Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

Call the Midwife - Christmas Special

181 replies

Maireas · 26/12/2020 10:47

I have loved CTM for years, great characters and stories. Some nice parts last night, but is anyone getting tired of Sr Monica Joan? We jokes in another thread about how much teal there was, so I did laugh at Phyllis having a teal trapeze outfit!

OP posts:
NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 27/12/2020 12:06

I guess part of the problem is that the scriptwriters are probably too young to have lived the life that they are trying to capture. Even Heidi Thomas would have only been a little girl at the time, I suspect? It does now feel a bit like midwifery stories by numbers.

MindatWork · 27/12/2020 15:38

I’ve been rewatching the first two series of CtM while isolating and the difference in quality and content to the show as it is now is stark. There was nowhere near as much incidental music as there is now, telling us how we should feel in each scene.

At the beginning it was heartwarming but gritty and you believed in the characters. You were following Jenny’s journey as she learned and grew and got to know the East End. Now they’ve all become caricatures of themselves, esp Trixie, SMJ, Dr Turner and Shelagh (although I do like Phylis).

I loved Laura Main as sister Bernadette and her acting was superbly understated in the run of episodes where she leaves nonnatus and gets married. Then she seemingly transformed into a bustling matronly type overnight - she and Opatrick have merged into one sickly sweet head-tilty, hand-waving mass.

DrinkReprehensibly · 27/12/2020 16:25

I'm sure I saw Helen George on a TV interview just before Xmas (maybe the one show?) where she said that luckily, they just finished filming before the first lockdown in March, in which case, there wouldn't have been doing social distancing in the filming. Maybe she didn't mean the March lockdown.

Rockbird · 27/12/2020 18:46

They are supposed to start filming in March but couldn't. They filmed in late summer but as far as I know they just wanted to get the Christmas special wrapped up and the series will follow later.

CaptainMyCaptain · 27/12/2020 20:29

I didn't notice the social distancing (probably got used to it) until the two midwives were wearing masks and that did seem odd.

The trapeze bit was ridiculous but I liked the two spinsters having Christmas their way. I think the series has sadly run its course.

Raahh · 27/12/2020 20:38

I'm only just watching -and up to the bit where Gloria is naming her lost children Sad. So sad.

mineofuselessinformation · 27/12/2020 20:44

I found myself wondering why a doctor and a midwife couldn't pluck and draw a turkey between the two of them - and then wondering how many people know how to do it nowadays....

TracyBeakerSoYeah · 27/12/2020 20:47

I enjoyed it. The Gloria & her babies storyline bought a few tears to my eyes.
I did feel for Trixie just sitting there waiting. However I have a feeling that Trixie will end up with Cyril in the next series as I noticed a look/spark between them. It will all be done properly as Lucille will either decide she doesn't want to be with Cyril anymore or she'll get killed off.
Obviously I could be totally wrong.

The actor who plays Cyril has such a gorgeous smile.
And can't wait for the new series.

parsnipsnotsprouts · 27/12/2020 20:55

The trapeze thing was funny even though it was meant to be heartwarming. Not sure how they managed it with a straight face. I thought the spinsters having their own Christmas dinners was cringe. Gloria finally managing a baby was nice but thought the talking about the other babies whilst supposedly in labour was a bit unrealistic. Sister Monica is just a nuisance at this point and feels like they're constantly repeating the same storyline with her. All in all not great but watchable.

parsnipsnotsprouts · 27/12/2020 20:57

The turners are so bloody cheeky. Shunning dinner at Nonnatus but then turning up with four kids last minute expecting to be fed. Arseholes

Toddlerteaplease · 27/12/2020 22:10

@parsnipsnotsprouts I thought that. Such bad manners! Also can't stand the buckles.

Toddlerteaplease · 27/12/2020 22:11

And Poplar already has a newsagent, it was in an earlier episode.

DigOutThoseLemonHandWipes · 27/12/2020 22:12

@mineofuselessinformation

I found myself wondering why a doctor and a midwife couldn't pluck and draw a turkey between the two of them - and then wondering how many people know how to do it nowadays....
I'm confident I could have a good go at the plucking - I've never plucked a bird in my life but I could sse the that Turner's one feather every 2 minutes approach wouldn't cut the mustard. I'd be less certain with the innards - I've nailed removing them when they are in a plastic bag but I'd be less confident if they were in situ. But DH would almost certainly be able to figure it out (he's done far more "wild" cooking than me.)
mineofuselessinformation · 27/12/2020 22:27

@DigOutThoseLemonHandWipes I know the theory of doing it, having watched my mum do it any times, (for example, pluck a bird outside, preferably with the body inside a bin bag).
I also know how to draw a bird (can give details if you want them!)
I was more interested to know how many people could actually even contemplate having a go.

