Call the Midwife...or the Turners?

[Maireas]

I noticed that the last thread was full, so I hope no-one minds that I've started a new one!

Gosh @Mynamenotaccepted, that's fascinating. You'll remember all those dreadful childhood diseases.

I think the difference is that Nancy’s baby wasn’t adopted, and therefore very much someone else’s child, but was in a home.

@SpindleWhorl

Nancy said 'a couple of the nuns who were on my side ...' had arranged the London orphanage'. Which seems terribly far-fetched, given what we know about Catholic nuns in Ireland circa ?1946.

Exactly. Although not all Catholic nuns were awful. I don't think they'd have gone out of their way to help her.

@SpindleWhorl yes it was terrible children dying of illnesses that are now curable. The parents were only allowed to visit 2 hours a day and often didn't have the money for the bus fare the poverty was heartbreaking. CTM is ok not quite factual but it is a social drama. I am quite enjoying it

I think exceptions were made for Nancy because she was their success story. Would they have done it for another girl? Probably not.

Even with that, it wasn't a decision anyone made lightly. You can see how conflicted Sister Julienne is about it.

@Unsuremover

Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t sister Julienne finish an incomplete abortion in an early series? The mother had 6 kids and sold the curtains to pay for it. The midwife with her was shocked and appalled and Sister J basically said you are in the real world now princess. The family couldn’t get a new house with enough room, then they did. She was totally practical about the whole thing.

I watched this one the other day. She didn't finish off the abortion just cleaned the place up and sent for doctor (turner of course). That was a good episode, the mum got sepsis and they led you to believe she died but then showed them all running through a lovely meadow to their new life in the suburbs.

I think sr Julienne is sympathetic to the need for abortions back then and in yesterday's episode but she can't go against what the mother house and religion says.

@Soubriquet

Gosh talk about a 360 from Sister Julienne

In the beginning she was incredibly understanding and a kind woman. She held no judgement on anyone even if it meant a brother and sister being a couple.

However as the series has gone on, her judgy pants were getting yanked higher and higher. The first time I really saw it was when the pill was introduced. She was disgusted by the idea.

And now, she’s doing this. She needs to go back to the old julienne

I saw it as her being angry at the nuns (quite rightly) rather than the girl. They're the ones who knowingly lied and covered up their actions. Sr julienne was duped into accepting the trainee, being told she was of exceptional character and were complicit in covering the truth. Regardless of whether ones views on unmarried mothers working are acceptable, that is unprofessional and against nmc codes of conduct now and probably was then.

I suspect SJ will sort so Nancy can continue the course though! Because as our 21stcentury views know it isn't immoral to want to study, work and provide for our dc even if unmarried/single...

The Nancy’s DD story is ridiculous, did she not say she got pregnant in Ireland? so the DD was shipped to an English orphanage for the convenience of Nancy visiting her?
The wee girl has to grow up in an orphanage rather than be adopted, quite cruel really.

@SpindleWhorl

Trixie has to get herself into some legal bother

I think someone who read her letter or heard her on the radio will report her for having witnessed abortions (the back street, botched horrors she mentioned) and report her to the Police for not having reported the abortions herself, iyswim.

Plod will come calling and put the frighteners on them all. Dr Turner will make a long face.

Trixie will refuse to name her patients, or implicate any colleagues, and will of course need a good lawyer.

Sister Julienne will remember Mr Aylward's 'kind offer', and he will use an arcane court procedure to stall for time and Trixie will be saved by the passage of the Act through parliament.

Maybe.

Until Trixie went on the radio obviously sanctioned by mother superior I thought maybe she'd get the sack from nnonnatus and end up fighting for women's rights alongside the widower and end up married to him of course

But yes legal bother would be more tantalising viewing...

DH and I have been looking for plot lines where Tricia will need the services of the ever-present Mr Aylward.

