Londoners that don’t know about pigeon racing!

I predict the humble Doc whose dad’s got a bike shop with return as Dr T’s trainee and Val’s new beau.

I didn't notice the stairs. I did wonder if there would be some ridiculous adoption problem when Sheila mentioned the adoption papers though.

It was all very rushed. Those doctors got to see one clinic and attended a delivery each then got a massive send off and applause like they'd saved the life of Sister MJ or something. I swear there weren't as many people at Sister Evangelina's funeral (slight exaggeration).

Oh yes, my uncle and aunt had those stairs. Hated them.

This type of thing

I diagnosed the pigeon man in the first 10 seconds. Silly Londoners that don’t know about pigeon racing!

I did too and I'm a Londoner who knows nothing about pigeon racing.

Yes there was certainly something in the scenes at the Turners with Mae's adoption papers "they can wait until morning," Dr Turner's heart attack warning signs and the omniscient stockings on stairs comments.

We can but hope Dr Turner is going to fall down the stairs, land in his scotch eggs and disappear off to the Mother house for the next two series -thus leaving Shelagh to battle the adoption singlehandedly and take on a harem of non-speaking male doctors for Miss Higgins to rule over.

I also diagnosed pigeon lung as soon as Phil coughed !

Dh was watvhing one of those council clean up programmes and they had to clean out a loft where pigeons were roosting (sp) and the workers were all suited up because of the toxic poop!