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Telly addicts

Call the Midwife

999 replies

Toddlerteaplease · 25/12/2021 20:25

Well this is boring.

OP posts:
SirChenjins · 31/01/2022 11:52

Phyllis is a bit past the menopause, surely?! Confused Unless it’s a late one, perhaps. Dr Och Patrick Turner will invent HRT and have her on that before the end of the series if that’s the case, I’m sure.

I wonder if she’ll come back from her bus trip with a love interest? Something has to happen on her grand tour of Europe from Dave’s Coaches, surely.

Notwithittoday · 31/01/2022 12:01

Just piping in to say I thought last night had some really poorly acted bits ( again). I don’t know what’s going on with them all atm. The ridiculous sobbing from Nurse Crane, Lucille’s silly argument with her husband, Trixie dropping heavy hints about domestic abuse in her own childhood while berating herself… that women that was meant to be abusing her family was like a cartoon sketch. I normally love this programme but it felt very fake last night. There was zero subtlety and I do feel like they keep trying to push modern attitudes into a show where they just don’t fit.

TopsieGreenwood · 31/01/2022 12:05

There was a bit too much stuffed into one episode yesterday

blyn72 · 31/01/2022 12:05

I watched last night's episode twice and was gutted at Lucille's miscarriage; however I know lots of people have them and there will be better days ahead. Excellent he has acquired a good job and also that they had an argument, that is realistic.

I hope Trixie's romance with gorgeous Matthew survives her journey to her Godmother. He + son could surely go out and see her while she is away.

Wonderful news for Phyllis. £5,000 was so much money back in 1967, you could even buy yourself a property! She will enjoy herself abroad for a while, however Nonnatus House will feel the absence of her and Nurse Franklin. Cue a couple of new people.

Hellosunshiner · 31/01/2022 12:06

@PriamFarrl

Phyllis didn’t let Lucille see how upset he was though did she?

If you really want a current Twitter spat though - apparently there were some Tweets last night relating to how Helen George's pregnancy made scenes look awkward. She politely defended herself (fair play) and then Olly Rix (Matthew) defended her by reactng to one such Tweet with, 'Take a bow. Dumbest fucking tweet of the night'... which is perhaps the least twee thing I have ever seen come out of the CTM stable on screen or off!

Yes, covering her pregnancy made it look awkward but we are adults and understand that.

I’ve just thought though, this god mother who has no one, will leave her fortune to Trixie. Will she get married and give up work?

Phyllis didn’t let Lucille see how upset he was though did she?

No, but it sat awkwardly (for me) as a viewer.

Akire · 31/01/2022 12:07

I hope Phyllis uses money buy house or flat and she can rent it out for when she retires. It’s episode 6 next week so bit late if we having any new characters starting this far along.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 31/01/2022 12:24

When Nurse Crane first arrived she was very cold towards everyone. She was kind, but no nonsense and very practical. I felt she was acting totally out of character last night. The change in writers is very obvious.

SirChenjins · 31/01/2022 13:01

I agree - the writers are really not up to the same standard as the earlier seasons. It feels like they're writing a WW2 'let's keep the public spirits up, chaps' show commissioned by the War Office, with as much schmaltz as they can possibly shoehorn into each episode. There are some amazing actors in the show, but they're being held back by the most ridiculous storylines.

SantaClawsServiette · 31/01/2022 13:06

@UnicornsReal

My grandmother was also convinced that washing your hair whilst on your period would cause a chill. Her sister died when she was 17. She just dropped dead apparently. My grandmother was convinced it was because her hair was wet that day to hair washing. Women had waist length hair in those days and there was no central heating. Also shared baths as people mention. My grandfather had the view that children shouldn’t be allowed to play in the snow on case they got chilled. He also thought if people didn’t wear slippers indoors they would get ill. So many children got fatal illnesses at one time, in unheated houses with not enough clothes or proper shoes. Keeping warm was probably very important in reducing the chances of fatality ir serious illness. No hairdryers then either.
I think we are very spoiled in terms of the ability to get warm, so we don't realize that some of these things may have had some valid reasoning behind them, even if people's understanding of the mechanisms weren't quite right. With central heating, and even things like modern fabrics for clothes, it's just a different kettle of fish.