*Trixie

In the mid 1960s I had a summer job and worked with a woman who had had a baby in a mother and baby unit (not a Catholic one) where you gave birth, stayed for six weeks, then went back home after the baby was collected for adoption placement. She said she was lucky, as her parents decided to let her keep her baby, but she always remembered seeing girls running up the drive sobbing or screaming after the car driving off with their baby.

@BikeRunSki

DH and I have been looking for plot lines where Tricia will need the services of the ever-present Mr Aylward.

As soon as he made a point of telling Sister Julienne he was a barrister you could see legal trouble was on the way

It sounded to me like she was allowed to do the training, but would never have been able to be employed if anyone found out.

You'd think they'd have mentioned this to her, so she didn't blurt it out in front of everyone!

Clawdy that's heartbreaking :(

Also struck by how the young women have to pay for something they probably didn't even choose for the rest of their lives, whereas the man responsible has absolutely no consequences at all

I mean what were you supposed to do? You can't force a bloke to marry you. I suppose the point was you weren't supposed to have sex in the first place, but that's not always a hugely free choice, is it? And why the massively uneven judgement and consequences for such a thing?! How could people not see it? It's absolutely mind boggling.

In the film the Magdelene Sisters, about a Magdelene laundry, the thinking by the nuns was that men can't help themselves, so can't be blamed so it's temptress women who need to save them from themselves. The 3 main characters were based on real residents. One was an unmarried mum who had her baby taken away. One was raped by her cousin (she tried to fight him off but he forced himself on her) One was a girl in an orphanage who was deemed to be flirting to some men who came and leered at them through the railings. None of the men involved were held accountable of course. It's a good film but quite harrowing

Excellent film but it will break your heart.

I think it's based on the documentary Sex in a Cold Climate. It's on YouTube

I think the episode with the family who moved to the country was in one of the books, so based on reality. I think they moved to one of the post war New Towns.

@Ravenclawsome

I think it's based on the documentary Sex in a Cold Climate. It's on YouTube

Thanks I'll watch that

Oh yes with Mr Aylwood on board, CTM will be a full blown courtroom drama before we know it

Yes, I'm betting on Trixie in the dock, and nuns in the gallery.

Dr Turner will address the jury. "Let me explain Nurse Franklin's thinking here ..." "Let me explain the work of the Nonnatun Order from 1544 to 1967".

A telegram boy will rush in the court room waving a piece of paper at Dr Turner. He will clutch at it, and read it with his lips moving. "The Abortion Act has received Royal Assent!" he will exclaim.

Dr Turner will turn to address the judge. "Let me explain what this means."

@SpindleWhorl

Yes, I'm betting on Trixie in the dock, and nuns in the gallery.

Dr Turner will address the jury. "Let me explain Nurse Franklin's thinking here ..." "Let me explain the work of the Nonnatun Order from 1544 to 1967".

A telegram boy will rush in the court room waving a piece of paper at Dr Turner. He will clutch at it, and read it with his lips moving. "The Abortion Act has received Royal Assent!" he will exclaim.

Dr Turner will turn to address the judge. "Let me explain what this means."

🤣🤣🤣🤣

A pregnant member of the jury will go into labour just as a crucial piece of evidence is being given

Ha ha SpindleWhorl

Oh jeez I can totally see that happening just that way

Scene Two:

Trixie is released from the clutches of the Old Bailey, with cameras flashing as she stumbles down the court room steps in her fetching mauve two-piece and navy high heels.

Mr Aylward catches her as she nearly falls. "I can never go back to Nonnatus House now," she sobs. "I'm notorious."

Dr Turner turns to Shelagh and sighs. He starts to explain why Trixie is right, but Mr Aylward punches a photographer. "You're coming home with me, Beatrix," he murmurs darkly. "Jonty and I need you."

"Let me explain about primal attraction, Shelagh" says Dr Turner to his wife's rapidly retreating back. "Oh fuck off, Patrick," she mutters.

Dr Turner pulls a sad face.