That’s a fair point but the thing that made it a success originally, and so contributed to it being renewed multiple times, was the fact it was a uniquely female-centric show that had both grit and heart, and was able to balance the heartbreak of the likes of Mrs Jenkins and the young Irish girl, or the impact of illegal abortion, or the effects of thalidomide on babies, with the cosy heartwarming stories with the happy endings. It handled death with sensitivity amidst the (mostly) joy and hope of new life. And it could do subtlety well too, building a story over weeks - like Shelagh and Dr Turner realising their feelings for each other, or Trixie’s slide from party girl to alcoholic.
Now there’s no subtlety at all. We’re hit over the head with foreshadowing, there’s no pathos or real suspense or attempt at light and shade. Virtually everything is neatly tied up with a bow within one episode, and usually in such a saccharine sweet way that we need Trixie’s old dentist boyfriend to treat the resulting toothache. Characters disappear and their storyline is left to dangle; at least the likes of Patsy and Delia were namechecked once or twice after they left! It feels rushed and disjointed…Matthew’s departure was utterly ridiculous, and even putting aside the ludicrousness that May’s mother would have had any clout, how come Shelagh and Patrick have never mentioned again the sword of Damocles that is her maternal concerns hanging over them? Everything has to be seen through modern sensibilities now - can you imagine how they’d handle the brother-sister incest storyline these days? And of course we don’t want endless one-note stories of e.g. Cyril or Joyce suffering racism every week, but it’s so unrealistic that it never happens.
Of course I still watch it, out of a lingering nostalgia, a liking for a handful of the older, established characters and a certain amount of sunk cost fallacy, but it is a pale, soapy imitation of its former self.