Call the Midwife

[Toddlerteaplease]

Well this is boring.

Yeah the bomb was very weird.

Also I'm annoyed about the miscarriage. Lucille had quite bad morning sickness and that is a sign of low miscarriage risk. I'm guessing she was supposed to have been 2nd trimester too.

Still, at least the miracle doctor didn't feature much this week

@TrashyPanda

Timothy could be living in 1957, not 1967.

His middle-aged father is more hip than he is!

I’d love to see Tim get with it in an Afghan coat, with long hair, granny glasses and a zappata moustache. Oh, and a CND tshirt.

I would love to see that!

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

It seems a bit disingenuous that Sister Julienne wouldn't have fully understood what was in the box (STs, ST belts, etc), surely?

And was the NSPCC something that children would have really known about in the 1960s? Certainly in terms of calling them for help? I think that only became a thing that was widely publicised in the 21st Century?

Why wouldnt S. Julienne know? She is still a woman who would have had periods, there would be no requirement to suffer without proper sanpro just because she was a nun. And she is also a midwife who would need to keep on top of all of the available products for new mothers.

The NSPCC was widely known at that point, children would certainly have heard of it and what it was for but (like when Childline was launched) many would not have known how to get help.

Helen George is one of those lucky lasses who positively blossom when pregnant. I don’t think she’s looked better.

I’m playing spot da hide de bump. My favourite cover so far was the whacking great teapot with the voluminous knitted cosy just in front of said bump.

I felt for Phyllis. I am about her age and have a bit put by. I wish I’d have had more disposable income in my youth. I think her initial tears were of regret. (I wouldn’t have been so thrifty and pulled back on life’s experiences if I’d have known this was going to land in my lap sort of thing)

And her tears for Lucille were (as was said above) more of a different regret. Her luck v Lucille’s misfortune.

I think Phyllis has lived the life she might have wanted through some of the young uns and their losses will remind her of her lost dreams or experiences.

I think Phyllis knows great sorrow.

And I also think she’s marvellous.

Although not so marvellous as Timmy and his humphing of the man and the chair up the stairs.

The camera panned away before his breeks split and turned green. And sported a more dishevelled hairstyle than his dad.

I have just messaged DD1 who is on call and cant sleep. I said "If you and (her DP) have a baby dont tell me you are pregnant. Tell me that you are going to visit your Godmother in Portofino". She told me off as she laughed enough to wake her on-call room mate up :o

@Socialcarenope

SantaClawsServiette there was a show I watched years ago, but I can't remember what, where one of the main characters was pregnant in real life and they made no adjustments what so ever in the show, she was just obviously pregnant, but it was just ignored. Weirdly kind of worked once you got used to it.

Ha that is quite funny!

It doesn't bother me either particularly, but I some people are more sensitive about that sort of thing. It probably doesn't help that the filming has been so weird looking over all. Its the same with Vera - I really wonder why some shows are making the covid adjustments so much more obvious. Is it just less talented camera work?

I was wondering if CTM had to be more careful due to a more vulnerable cast. A few elderly members, HG pregnant, Reggie with DS plus all the guest appearances rather than a constant cast.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

I was wondering if CTM had to be more careful due to a more vulnerable cast. A few elderly members, HG pregnant, Reggie with DS plus all the guest appearances rather than a constant cast.

Probably that plus the fact it was filmed longer ago than a regular show like Casualty or one of the soaps, so social distancing rules would be different

It seems a bit disingenuous that Sister Julienne wouldn't have fully understood what was in the box (STs, ST belts, etc), surely?

Why wouldnt S. Julienne know? She is still a woman who would have had periods, there would be no requirement to suffer without proper sanpro just because she was a nun. And she is also a midwife who would need to keep on top of all of the available products for new mothers

Misunderstandings on both sides here, I suspect. NewModelArmy wasn't saying that Sister Julienne didn't know, but that it was disingenuous for the programme to suggest that she didn't.

But I don't think it was suggesting she didn't know anyway. All she said was that there was a box full of "personal items" that someone seemed to have donated to jumble, she didn't say that she didn't know what the items were.

@SantaClawsServiette, I would like to see more of Sister Hilda too.

Also, I think the show with the actress who was pregnant and no mention made of it was Mitchell and Webb and the actress was Olivia Colman. It worked because it was a sketch show.

Why wouldnt S. Julienne know? She is still a woman who would have had periods, there would be no requirement to suffer without proper sanpro just because she was a nun. And she is also a midwife who would need to keep on top of all of the available products for new mothers.

She knew exactly what they were (apart from the "sanitary briefs" or whatever they called them), she just said that they weren't suitable for the jumble sale.

I love watching Hide the Bump. There's no way they can possibly hide a pregnancy completely.

Perhaps Trixie will be swept off her feet (properly!) while she's in Portofino? And come back married, after a whirlwind romance! Stranger things have happened!

Oh no, I think poor Trixie is stuck with Tragic Wealthy Widower

[quote Justkeeppedaling]www.mum.org/nikini.htm[/quote]
I was trying to remember these the other day - Nikini! They seemed so neat and different back in the day - special pads that clipped on at the front in a totally different way from the big bulky pads that hooked on front and back.