If you go up North here in Canada to where the Inuit live, children there are taught that if they are out playing in the winter, and they start to sweat, they should stop running around. Getting sweaty means potentially getting cold and not being able to get warm again.

By the late 60s of course things were changing, but memory usually goes back two generations. The parents of kids in the late 60s would have been born in the 30s or even earlier, and the grandparents could have been Victorians. And parenting was still much more done according to the way your parents and neighbours did things.

PriamFarrl · 31/01/2022 13:15

I felt that the paraplegic dad and domestic violence story line was like two stories together. It would have been better to have spent more time on the lack of access to help for disabled people or corporate negligence.
And I also felt it said that the only reason a woman would abuse her children or husband would be when the husband was physically unable to stop her.

SantaClawsServiette · 31/01/2022 13:23

@Pebble21uk

If you've even seen Stephen McGann's Twitter feed - it often rants on and on about how CTM is 'gritty' and how they cover things as no other programme is doing. He rails against people calling it twee and nostalgic... but Dr Mansplainer doth protest too much.

At the end of the day CTM is 8pm Sunday night viewing. It has happy endings galore, simplified storylines and nostalgia in truckloads... and that's fine. That's why people watch it. Yes, the earlier series at least had more integrity but now it is what it is.
What really annoys me is this constant misplaced belief by the showrunners that they are on a par with Ken Loach! What they do to try and achive this is is place incongruous scenes in the middle of twee Sunday night viewing... such as Lucille miscarrying in full view on the toilet or a gangrenous foot coming off in someone's hand! It doesn't make it gritty - it makes it unsure of itself and its audience.

If you really want a current Twitter spat though - apparently there were some Tweets last night relating to how Helen George's pregnancy made scenes look awkward. She politely defended herself (fair play) and then Olly Rix (Matthew) defended her by reactng to one such Tweet with, 'Take a bow. Dumbest fucking tweet of the night'... which is perhaps the least twee thing I have ever seen come out of the CTM stable on screen or off!

I'm not sure I totally agree with this. I think it does cover some things that you don't see elsewhere, and at one time it did so in a very convincing way. It wasn't twee, although it would be fair to say that it had an optimistic view of people and it was intended to be viewed by a wide audience. But there was some fairly gritty stuff.

It's really lost it's way though. At a certain point it started to think in terms of "issues" rather than real human stories. "Let's have a series that focuses on the wonders of vaccination, etc." "There was a secret military operation that gave people radiation poisoning, lets fit that in somehow."

As far as the tweets though, I'd have kind of thought tweeting stuff like that though would be seen as unprofessional?

Twospaniels · 31/01/2022 13:29

There is no way Timmy Turner would have been able to get that man up those stairs pulling his wheelchair step by step!

I was waiting for it to topple and tip the man to the bottom

PriamFarrl · 31/01/2022 13:31

@Twospaniels

There is no way Timmy Turner would have been able to get that man up those stairs pulling his wheelchair step by step!

I was waiting for it to topple and tip the man to the bottom

I thought that too. And what about getting him back down again?
PriamFarrl · 31/01/2022 13:31

Surely Dr T would have done a home visit.

Clawdy · 31/01/2022 13:32

@Twospaniels

There is no way Timmy Turner would have been able to get that man up those stairs pulling his wheelchair step by step!

I was waiting for it to topple and tip the man to the bottom

Exactly what I thought!
Akire · 31/01/2022 13:34

I did laugh at that no way indeed plus the man would been bloody agony time he got
To the top like going through 20 car crashes and whiplash on each step. Is front of the surgery supposed have even more steps than the fire escape? Bet all mums
In Labour and with newborns in prams love that.

