Call The Midwife Christmas Special

[PinkFrogss]

Anyone watching? Apologies if I’ve missed the thread.

noticed the 21st century idioms creeping in

They've been getting the language wrong right from the beginning.

Gosh, it was boring.

We all lost interest and talked over the last 30 minutes. I don’t think I’ll bother with it anymore.

Worst Christmas episode ever. Sister MJ is like the boy who cried wolf, she seriously needs to pop her clogs now.

I liked the story of the two new mums but that nativity was an absolute cringe fest, awful.

Had we ever heard of Trixie’s brother before? How utterly convenient that he was an osteopath! (As well as costume designer and Art Historian…)

What on earth did Fred say that Sheila mentioned the Blue Peter Appeal about?

It was an appeal for those affected by the Nigeria/Biafra war and got a lot of publicity because it was one of their most successful appeals.

Could the issues with Nonnatus House (number of rooms, name of local church) be because they moved at some point. Possibly twice?
I thought the Christmas special was alright. Not a patch on the early ones, but not the worst.

I'd love Patsy and her girlfriend (who's name escapes me) and Chummy to come back.

Ive seen him before. I think he was around for the wedding. I don't remember if we knew his occupation then though.

What year was it meant to be? Are we up the 1970s yet?

I thought Trixies brother staying at nonatus house was ludicrous, as if a young gay man would want to live with a load of nuns!!!

Patrick and Sheila were their usual simpering selves, the writers should be ashamed of themselves though, the dialogue is dismal.

I liked the storyline of the Indian man, it was refreshing to see a little bit of realism (awful living conditions, PTSD, leg ulcers etc) in between all the saccharine Christmas stuff.

My mum told me she remembered the fertility drugs coming out and there being an increase in the amount of multiple births, we took bets on how many babies she would have (I won 😉)

And yy to Nurse Crane looking frail, I also hope she's okay.

It was advertised as 1968…and yes, Patrick and Sheila are now almost parodying themselves!

They haven’t reached the moon yet.

@ConstancetheGardener I noticed when he said uptick. So wrong!

The next series is going into 1969, I think there’s another 2 series that have been agreed as well which would take it into 1971/72.

I wonder if it’ll get as far as the 80s so Dr Turner can cure AIDs

😂😂😂 My personal favourite Dr T story was him being the first person to make the link between Thalidomide and birth defects. He should have won a Nobel prize for all his groundbreaking medical breakthroughs. “Strange respiratory virus in Wuhan, you say?”… Doctor Turner would’ve had Covid sorted and banished before the end of 2019.

Apollo 8 was December 1968.

Doctor Turner would’ve had Covid sorted and banished before the end of 2019.

oh no I can even picture it! I’m sure Matthew would open a community food bank too, sister MJ would somehow survive it all, and the Turner children would be “yaying” over zoom.

Fred would be bulk buying hand sanitizer and masks to resell, and Violet would lose her position over it.

The storylines just write themselves

Def felt this one disappointing-

Felt overly long and contrived. more contrived than usual I have watched and loved if from the beginning.
Think some of the best story lines are the midwifery ones and it seems less and less about them.

I still like the Buckles and the Turner kids always cute but despite my best efforts I do not warm to Nancy or Sister Veronica. Nancy so loud and wildly overacting and Sister Veronica just annoying and I don't care about them.

Cyril seems a bit lost. Trixie's brother an interesting addition.

My biggest question is how on earth do they write Matthew out after this episode. Few scenes of him being annoyed at Trixie brother/Matthew's mother being difficult ( I was looking for departure clues) and some comments about getting rid of all of his father's properties/getting out of his business but how can they take a happy newlywed out? Surely they can't killl him?

And what of poor Trixie??

I wonder if they will write him out, rather he will ‘be away on business’ or ‘at the office’.

I still enjoy it.
I do hope they will tie up some loose ends in the next season though - for example I would like to see closure where Lucille is concerned - as the actress confirmed she won’t be coming back. Perhaps Cyril will be joining her (St. Lucia?) although that character will leave & I do love him!
So do we think that Olly Rix was forcibly written out because of what’s gone on behind the scenes, and the break up of their marriages? (Perhaps they can’t get rid of trixie - main character and too popular)
I imagine they’ll have to kill him off, leaving Trixie a widow, only having been married a short while. It’ll probably be the big storyline in the last episode of this season?

Yes I was wondering why they were getting rid of Olly Rix’s character. Could it be because the character wasn’t well received? Most of us on here didn’t like him. I was reading about Helen George & Olly Rix but sounds like they’re just friends & helping each other through a tough time. But maybe I’m naive!
Someone upthread said that Helen George is also considering leaving. I do think her character would have moved on by now but I wonder if it’s hard for Helen George to find other secure roles as she’s become a bit typecast. I wonder if that’s why most other actors like Jessica Raine & Charlotte Ritchie didn’t stay as long.

oooh maybe he will get taken out by a hitman because of the dodgy slumlord stuff his father was into and he falls foul of organised crime

or is killed doing something gallant/saving someone

matthew bingo incoming

I still need to watch last series

Interesting as Helen George & Olly Rix don’t seem to have much on screen chemistry. Maybe that’s why!
Love the comments about the Turners- spot on. Dr Turner would be fixing Covid on his zimmer frame & sister MJ would still be going somehow.

''but how can they take a happy newlywed out''

They managed it with Lucille 🙁

I hope they bring back Lucille with a different actress and I won't miss Mathew but it would be sad if Trixie had to leave as well.

I think Joey says as much on Friends- if you’re together in real life you have no chemistry on screen/stage and vice versa! Matthew is such a boring character I’m not sure he’d have chemistry with anyone mind