[quote Justkeeppedaling]www.mum.org/nikini.htm[/quote]
It wasn't true that we didn't wear close fitting pants at that time as stated in the ad. Also I wore those before 1972 as I had started wearing tampons by then. The Nikini pants I had were a softish plastic that went hard after washing although a more expensive woven/jersey version came out later I think. They were very uncomfortable although not as bad as the pad and belt worn previously. I do remember a hard bit of plastic sticking in me all day while I was at school.

There was a thing about not wearing tampons until you were married. I think this was because you were told not to touch yourself 'down there' so you didn't really know your way around. I wasn't successful in inserting a tampon until a boy had found the way first. (I don't mean the tampon)

Re pregnant actresses. When the actress playing Daphne in Frazier was hugely pregnant they had a very 'knowing' story line that she was putting on weight. They eventually sent her off to a health farm and later announced that she had lost 9lb something. The studio audience all cheered.

@Socialcarenope

SantaClawsServiette there was a show I watched years ago, but I can't remember what, where one of the main characters was pregnant in real life and they made no adjustments what so ever in the show, she was just obviously pregnant, but it was just ignored. Weirdly kind of worked once you got used to it.

Not the same, but in the West Wing Margaret is quite obviously pregnant for quite some time. Eventually someone comments 'I didn't even know she was married' and someone else gives them a sharp look.

And that is the whole conversation.

I love it.

@SoupDragon

Why wouldnt S. Julienne know? She is still a woman who would have had periods, there would be no requirement to suffer without proper sanpro just because she was a nun. And she is also a midwife who would need to keep on top of all of the available products for new mothers.

She knew exactly what they were (apart from the "sanitary briefs" or whatever they called them), she just said that they weren't suitable for the jumble sale.

I think she possibly would have been a bit shocked about tampons.

It is perfectly possible (indeed, likely) that in an Anglican order in the 1970s the nuns would not have been expected to use tampons; I think it's really unlikely they would have been using them at the time when Sr Julienne was pre-menopause.

@Socialcarenope

SantaClawsServiette there was a show I watched years ago, but I can't remember what, where one of the main characters was pregnant in real life and they made no adjustments what so ever in the show, she was just obviously pregnant, but it was just ignored. Weirdly kind of worked once you got used to it.

Was it Collateral with Carey Mulligan as a police officer? Huge bump, no one mentioned it, she just got on with her work. Great series.

I think the whole "Hide the bump" attempt has just been so much more obvious because the social distancing is so obvious so people are noticing the awkward camera angles/strategically placed teapots etc.

I noticed the social distancing first because it is so obvious - Lucille and Cyril are the most formal newlyweds ever seen and none of the mothers in labour ever want their husband to hold their hand rather than stand in the corner of the room etc - which meant I was more heightened to noticing that Trixie was always filmed behind a door, in her massive cloak when it's supposed to be 100°c outside, with a strategically placed teapot or picnic basket etc

If the rest of the filming was done "normally" without social distancing then the occasional strategic teapot would be able to be used much mode effectively - that picnic she went on with Matthew, if they were walking along and she was pushing the pram or holding Matthew's arm and so holding the basket over her body then her bump would be camouflaged but it would be natural, but because they were so clearly social distancing then her walking along carrying the basket over her bump just looked awkward and obvious.

I think she possibly would have been a bit shocked about tampons.

It is perfectly possible (indeed, likely) that in an Anglican order in the 1970s the nuns would not have been expected to use tampons; I think it's really unlikely they would have been using them at the time when Sr Julienne was pre-menopause.

I don't think there would be many feminine hygiene arrangements that would shock Sister J.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

I was wondering if CTM had to be more careful due to a more vulnerable cast. A few elderly members, HG pregnant, Reggie with DS plus all the guest appearances rather than a constant cast.

Yes, this may well be the case.

I know there are some casts that have basically been completely closed, but I imagine that for some shows, it's not possible for the cast members to be completely away from their family for all of filming.

@SantaClawsServiette

I think she possibly would have been a bit shocked about tampons.

It is perfectly possible (indeed, likely) that in an Anglican order in the 1970s the nuns would not have been expected to use tampons; I think it's really unlikely they would have been using them at the time when Sr Julienne was pre-menopause.

I don't think there would be many feminine hygiene arrangements that would shock Sister J.

Absolutely! From what I remember of the books, Sister Julienne and the other nuns had seen all kinds of things. I remember one story in the book where an elderly lady put a potato "up there" as she had a prolapsed womb and it propped things up. This was not uncommon.

Tampons would have seemed positively posh. Whether the nuns used them or not is a different matter, but they wouldn't be shocked by them! Far from it!

Did you not see earlier episodes when Sister J was very definitely shocked about the idea of providing contraception advice?

Obviously she had seen thousands of unmarried mothers, illegitimate children, and botched home abortions.

Her reaction to tampons in the hallway isn't anything to do with being an innocent shrinking violet. It's clearly coming from the same place as her reaction to contraception talks - she wouldn't think Nonnatus House was the place for it and I suspect she wouldn't approve of unmarried women using tampons.

It's really not that long ago people considered tampons quite inappropriate for unmarried women (because it was thought it might damage the hymen). My cousin was an Anglican nun; she's not still with us so I can't ask her what she'd have thought, but I'd be gobsmacked if she'd have thought tampons were acceptable.