DelphiSwimsLate · 27/12/2020 23:06

I really enjoyed it and think the addition of Nurse Anderson has given it a new lease of life. Watching her discover the east end reminds me of the early episodes with Jenny Lee. The story of the West Indian nurse has never been told through television like this before, and I hope the series continues for as long as possible.

SheldonesqueIsUnwell · 27/12/2020 23:51

I shall miss Valerie. Wish they’d had her leaving in a stonker of a storyline rather than the ickle mention.

I nearly ended myself at Reggie’s boxed circus dildos. Grin

I cried at the ‘mother for a long long time’. I didn’t do names. I couldn’t. Too real. But I’ve been a mam for a long long time. Just not that you’d notice.

I want a Phyllis.

No. Scratch that.

I need a Phyllis. Sad

She breaks my heart and gladdens it all at the same time.

I love her almost as much as butterscotch angel delight.

And I was all for the trapeze.

We all need dreams.

AndIquote · 28/12/2020 03:12

More thumping 60s music and more love interests please, Trixie and Cyril getting it on will do for starters.
I wonder if we will be seeing more of that dismissive hospital consultant in future, a baddie to stir things up?
SMJ talks in riddles like Yoda 'trimmings up wrong they are'

DeltaFlyer · 28/12/2020 03:46

I used to love the earlier series of CTM and but it's just relaxing tosh now like a 1960s eastenders. The music and Vanessa redgraves doesn't add anything anymore.
I think that SMJ has had her day and Fred buckle doesn't do any work at nonatus anymore so why is he still lingering.
Sadly it's not been the same since some of the original main characters left.
Personally I would have liked to see more of chummy at the unmarried mothers home but I'm glad they got rid of the husband. It felt weird when he was still hanging around.
Also would want to see more of the nun that stayed at the mother house as she had a motherly connection with the little boy left in the cot.
I do like Lucille but find the Cyril love interest annoying as she keeps on toying with the poor man.
I like the turners but they are very grating at times.
I didn't like the storyline of the 2 nurses who fell in love and then one had an accident and forgot the other as it felt too forced and soapy but I think it would be nice if Mrs Higgins and Phyllis became a pair of live together spinsters with twin beds and shared hobbies after retirement.

Antiopa12 · 28/12/2020 04:27

I wonder if there is a different more positive attitude amongst fairground/circus people to disability? My son was severely disabled, wheelchair user and non verbal with no control over bus body. Each time the circus or fair would come to town we would take him along and he was extremely well treated. I remember taking him on the children's rides, spinning teacups etc. The operators were so positive letting us taking him out of his wheelchair and trusting us when we said we could hold him safely. Some really happy memories.

Antiopa12 · 28/12/2020 04:33

His body not bus body!

CaptainMyCaptain · 28/12/2020 07:44

in love and then one had an accident and forgot the other as it felt too forced and soapy but I think it would be nice if Mrs Higgins and Phyllis became a pair of live together spinsters with twin beds and shared hobbies after retirement. it was the Welsh one's domineering mother who kept them apart but she went back to stay at Nonnatus as a compromise. I happened to watch that episode recently but can't remember why neither of them are in it any more. I think Phyliss and Ms Higgins could share a flat. I don't think it was unusual for unmarried women to share at that time and I wondered why it was so daring for the two nurses to do it. It was a matter of practicality at a time of housing shortages.

chilling19 · 28/12/2020 07:45

I found it orderly sentimental - not enough grit. Also what happened to Lucille's hair? Couldn't see the point of that storyline. What did I miss?

Original poster
Maireas · 28/12/2020 09:07

For Sheldon and all the other "long time mums" on here. Flowers It's good that women's lives are shown.
Antiopa that's nice to hear about circus/fairground people, maybe less exclusive?

OP posts:
parsnipsnotsprouts · 28/12/2020 09:17

@chilling19 I think it was partly to show the changing hairstyles of the time and partly to start setting her up feeling dowdy next to Trixie

DeltaFlyer · 28/12/2020 10:50

Lucilles hair led into why Valerie was gone.
They wanted her hair tools to fix the hair as Lucille didn't like the new do but they were gone, where is Valerie? Oh she quit

Swipe left for the next trending thread