Call the midwife 2!

[Toddlerteaplease]

Wow. I've never filled a thread before!

Wow! And lovely to see the new thread. I am going to pick up (rather weirdly) from the old one. @santaclawsserviette, you said:

Back in the 4th century St Augustine, who Sister J would certainly have been familiar with, said that even rape did not impinge on a person's virginity. Now, he meant that in a spiritual or moral sense, but that is also the sense that Sister J would likely have thought was important religiously speaking. And while some nuns might have less worldly experience, she was a practicing midwife, a nurse, she is not likely to have had odd spiritual ideas about the hymen.

I think what he actually says is that it doesn't impugn a woman's chastity if she is raped, so long as she doesn't consent within her heart. Virginity and chastity are different things. I don't think it's anything to do with 'odd spiritual ideas'. I think you're being too quick to impose contemporary values on her (which is something the series is tending to do, so I do get it). She is portrayed as having some quite particular sticking-points.

CTM has definitely gone soft.
As someone said in the previous thread, it's a modern drama with actors wearing vintage clothing.
The difference in writing on CTM and Tenko (which I'm watching on Britbox) is like night and day.
The Tenko scriptwriters didn't shy away from tough topics including war crimes, colonialism, assisted dying or unwanted pregnancy by using hindsight to make characters seem more sympathetic to audiences who were not around during WW2.

@SarahAndQuack

Wow! And lovely to see the new thread. I am going to pick up (rather weirdly) from the old one. *@santaclawsserviette*, you said:

Back in the 4th century St Augustine, who Sister J would certainly have been familiar with, said that even rape did not impinge on a person's virginity. Now, he meant that in a spiritual or moral sense, but that is also the sense that Sister J would likely have thought was important religiously speaking. And while some nuns might have less worldly experience, she was a practicing midwife, a nurse, she is not likely to have had odd spiritual ideas about the hymen.

I think what he actually says is that it doesn't impugn a woman's chastity if she is raped, so long as she doesn't consent within her heart. Virginity and chastity are different things. I don't think it's anything to do with 'odd spiritual ideas'. I think you're being too quick to impose contemporary values on her (which is something the series is tending to do, so I do get it). She is portrayed as having some quite particular sticking-points.

That's fair with regard to Augustine. But I don't think I'm being far out about Sister J. He sticking points in general seem to be what I'd expect.

Though, I will say that I think she's being written a little differently than she was in the earlier seasons. So there's that.

Wait, you have Tenko on Britbox! It's not on my Britbox! Speaking of colonialism, how about not exporting the good tv to the colonies!

One of the things though that I like about tv shows set in the past is that they give a kind of window into other ways of thinking about things. Without being as serious as a history book. Some of the enjoyment is gone without that.

YY, that's true, she is being written differently. There was something recently - I can't remember what; my brain is a sieve - that I remember thinking the earlier character would not have been ok with.

I agree with you the series has lost that feeling of being historical. It feels very 'soap' now. The 1970s setting is mostly just about costumes and sets.

Was it something to do with contraception? There was something where it seemed like they were trying to show she was coming round to the idea of the contraception classes.

Just seen a trailer for next week... and yet another very rigid baby! Is it my imagination or do they seem to be using dummy babies far more? It's probably because of Covid, but there are so many that seem to be as stiff as a board in midwives arms these days!

@Pebble21uk

Just seen a trailer for next week... and yet another very rigid baby! Is it my imagination or do they seem to be using dummy babies far more? It's probably because of Covid, but there are so many that seem to be as stiff as a board in midwives arms these days!

They're also the wrong size, so many shots of "baby on the shoulder" look like they're carrying a skittle in a blanket!!

Last week's show I loved the friendship between the young nun and the new midwife (crap with names, sorry!!) I wonder if that will be a storyline in the next few weeks because I always thought the nuns and nurses weren't really allowed to be "friends"
Just thinking back to when Cynthia transitioned and something was said along the lines of "I wanted to come and sit and talk to you but I can't now"

I’ve just finished Tenko on Britbox (including the reunion set in 1950 - what a twist!)

Really compelling. Brilliant

@twilightcafe

CTM has definitely gone soft. As someone said in the previous thread, it's a modern drama with actors wearing vintage clothing. The difference in writing on CTM and Tenko (which I'm watching on Britbox) is like night and day. The Tenko scriptwriters didn't shy away from tough topics including war crimes, colonialism, assisted dying or unwanted pregnancy by using hindsight to make characters seem more sympathetic to audiences who were not around during WW2.

We are watching Tenko too and loving it. Such a good drama.

@SantaClawsServiette

Wait, you have Tenko on Britbox! It's not on my Britbox! Speaking of colonialism, how about not exporting the good tv to the colonies!

One of the things though that I like about tv shows set in the past is that they give a kind of window into other ways of thinking about things. Without being as serious as a history book. Some of the enjoyment is gone without that.

It’s on Sky too

Ooh found you!!! Had written a massive post on the other thread to find it filled by the time I'd finished. I had quoted @Clymene

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

It really isn't a sign. I was like Lucille, sick as a dog, then on day felt fine (as Lucille mentioned that morning) and I, like Lucille, miscarried. Also has a friend who vomited continuously for eight weeks and miscarried. Ours are not unusual stories.

Only just watch - packed a lot in didn't they!

I was in primary early 80s. Vague memories of having a talk (just a talk, with only drawn pictures no actual sanitary towels or tampons no videos nor any mention of sex). It was was around the time the saintary belt was still in used- and suggested - but sanitary towels were considered more discret and comfortable. Talk came just before ending primary school.