TragicMuse · 31/01/2022 15:25

I was very annoyed at the knowing references to what is usually called frozen watchfulness - that's not a 60s thing, it's early to mid 70s.

TrashyPanda · 31/01/2022 16:35

Olly Rix (Matthew) defended her by reactng to one such Tweet with, 'Take a bow. Dumbest fucking tweet of the night'

What a nasty thing to say.

Perhaps he is mortified at his bad acting and the patent lack of chemistry between him and Trixie?

This relationship has been signalled so obviously and for so long - and yet anyone watching with sound off would never twig they were supposed to fancy the pants off one another. That scene in bed had an palpable lack of attraction that would signal loud and clear to the Berlin Wall.

I know the writers are desperate to get Trixie married off - but this is ridiculous!

TrashyPanda · 31/01/2022 16:52

The fuss about organising the jumble sale was very unrealistic - jumble sales happened all the time!

I hope Trixie's romance with gorgeous Matthew survives her journey to her Godmother

have no fear, it will.
Nothing surer.
This is the season Trixie gets a man. Any man. Matthew may have a tan and teeth that rival Ross Gellers, but he’s not exactly exciting. Or even interesting. But he does have money…
He’s like a cardboard cut out - all flashy teeth and zero personality.

iklboo · 31/01/2022 17:02

The fuss about organising the jumble sale was very unrealistic - jumble sales happened all the time!

Definitely. You could decide on the Monday & have it over by Sunday teatime.

Abraxan · 31/01/2022 17:31

@TrashyPanda

Olly Rix (Matthew) defended her by reactng to one such Tweet with, 'Take a bow. Dumbest fucking tweet of the night'

What a nasty thing to say.

Perhaps he is mortified at his bad acting and the patent lack of chemistry between him and Trixie?

This relationship has been signalled so obviously and for so long - and yet anyone watching with sound off would never twig they were supposed to fancy the pants off one another. That scene in bed had an palpable lack of attraction that would signal loud and clear to the Berlin Wall.

I know the writers are desperate to get Trixie married off - but this is ridiculous!

The tweet he was referring to was stating that if the actor had wanted to be pregnant they should have left the show and not worked, and that it was unprofessional to work in her role when pregnant.

Whilst his reply to the tweet may not be recommended, he wasn't just responding to people saying it was obvious and changed the way it was filmed, felt a bit out of place at times, etc.

He was responding to a tweet that basically said pregnant women shouldn't be working, and should leave their job/role if they want a child. I doubt think his comments are particular nasty when you consider the original tweet.

The original tweet by the poster has now been deleted, his response hasn't. There are screen shots of the original tweet,

TrashyPanda · 31/01/2022 17:45

Ah, that puts a different light on it.

Thank you.

SantaClawsServiette · 31/01/2022 17:56

Women don't always work in acting when they are pregnant. Not all roles really allow for it. I don't think you can compare it to saying a woman who works in a more regular job should not work while pregnant. (And FWIW there are other jobs where pregnancy is not compatible with certain roles.)

CTM ought to be able to accommodate a pregnancy, but they sure weren't great at hiding it in this instance.

Abraxan · 31/01/2022 18:24

Pregnant female actors have been in many shows, often using the same filming techniques to shoot it.

Probably one of the most well known times was in Friends, when Courtney Cox was pregnant in the later series. Currently washing. Brooklyn 99 and one of the women are pregnant in real life, but not in the show. You can always tell to an extent but for most viewers it really isn't that big a deal.

But yes, I believe that women actors should be able to continue filming whilst pregnant and reasonably adjustments made should they wish. How they film this show and other shows would come under reasonable adjustments and don't really have that much bearing in the show overall, even less so in times of covid and distancing.

The person making the tweet claimed to continue to work/act when wanting to become.when pregnant was unprofessional. I disagree entirely.

Snorkmaidenn · 31/01/2022 18:27

I totally agree. Love this show but would stoic Phyllis cry about a windfall?