Call the midwife

[NimbleHiker]

The Christmas special of call the midwife is on bbc 1 in 2 parts again. The first part is on at 20:15 on Christmas day and the second part is on at 20:30 on boxing day. I am not a fan of the Christmas special been in 2 parts. I wonder how doctor Turner and his simpering wife will save the world.

He said he was bitten and scratched by a cat in India

Cat scratch in India he said

Ah thanks, sometimes I lose concentration!

Very true. To be honest if my very naive daughter age around, what, 20/21? Took up with a guy in the middle of a divorce with a big age gap then i would be raising my eyebrows now in 2026!

No Sister Monica Joan today 😭😭😭
She's my favourite.

Yes.

Yes and getting lockjaw from a rusty nail

I do remember discussing rabies with my uncle as a kid and he said the cure was an injection in the stomach

Yes I’d have concerns about this now in 2026! Theres also a ten year ish age gap I think.

I remember talking to my mum about rabies. She had lived in Africa after the war and had seen the effects of rabies. I think she said that it was a series of injections in your stomach, not just one.

Ha! DH just mentioned the injection in the stomach. I do remember that we were all terrified of rabies as kids in the early 70s. Along with big cats escaping from zoos or circuses . I’m surprised they haven’t had that as a storyline.

No I think they are both women who didn’t want to get married 🤷‍♀️ we do exist.

Nice to see they were so attentive about the 'new' epidural. And how that enthusiasm didn't continue!

Shame that 30 odd years later I got refused an epidural, despite it being in my birth plan. Edited to say 40 odd years later, even!

Both lost their partners before marriage

There’s no cure for rabies and I think there’s only one person in the world who survived but was left with severe disability.

I think you can get rabies treatment if you suspect you’ve been infected but it’s horrible and not guaranteed to work.

Thought it was a bit sad they left that nice chap a widow and killed his only son.

Was Chummys husband one of the policemen?!

"Of the 31 rabies survivors reported in the literature (defined as survival beyond six months after development of clinical symptoms), only two recovered without neurological sequelae [6,7]; the others survived with mild-to-severe sequelae, and several died at a later stage. Calculated against an annual incidence of 59.000 rabies cases worldwide, which likely is an underestimation, the rabies survival rate is extremely low (<0.00001 %)."

That's from a 2025 paper.

That's from a 2025 paper.

I looked into the rabies vaccine last year as we were due to go on holiday.

Had to pay £30 consultation per person. You have to have a course of 3 vaccines I think it was, it would cost us near on £1000 and DC wouldn't be keen having the vaccines.

Then I discovered even if you have the vaccines if you were bitten or scratched, that just buys you time and you still need medical attention and further vaccines, just not as many as you would if you hadn't already had a course.

Sad to think all these years later, it can still be fatal. I did read the story about the lady being scratched by a dog in Morocco last year and she thought nothing of it. Shame a cure hasn't been progressed, as far as other diseases.

I wish they'd have anaesthetised the guy with rabies, instead of letting him suffer. That was traumatic! I'm sure they do anaesthetise rabies sufferers, for their own comfort.

I looked to get the rabies vaccines before going travelling but they were expensive and only gave you more time to get to hospital. Didn’t feel worth it.

Im not an animal person so wasn’t super worried.

Yeah I thought that, surely they’d give him loads of sedation and painkillers so at least he wasn’t suffering.

Poor bloke.

It is one of those scary illnesses that is not only fatal but is also a horrible death.

Yes but he hasn't featured since series 6.

I noticed that but I wonder if it is some idea she is working on that will end up being the next rescue plan for Nonnatus House. Not to be revealed until the end of the series

There is a lot of chat going on online about the beautiful song When You Are a King by White Plains. It has stirred up a lot of emotions, mine included.

It was horrible.