Talk came after I'd heard people mention periods in swimming and I'd asked a friend what they were (at about 10). My mum told me nothing at all - despite the fact my sister's periods started when she was 10.

Didn't stop her, after I'd started my periods (at 12), thinking she was terrible modern by saying tampons weren't very good for "virgins". (In case you're wondering the modern but is saying virgins rather than coding it as "married women".)

She also informed my dad - not in front of me (which I suppose was fair enough). The he brought us out to a restaurant (it was someone's birthday) and made a toast at dinner!!! "Here's to LavenderAskew, who became a woman today". I mean what the fuck?

Sex education was no existent in secondary - only biology lessons - and at home it was made out to be terrifying and could only end in disaster if it wasn't with someone you wanted to marry and wanted to marry you. So that was fun.

Re the filming... read a local newspaper story about some of the babies used recently. Any close up of the baby is with the actual mother, not the actors.

Just caught up with the latest episode and found myself properly sobbing at Lucille's miscarriage. I had a miscarriage at a similar point in my pregnancy and in similar circumstances (I don't mean I was in the middle of delivering a baby ), but I was on my own went to the loo, saw the blood and then was back in the loo - just like Lucille. I went on to have two lovely children and I often think if I hadn't miscarried when I did then I wouldn't have them so it really took me by surprise that the scene affected me so much. Brought back all the memories of how bereft I felt at the time - it was at about this time of year, cold and grey - I thought I'd packed it all away. I'm glad this thread is here so I can come and post - it feel a trivial thing to talk about in RL as I know people go through much worse so thanks for listening.

I really don't want Sister Mildew stepping in to the ever emptying breach...I suppose Super Shelagh will cover a million bases like she always does, you know, deliver a baby whilst whipping up a casserole and making costumes for the charity fundraiser with her feet type thing.

This episode was the closest to weepy I've come in a while with CTM. I definitely felt like some stories were just whizzed by - the little girl abused by her mum for example, we didn't get enough time to connect with her. I hope Phyllis isn't away for too long.

@LillianGish oh I'm sorry. My experience was similar ❤.

What irritated me about the poor abused children was the fact that it only seemed to bother the dad because it was happening to him. Unless I missed that being dealt with?

Such sad histories of abuse in childhood on the last thread. It's heartbreaking.

Thanks Lavender - I think the point with the dad was that he had had a terrible upbringing (I think he said his mother was educationally subnormal) so he didn't really know what was right or wrong and just relished the order his wife brought to the children's lives. I agree it was a bit strange - as others have said, there seemed to be rather too much packed into one episode. The bombs were definitely surplus to requirements.

Only just caught up on last week’s episode - I love ctm and will watch it to the end but the social distancing is ruining it for me 😩.

Sometimes they manage it well but so much of the heart of the show was the physical contact and closeness - couples embracing each other with joy or sorrow, mothers being passed their new babies, the nurses and nuns sat together on the sofa or comforting each other about a difficult case, close-up shots of emotional dialogue etc.

There have been a couple of really odd birth scenes where the midwives are standing over the other side of the room 🤔 and don’t get me started on Cyril and Lucille (I laughed out loud when the hand appeared on Lucille’s stomach and it cut back to Cyril and he was stood 3 feet behind her)

There was one couple in a previous episode who were actually in close contact while the woman was giving birth - I think it was the one where the husband had been exposed to radiation in the navy and his wife had had stillbirths before? It made the scene so much more emotional that he was actually holding and supporting her - I wondered if they were maybe together in real life and that’s how they were able to film in close contact?

Here for tomorrow.

Carrying on from the last thread! I thought last week's was a bizarre episode for all the reasons mentioned. I laughed out loud at Phyllis's reaction to the letter as it seemed so incongruous - her cry-acting was too much
I do like the character and the actress really!

I thought Phyllis was going to pay for Cyril and Lucille to visit their families and stay behind to hold the fort. I have no idea how much that would've cost, would she still have had a tidy sum remaining to fund her deferred trip to Spain?

The way it cut from Lucille's weeping miscarriage to a scene of sister MJ and the other Nonnatus residents howling with laughter was hideous. I was multitasking at the time, looked up and assumed I'd missed a bit of plotline and a transitional sequence.

Same thing with the stillborn (or not) baby skull. It was too big and unintentionally tragicomical. I had trouble following the plotline, it was very odd.

Last week I was late to start the programme, sat down with my dinner and the gangrenous foot popped up, ffs!!

Someone mentioned the episode where the teenage mother's womb got yanked out
That was when the Turners were on their family camping trip! See what happens when St Patrick isn't available!?
Sidenote - I actually found the Turners quite amusing in that episode.

Lolling at the EastEnders version. I'm having visions of Miss Higgins/Phil MItchell grinning in the shadows 😁

I agree Tim needs to have a bit of plotline as an antidote to the Turner tweeness.

I enjoyed the episodes when they had the au pair.

Off the top of my head I'm imagining a Circle of Friends-esque plotline where a desperate/dishonest girl seduces hapless Timothy and pins an existing pregnancy on him. That doesn't seem especially believable though and these days they'd wrap it up in one episode. Sheilagh would deliver the 'premature' baby and realise it was full term and the dates didn't match up.
It would have to be something with a few more twists than that.

How about Tim impregnates an older woman who owns a pub, and leaves medical school to become a bouncer?

Which reminds me, what ever happened with the drug addicted young doctor? I guess he is just gone forever?

Yes, he was an interesting character.