Call the Midwife

[Toddlerteaplease]

Well this is boring.

When I was at school in the sixties, my friend 's mum always made her kids eat a plate of bread and marge before their main meal, which was obviously not a big one.

When my granny was growing up, money was very tight after her father died. She was one of the middle ones in a large family. A family story my mother had passed down to her and never tires of repeating is that one day my great granny had made a pot of broth, mostly vegetables, barley and pulses, I expect, with a small piece of beef for flavour (probably hough, i.e. shin). This piece of beef was placed on a plate in the middle of the table and each child would get a few shreds of it.

On this occasion, a male visitor had arrived not long before the meal and was invited to stay, out of politeness. Insensitively, he did, and on seeing this tiny scrap of meat on the table, he took the whole lot onto his plate. Whether he noticed that there was no other meat forthcoming for anyone else is not recorded.

@iklboo

It hasn't become 'The doctor and Mrs Turner' show. Every cast member has their own storyline.

Who usually end up interacting with St Patrick of Poplar somehow. If he gets any more screen time he'll be popping out of a woman's foof as her newborn and mansplain how he got there, while Shelagh simpers behind as the placenta.

This is hilarious! I can actually see it now, what an image for my poor brain haha 🤗

When I was at school in the sixties, my friend 's mum always made her kids eat a plate of bread and marge before their main meal, which was obviously not a big one.

My mum remembers my Nan making a big plate of Yorkshire puddings to eat before Sunday dinner. Cheap to make & very filling so the meagre meal afterwards was enough.

I don't get the dislike of the Turners.

“NewModelArmyMayhem18

Were one GP practices the norm back in the 60s? “

Yes.

I love CTM.

I also love the clothes, but I think they are of a far higher quality than ordinary people would have been able to afford for the most part - because of the cloth, lining, matching coats. These sometimes look as though garden party/debutante standard.

The nighties they are wearing in recent episodes are exquisite tana lawn with lace, but in reality, in that era there were baby-doll nighties made of less fine cotton but the longed for ones were glamorous nylon ones.

The cigarettes in matching turquoise in the shelves at the back of the shop are extremely amusing compared to the wide variety all in different colours there were at the time. The magazines too look like the most rudimentary home print job. As old cigarette boxes and magazines exist in archives etc I am not sure why the sets don’t better reflect them. Maybe there is some reason.

The black paint and farrow and ball decor usually doesn’t look right for those days but I presume that’s to set everything off. The hall where mother’s and babies come, and Nonnatus House do seem to ring true though.

Anyway, it is such a pleasure to have more to watch even if nothing can quite match the original nuances of Jenifer Worth’s experiences shown in the first episodes.

Must remember to look and see which girls are wearing those Clarks summer shoes with the diamonds punched out on the toes and the crepes soles that went orange first time they got wet!

I wonder how long before that painting of the lady with the blue face appears. That was everywhere at one point.

Indeed they were and in the Jennifer Worth books, without going into detail, she mentions the marvellous doctor who was so dedicated and very much part of the community.

I grew up in the late 60s.
Tv was only on for a limited dumb rom hours a day- people still listen to the radio
No eating out (well very rarely)
1 holiday a year. Most people had 1 car or no car and didnt take leisure trips-maybe an odd picnic into the country. Shopping wasn't a leisure activity.
Children went to cinema on Saturdays alone and often in school holidays as well.
People had more time and did more things. My parents both worked full time with young children but did woodwork, diy, sewing, tapestry- crafts- crafts were big
It was a very different time.

My mother could make clothes and often made her and us clothes

We were very middle class.

“TheHoptimist

My mother could make clothes and often made her and us clothes

We were very middle class.“

Yes, many people could sew to a very high standard and middle class women often depended on sewing too. Vogue made beautiful patterns for Haute Couture designs. They still do but I don’t think many have time to sew now.

Re TV only being on for a limited number of hours a day - one reason for that was there was actually literally nothing on for hours at a time except the testcard. From the mid 1960s on our TV was on from the time my brother and I got home from school until my parents went to bed. On weekdays prior to that the only use we could possibly make of it was watching schools TV if we happened to be off on a schoolday, Watch with Mother at lunchtime, and later Crown Court which was on ITV at lunchtime or Pebble Mill at One which was on BBC1. There may have been a news bulletin at lunchtime too.

No breakfast TV and Open University programmes during the small hours. When the BBC closed down for the night they played the National Anthem.

Different times!

@ScrollingLeaves

“TheHoptimist

My mother could make clothes and often made her and us clothes

We were very middle class.“

Yes, many people could sew to a very high standard and middle class women often depended on sewing too. Vogue made beautiful patterns for Haute Couture designs. They still do but I don’t think many have time to sew now.

The impression I have from the Great British Sewing Bee is that home dressmaking and tailoring is possibly having a resurgence at the moment.

I recently went to a talk by Stephen McGann and Heidi Thomas and it was really interesting, they said they made some changes to outfits etc to make it work for tv but she uses as much historic truth as she can, and uses medical archives to show what would have been happening at the time. They also have a midwife on set at all birth scene

@TheHoptimist

My mother could make clothes and often made her and us clothes

We were very middle class.

My mother did too. My mother in law and grandmother in law were amazing at making clothes, and curtains.

@Gizlotsmum

I recently went to a talk by Stephen McGann and Heidi Thomas and it was really interesting, they said they made some changes to outfits etc to make it work for tv but she uses as much historic truth as she can, and uses medical archives to show what would have been happening at the time. They also have a midwife on set at all birth scene

That must have been very interesting. I think the show is great and love all the characters, past and present.

I just caught a 'headline' saying Lucille and Cyril are going on the run! I can't begin to imagine why, will check.

That’s nice if sewing making a come back
@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

@Gizlotsmum

I recently went to a talk by Stephen McGann and Heidi Thomas and it was really interesting, they said they made some changes to outfits etc to make it work for tv but she uses as much historic truth as she can, and uses medical archives to show what would have been happening at the time. They also have a midwife on set at all birth scene

They were in my local town a couple of weeks ago, I didn't realise until it was too late. Would have loved to have gone to listen to them.

A lot of traditional needle crafts are making a comeback now.

YY, I think things like knitting are surprisingly fashionable now. I think cottagecore has brought made it all seem quite chic. But also, people's standards of living have change - not going on holiday has become quite normal again, and not just because of covid, and so too have things like DIY.

My mum remembers my Nan making a big plate of Yorkshire puddings to eat before Sunday dinner. Cheap to make & very filling so the meagre meal afterwards was enough

That's the traditional way to eat them in Yorkshire (or was). There was a saying "them 'at eats t'most pudding gets t'most meat" a good double bluff!

My mum never once served them with the main course, always before. And always delicious.

@SarahAndQuack

YY, I think things like knitting are surprisingly fashionable now. I think cottagecore has brought made it all seem quite chic. But also, people's standards of living have change - not going on holiday has become quite normal again, and not just because of covid, and so too have things like DIY.

I didn’t know DIY had ever gone away.

Evening all! Sounds like tissues might be needed for this episode 🙁🙁

DM just said when her DF was a GP in the 60s he never treated his dc if needed. Possibly against hypocritic oath