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.

Aggressive tweeness rather sums it up. 🙂

A previous poster prefers this to the BBC’s woke offerings, I’m no fan of those either but this is just pure colonial smugness. The self-congratulatory, missionary, Victorian in spirit attitudes are so dumb. Everyone seems so pleased with themselves not in the least self-reflective, inane.

@Needmorelegoand who was looking after him while Trixie was working.

1970. Series 15 will be set in 1971.

😆

I've just thought, there was quite a big deal made about Cyril and good girlfriend whose name escapes me spending the night together. Do we think Pastor Cyril may have been improper after all and we'll see a pregnancy out of wedlock storyline?

I’m looking forward to the prequel series.

I love how Dr Turner gets shoe-horned into every major plot line. You can tell his Missus writes the show! 🙄

I did enjoy the first part however, need to watch the second part on the iPlayer.

I thought sister MJ was a real person - was she not from quite a wealthy background?

My husband thinks it’s a load of twee mawkish drivel and to be fair he’s not wrong nowadays, but he doesn’t believe me when I tell him the original series based on the books are actually quite grim and gritty.

Apparently Christmas 2027 will be the start of the prequel series. And then not sure when exactly but the prequel series will be followed by the film (presumably set in the 70s) with series 16 to follow.

I thought series 15 and the film was the last, assumed the film would be aired Christmas 2027 with prequel to follow but seems they’ll be continuing with both?

If I was writing CTM I’d have the film focussing on the nuns having to move on to a new calling, sister Monica Joan passes and when going through her belongings they find a journal she kept from the war. This then leads on to the prequel series as a Sister Monica Joan memoir like CTM was Jenny’s.

We've had lots of relatives so I'm just starting episode one.

So they've left the entirety of poplar with a handful of very junior staff and Trixie who has essentially done the occasional bank shift, while spending money she and whatsisface supposedly don't have flying back and forth across the world and gadding about in Antigua.

This'll go well........

And the rest of them are playing white saviour in HK probably making more trouble than they solve.

And young Tim might be a baby doctor but I wouldn't leave him in charge of his younger siblings for however long.

Giggling right now at the obviously fake rubbing of the meconium baby and flicking of the very pink and well perfused feet of the kid who is supposed to be a little flat at birth.

I thought it was quite good to be fair - very predictable and the HK storyline was bizarre- but it was pure CTM silliness.

I think they should wind things up with series 15/16 tbh, nuns delivering babies at home just doesn’t work in the 1970s.
I’m looking forward to the prequel series but the film will probably be rubbish.
If I was the writer I’d think about a spin-off series carrying on from the mid 70s based in Poplar and around Dr Turner’s GP practice and the district nurses clinic, lots of the current characters could stay on then and it would be fun to see how life evolved through the 70s and 80s

I liked the second part better.

I was curious about nuns talking about people coming for them when they die? I thought they wouldn't believe in the spirit world?

I think Sister Monica Joan was an amalgam of several different people.

That moment in part 2 when Dr T and Fred look at each other in the taxi is pure comedy. Honestly felt like it was out of a slapstick.

It really was borderline panto and I love it normally!

I wonder if Timothy would come out of retirement to say the world from covid.

My year of birth. I had a very interesting birth story but sadly my notes were lost :-(

Has Vi's son and colleagues completely solved gangs in HK then? Just barge in and arrest the Liverpool mafia boss while he's negotiating with Dr T about playing Uno for his son and job done? Now perfectly safe to take the kid and leave the mum and new baby in HK?

I'm surprised Dr T didn't turn out to be an expert in Mahjong, win the game and become the supreme (benevolent) mafia overlord.

Dr T and Fred were absolute idiots. Having ascertained that Esther was hiding from the mafia boss and that mafia boss had a spy on every street, they merrily sauntered around HK on and off ferries openly talking about taking the boy back to the UK.

It's just stupid. Early series Dr T would have known how to keep his mouth shut.

I'm disappointed by female Dr. Having gone for a woman out would have been rather nice to have her competent given that the usual struggle for female doctors at the time was people thinking them incompetent when they were perfectly skilled. Though Tiny Tim saying that their training assumed hospital birth was drawing parallels to things like the loss of skill in breach birth we have now.

The crazy party was the only realistic thing about the whole bloody episode.

I reckon Trixie will be fine after the forceps. She's done a CS before. They really should have had her go become a doctor after that instead of her stupid story line that has seen her become a charcature of herself.

The crazy party was the only realistic thing about the whole bloody episode.

I had the same thought myself. I am one of the oldies on MN so I was young during the period of this episode, and yes, the party definitely brought back a memory or two. 😀

I dont think Sister Julienne would be too happy if she knew of the goings on in the nunnery 🤣🤣

Completely agree. Women had still to work hard to become doctors in that period and I don't think her being incompetent was true or good.

The daft drunken party was fun.

No doubt. Some of the crowd I hung around with back in the day would have donned the nuns' habits; in fact I was half expecting that when they came down the stairs singing.

I'm watching now. I don't think she's useless just inexperienced in obstetrics. Timothy said they don't do much at med school any more as the assumption is babies will be born in hospital. The same would have applied to a younger male GP.

I'm a big CTM fan, but that was pure rubbish.

An assortment of midwives and Dr. T. rushed off to Hong Kong to save the day, after the building collapsed. With nowhere to stay and no plan in place for when they got there, other than a vague desire to help.

Dr. T. and Sheila left their children home alone. Even though it's only a few episodes since Sheila was frantic at the prospect of being found to be an unfit mother to her adopted child.

Trixie inexplicably came back to the UK, leaving Matthew behind. And then effectively abandoned her stepson to resume midwifery duties.

The Traveller lady desperately wanted to have her grandchild baptized but was happy to let someone perform the baptismal rite who wasn't (1) a priest and (2) a Catholic.

And that's before you get to the bit where Dr. T. and Fred are taken prisoner by a triad gang!

I did enjoy the party scenes. Although I was surprised at Geoffrey offering Trixie a cocktail. Maybe I missed something and it was alcohol free?

I was a bit annoyed initially at the portrayal of the female GP as incompetent, because she had no experience of a breech birth. But then one of the characters (Timothy?) pointed out that most of those births take place in hospitals. So it was unlikely that a GP would have experienced a breech birth. I think it was yet another indication that society was changing and home births were becoming less popular.

Sr. Veronica was very taken with the abandoned baby girl in Hong Kong. I was wondering if she had plans to leave the convent and adopt her. I seem to remember her expressing a desire to be a mother in an earlier episode. Although I'm sure that would have been frowned upon back then - it would have meant she was effectively a single parent.

The Traveller lady desperately wanted to have her grandchild baptized but was happy to let someone perform the baptismal rite who wasn't (1) a priest and (2) a Catholic. at an ante natal class in 1980 the midwife told us that in an emergency anyone could baptise a baby so that rang completely true (although it wasn't actually an emergency ).