Call the midwife

[TwinklyFawn]

The call the midwife christmas special is on bbc 1 in 2 parts. The first part will be shown on christmas day at 20:00. The second part will be shown at 19:30 on boxing day. Series 14 will start on 5th January. I am suprised that it has not been renamed as the doctor Turner show.

There's things that make you go eeeew but it is reflective of the times though eg when the doctor says to the young man with gonorrhoea " sometimes you get lucky but you get unlucky at the same time "

Obvious there were dads that couldn't be contacted, didn't get there in time or plan refused to attend a birth but it wasn't a shocking or wildly unusual thing for a dad to be present by 1970. When CtMW started it would have been very rare for a father to be at the birth (I seem to recall a few dads being given a very firm no by Sister Evangeline for suggesting they be allowed into the birthing room) but it is one of the things that has changed over the span of the show. Likewise hospital births had become the normal - only one of my primary school cohort was born at home and only because she arrived very swiftly.

Next threadI am sorry if my link to the next thread doesn't work. My phone has a mind of its own.

I thought she looked like her too

So am i.

Good episode I thought. I thought the same about the widower and new postulant!

I liked it too.

I assumed that she had gone back to new york.

The earlier episodes with the storylines taken directly from Jennifer Worth's book were much grittier with fewer happy endings.

I found all of the episodes with illegal abortion as a theme really well done and very moving, with no punches pulled about the consequences of women not having access to legal abortions.

It has got a lot less gritty recently. The recent episode with the baby with spina bifida surprised me because it didn't end with the parents having a change of heart and keeping the baby.

Dr T was in with Shelagh when she was giving birth. In fact, I think he was up on the bed with her!

I knew I recognised him from somewhere. DS has a good friend called Jake Moon!

I don't think that the last 2 episodes have been too bad. I managed to watch without falling asleep. However i do think that it is not as good as what it use to be.

I have really enjoyed the last few episodes. I thought the measles vaccine storyline was a good one given that there has been a decline in uptake in recent years. I was shocked but not surprised that there was no legal requirement in those days to provide an education which met the needs of disabled children. How on earth did their parents cope? I did wonder though if a child like that (I can't remember his name) might have ended up in an "institution".

I agree. I did like the last 2 episodes.

It’s interesting the show is portraying the start of the social decline now it’s 1970 - eg - mentioning the broken lifts in council flats, train strikes, the cuts to provision for disabled children. A few weeks ago it showed restrictions in providing free vitamins and orange juice etc. A real contrast to the 50s and 60s where it felt like a move towards improvements in standards of living for the poorest in society.

The 3 day week/power cuts etc are still to come. I think that was around 1973/4 if my memory serves me right. I was in primary school and remember sitting at the dining table doing schoolwork by torch/candlelight, and being cold pretty much all Winter. The 70s feel "modern" but in many ways they weren't really. My kids find it hard to believe that I grew up in a house without central heating, phone or freezer. We certainly weren't affluent but by no means the poorest people in our town. Looking back now it was a very different world. I think that in some respects the 70s were quite tough after the post war optimism had faded.

It was shown in series 3 of the crown.

I really enjoyed the social history parts of the Crown.

Agree with @AgeingDoc , grew up in a biggish house with the sum total of 2 gas fires as heating, this was quite normal. I think as kids a lot goes over your head or you just accept, but it was indeed in some ways a very different world to now. When you think roughly the same distance of time from now to then (55 years) would have put you back in the middle of WW1, hardly surprising.

Where is Nancy? One minute she's the star of the show, getting engaged, then poof - she's disappeared!

Got a job in the countryside

I remember she got a job offer but I don't remember her actually going!

It was rather...quick! Didn't she say she wanted to be married in Poplar? If so, she might be back, even temporarily.

Oh, yes. Didn't realise she'd actually gone!

I remember that she got a job offer but she did leave quickly.