First time watching call the midwife. I am shocked how different life was in the 50s

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I am very late to the party here. But just getting in to this now. It’s so shocking how much society has changed. I was a 70s baby which isn’t really all that much later. It’s weird to think how much different life is now.

I dunno a girl I went to school with is clearly mixed race her parents are white nobody said anything! We are in our 50s so further off from that episode, which the wife was younger than the husband and I do think he did it so he wouldn't be alone and his wife was happy

@Over71 that story was one from the original book - which were (mostly) true stories.
If I remember correctly the couple were older and had never had children. The husband was so happy to be a father and so happy his wife could finally be a mum that he did except the child.

Thinking about outside toilets - both sets of my grandparents still had these in the early 70s. One a 1930s council house in the midlands , and the other a terrace in south wales.

My Mum was born in 1960 and says a lot of CTM is nothing like her childhood either. She lived in a nice 3 (possinky 4) bedroom, 3 storey house. Large garden. My Grandma gave birth in hospital. She didn't smoke or swear. But she's very aware that she had a relatively privileged upbringing.

That doesn't mean CTM is wrong or inaccurate. Just her life was different.

That said there are a lot of elements I recognise from my 1980s early childhood. Like parties in the church hall/community centre. Easter bonnet parades. Etc.

That story was I. The original books by Jennifer Worth, which were autobiographical, so assume it was true. Amazingly!

He probably knew the child was going to be mixed race .

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/oct/01/below-the-poverty-line-slum-britain-in-the-1960s-in-pictures

Photos by Nick Hedges featuring living conditions in British slums up to 1970.

There are plenty of storylines about racism and I remember one specifically on smoking too

to add to the other replies I think to really hammer it home the baby the used on tv was very dark skinned. He didn’t look like a baby who had a white mother. The baby in the original story was probably fairer and therefore easier for someone to kid themselves.

Also a lot of black and mixed race babies come out a lot lighter and their skin darkens over the first few weeks. It’s actually an issue the other way around and something sometimes midwives need to give reassurance around in modern times! Black husband with black wife is worried when baby first arrives because baby looks to light to be his.

My DC were born in the early 1990s and while central heating and indoor bathrooms were the norm they were not ubiquitous.Their childminder lived on an estate where these were being installed at that time. It was also not uncommon for people not to have phones in their homes .i was working as a GP and always carried change for the phone box in case I needed to call an ambulance or speak to the hospital.

I’m not saying there wasn’t some exceptions to the rule but it must have been pretty rare not to have indoor bathrooms in the 90’s!

I remember a story in one of the women's magazines (take a break or similar) where a pregnant woman wasn't sure who was the father, her white on and off partner or the black man she had a ONS with. The baby came out looking white and The as he got older it was obvious that he was the result of the ONS. Although by then her partner had had several weeks of thinking the baby was his biological child.

It's amazing the things some people try and get away with. My PIL got married because she was pregnant with dh. Close family know the truth but they told a lot of people that dh was born at 30 weeks, weighing 6lb. Which was a pretty average full term birth weight back in the 1970's. When my 4th baby was born at 35 weeks, needing cpap and with a brain scan that looked like a 33 weeker, the drs kept asking if I was sure about my dates despite him being 7lb 2oz so maybe it would be possible to have a 30 week baby weighing 6lb. Very unlikely though. With dc4 I had taken a positive test at 4 weeks pregnant so there was no way he was a 33 week baby.

My parents got married because my mum was pregnant it was a total disaster of a marraige he was abusive and my mum was very young, I'm so glad we don't live like this anymore.

@aodirjjd
Agreed it was unusual but it is just an illustration that there is a huge range of normal at any one time .

I don't know where you lived in Sheffield, of course. You must have been very lucky.

I came to Sheffield in 1965 and was appalled by the poverty and shocking housing. The town centre was grim. It was like visiting the mid 19th century. I still have very vivid memories of the dreadful conditions many old people lived in.

When we bought our first house there 1969, we had no central heating or double glazing, no telephone of course (new build). We were teachers.

Incidentally I worked in the centre of Salford / Manchester in the 80s.

A colleague was doing home visits to try and improve school attendance. He went into a girl's home - there was no furniture in the main room just a couple of boxes and an alcove with her school uniform hanging there. Her mother explained she couldn't come to school until the clothes were dry. (There was no heating in the house.)

About the same time I was trying a find accommodation for a visiting student. In Lower Broughton there were houses with 2 of the 3 steps upto the door missing, couple of the panels in the door gone, filthy and hardly any furniture etc etc. Council housing was luxurious living in contrast.

Yes, to this. My father coming from Europe in the 40s to join the British army, was amazed when the young soldiers hastily said ' Mind your language ' when a woman got on the train.

What shocked me were the abortion storylines, one series had a lot of them culminating with the death of a mother and the prosecution of one of the midwife's grandmothers as an illegal abortionist.

I'm so glad we have safe and illegal abortion now.

I have read the books. They are very good but in places make very, very grim and difficult reading. There is nothing rose-tinted about them at all.

Which part did you buy in?

My dad's family are from that general area. I remember when call the midwife first came out, he was disgusted at the portrayal of washing hung across the road. Everyone was poor, but they all had Standards.
The area I grew up in had washing across the street, until the 1990s I think. Back to backs.

It’s a poor area - and 1930s style poverty went on well into the 50s, as it look a while for the post war welfare state to tackle it.

A middle class or even upper working class area would feel less distant. But the 30s and 50s are both broadly mid century with similar social norms.

A lit more changed in how we live from the 50s to the 70s than the 30s to 50s. By the 70s lots more stuff, tech, holidays, clothes, cars, bathrooms, women working, pop culture, people better educated.. it’s much more recognisable to us now.

I was born in London in the early 50s. I think it's a very accurate, albeit sanitised, description of how very many people lived. I wish more people would bear this in mind on the boomer bashing threads.

The first few series (those with Nurse Jenny Lee in them) are based on her memoirs (Jennifer Worth is her married name), so definitely not for anyone else to claim is sanitised or not realistic, especially not someone who was very young at the time (pretty much anyone still alive now!). There is plenty of racism and some horrific storylines, but no swearing because of the watershed. They are set in the slums of the east end which are cleared and replaced with more modern housing during the program, so clearly aren’t going to reflect life at that time in suburban affluent areas!

The most harrowing story I can recall is the one of Mrs Jenkins, the old lady who had lost all of her children in the workhouse, and the two siblings who were in a relationship. Both were from the memoirs and about as gritty as it gets…

My lovely mum who is 78 was born and bred in London, as was I. She loves the books and programme but says 'I never knew it being like that in the 50s' - I remind her that she lived in a large house in Dulwich village and went to JAGS (a posh school!) so probably didn't; but up the road/across the water, plenty of people did.