MATERNAL ITV MON 9pm. TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

One of the recent shows in the slate of new dramas is also Maternal, a six-part medical drama that centres on three women who are not only juggling their lives as new mothers, but also the post-pandemic world of frontline medicine.

We follow Maryam, a paediatric registrar, Catherine, a general and trauma Surgeon, and Helen, a registrar in acute medicine, who are played by Parminder Nagra (DI Ray), Lara Pulver (The Split) and Lisa McGrillis (King Gary) respectively. It's a stellar cast with an important plot line.

Maternal tells the stories of the three leading doctors as they each attempt to balance their increasingly demanding jobs in post-pandemic frontline medicine with their lives as new mothers. It's a series concerned with motherhood, as much as it is about the NHS and the intense demands of working in it.

According to the synopsis: "Maternal explores working motherhood with wit, warmth and humour and offers a unique perspective on our beloved, overstretched NHS, and the people who hold it together. Sometimes."

I felt a bit sorry for Guy. I think they are trying to show how he went through a lot of stress during the pandemic with a lot of people dying. He was living separately from his wife as she was pregnant. Probably got involved with the junior doctor as a release from the stress (not an excuse but an explanation).

Found myself shouting "Go Catherine" on more than one occasion!

I kept thinking they would realise they were friends and sack them both!

Helen deserves to be consultant.

She totally does @daffodilandtulip - the guy who got the job is a petty, sexist wanker.

Loved this series! Hope there's a season 2!

Just when I thought at the end of the previous episode that I couldn't hate Jack more, he surpassed himself in vileness in the operating theatre scene. He'll go far in his career.

I loved this series. Hope they make another one!

I hadn’t considered that the note could
be anything other than suicide. Doctor suicides are relatively common. Aware of several colleagues lost during my career.

Awww that was good

Hope for a s2

Glad Catherine had maz's back

Wow at the vaginal massage but obv worked

As shagging lars

That was unexpected

Glad he didn't die

Jack Rota was mean to Catherine

Glad maz said no to the baby. Least will have a loving home

she basically paid £50 for a fingering!
that was great

The final episode was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster wasn't it? Just hope Catherine has contraception sorted nowadays. Don't want them trying to fly two babies two and from Sweden!!

I hope Catherine can get a similar position at a different hospital and outshine smug Jack. Also hope that Maz feels able to return to practice at a later date. She's such an empathic doctor, would be a waste for her to leave permanently. Not sure I could have stepped up to my husband's role under Helen's circumstances but good luck to her.

I really hope there is a second series. This has been one of the best things I've watched for ages!

Overall really liked this. A few general thoughts.

1. The houses and cars were a bit too fancy (I know Guy comes from money but the rest of them! Being a registrar isn’t that well paid, and because of quirks of the contract although salary does increase when you become a consultant take home often doesn’t change that much).
2. The close parallels with the Bawa-Garba case were hard hitting and generally well done. Don’t know if Edward would have survived even if they had made a call to micro and come up with an antibiotic choice (and sourced it from pharmacy if not normal ward stock)
3. The parking! Very unrealistic they were all getting spaces so near the hospital!
4. Nice to see the adoption storyline
5. Oliver Chris very believable as posh boy who has fallen into medicine without necessarily a passion for it. Played very similar roles in Motherland, Trying and The Crown. Does he ever play any non-feckless parts?!
6. Infuriating to see the golf scenes vs Catherine’s treatment, and that she was on the back foot on interview day because of never ending service provision and a series of unfortunate events. However agree she didn’t present herself as the best candidate. Poignant that the female interviewer was steering her away from mentioning maternity leave. Sure she’ll be snapped up soon.
7. Not quite sure what to make of paediatric consultant. I think probably a bit burned out.
8. Thought the thread of covid damage through so many characters was nicely done. Can see how living apart/pregnancy/maternity really helped drive the wedge further between Guy and Helen.
9. Doctor alcohol issues well shown and discussed
10. Not sure why Helen was so hesitant to discharge the ED sister’s wife when they were so clear about their wishes. Fairly damning view of Oncologists from the writers.
11. Loved the Med Reg being paged for the bin fire and them talking about the birds.

yes the golf story was surely old fashioned? but may be not?
she can't keep adopting siblings, the birth mother might never stop! it was wrong of her husband to push her to

Oliver Chris was in Bluestone 42, he was good in that
why didnt he have a side room at least!

I also really enjoyed this and hope there will be another series, but just to add to @32WindsorGardensBinLorry list:

• All those swanky offices for the consultants! There are over 700 consultants in my trust, so my mind was boggling at how they've managed to fit in (and fund!) one of those glass and steel dreams for seemingly each of theirs

It was all a bit "old boys club" wasn't it?

Maybe it was to imply that Catherine didn't have a chance even if she had had childcare?

Where if the baby was jacks then he would be under the same predictament of childcare and not assuming always comes down to mum

Felt a bit sorry for Bridget /Swedish wife

Lars obv doesn't care about her

If they will always take off babies off some mums - why don't they sterilise them

Surely got to be better then getting preg and knowing baby will be taken off you

On the whole, I've enjoyed most of the series but why did they pretend it was set in Manchester when only Helen had a northern accent? Apart from the opening scene where Catherine is driving into work, nowhere else appeared to be Manchester.
The same thing happened last night on Channel 5 thriller Desperate Measures, I was thinking this isn't anything like Manchester. Turns out it was filmed in Budapest!

I loved the background music. Some great tracks.

Felt a bit sorry for Bridget /Swedish wife

Yes-that's the irony(?) isn't it?

Lars can only "look after" Elis because his wife does it!

If Jack was the father I wonder how involved he would be?

He'd probably talk the talk but at the end of the day he couldn't be forced to have Elis & would probably cancel with Catherine still being in the shit!

Obviously the childcare rates in Sweden would be a hue help-but still no good for nights.

You'd need care in the day so you could sleep plus in the night to work!

Maybe Helen's nephew will come into play somehow if there's another series!

It’s not set in Manchester. Can’t remember if it’s supposed to be Leeds or Bristol (virtually indistinguishable, obvs)

Liverpool?

I don’t think the geography is unbelievable. Doctors will often have moved for uni and again for training jobs. And it’s still a bit of a privileged occupation with higher proportion of private school applicants etc so quite possible the docs don’t have regional accents. I think the nurses and admin/porter staff did a bit more?

@ LoobyDop 😀
All the accompanying publicity states 'While it is set in Manchester, it was filmed in Liverpool. The writer didn't want to set it Liverpool as there's already a famous children's hospital, Alder Hey located there

I’ve just read that this is being dropped, no second series🧐Ridiculous! Of course it wasn’t going to get really high viewing figures- low figures is the reason stated- it was launched on a new channel for starters.

This is like some kind of dirty Netflix move by ITVx. Apart from being funny, clever and relevant, it was such a great cast aswell. Boooo to the decision makers at ITVx, who are clearly tied to revenue targets for the channel- but wouldn’t it be good if they could have some faith in great drama writing and the value that comes from word of mouth recommendations if a show is available as a box set. I wouldn’t have watched half the things I have if it weren’t for recommendations, not just when a show first launched.

It's hardly on a new channel. It's on ITV, it's just that itvx is the new streaming service in place of itvhub. But same channel

I'm sad about this.
It was such a great series.