Call the midwife

Greatest manipulator must be Dickens and I love his books and all the tv series over the years , he makes me laugh,cry, angry.

Surely there should be room for all sorts of TV with out people being judgmental. On Sunday we had Call The Midwife followed by Strike.

Some people read Shakespeare, some murder mysteries, some fantasy and some Mills and Boon. And, the viewing figures show they are doing something right.

Anniebach, certainly they do! It's human to be unable to be completely objective.

Because a story and its clever writer makes you cry does not mean that the story is dishonest. It's when the themes are simplistic or lying that a story is a bad story.

I agree with Anniebach that the themes she lists are all genuine human situations, which are still current.

The Jamaican midwife's dilemma was interestingly complicated by her strong sense of duty . Should she stay on at the snobbish church and try to get them to change for the better, or should she go with her heart and worship God in the way she knew? I replied to you in another thread that I am not a churchy person but I was envying the small Jamaican congregation that they had such good religion.

Do not most writers manipulate ?

Thats pretty much what happened to me NFK. As I said I only watched it yesterday having run out of dramas to watch. I didn't mean to sneer. I suppose I'm irritated at what feels like a pretty cynical bunch of writers manipulating the emotions of Sunday evening viewers, mostly women. We deserve better.

Sickly sweet ? A young woman dying, a teenage boy becoming a father and being sent to prison , a woman from Jamaica trying to cope with racism , a middle aged single, childless woman grieving ? this is sickly sweet ? and Hitchcocks Pyscho was a comedy I suppose ?

We watch it because we loved the other series and most of the characters are really good, but it's getting more and more sickly sweet. I think we're on the verge of going cold turkey and quitting.

Didn't Barbara's parents work abroad somewhere remote as missionaries? Or maybe be that was another character.

Now - get a grip!!
Sorry, not yet, we have next week's episode to get through first!

We often find there are two or three things we'd like to watch on at the same time and record one or two of them - all ready and waiting for when there is nothing else that appeals. Otherwise it's the radio or some music.

I agree, Barbara's parents would undoubtedly have been informed and summoned as she was SO ill!

That is one thing that always puzzles me about these kinds of series - no-one seems to have relatives who come to weddings, parties, sickbeds or come to stay at all! Yet we know that Barbara had parents who surely would have rushed to her bedside but only Tom and work colleagues were there for her.

Yes, I wondered about that too nigglynellie.

Jane10 I gave Celebrity Big Brother, Collateral, Marcella and Requiem one or two viewings before deciding I wasn't going to warm to them. Then I stopped watching them.

What is the point of continuing to watch a programme that you think is full of uninteresting characters and which you believe to be manipulative?

And really you're not just pulling the programme to bits - you're also sneering at people who do like it.

Forgive me Jane10 and NikD, if you don't like the programme, why do you watch it? I don't like certain programmes, so instead of watching them and pulling them to bits I don't watch them!

Yup I'm with you NFK and Grandma70. It felt even more saccharine than usual. Blatant manipulation. That doctor is so wet I could smack him. The only interesting character in it is sister Monica Joan.
Only watched it this pm as I'd watched everything else due to being stuck in.
I'm sure you others all felt the better of a good cry. Now - get a grip!!

Grandma70 you’re not a lone voice. I too felt manipulated. The orchestrated way the SW brought the Barbara’s death to a crecendo felt too arranged. I knew she was going to die at the beginning.

It's ok Niggly, I am glad I have been forewarned. It was one reason why I read the thread.

Oh loopyloo, I'm afraid the game has been given away! sorry!! Do watch it though, but make sure you have tissues at the ready!!!

Oh dear, can I bear to watch this episode now? DH back at work tomorrow so can watch it in peace. Life was hard for so many people and still is.

Thanks annie, and as a postscript, the babies and the joy they bring are gorgeous - Quite takes me back!

So very sad, but I thought it was very well done. Phyllis is so real... I know it's corny but I really feel I know her! She is a brilliant actress. Don't know if I can bear to watch the funeral next week... I don't usually get emotional about telly dramas, tell myself it's not real, but last night's CTM was something different altogether!

Summed up perfectly niggly ?

I agree, Barbara's parents would undoubtedly have been informed and summoned as she was SO ill! BUT, I wept for Barbara, for Tom Nurse Crane, in fact everyone!! What a terrible disease this was/is. Even fifty years along the line it is still a killer. I know at times C.T.M is a bit dismal, but Nurse Anderson has found a lovely group of friends, there is hope for the young man and his young family, and Timothy likes the Rolling Stones, so it's not all despair!

Yes was well acted, but I agree, I felt that we were being manipulated and found it difficult to get any real emotion. Also, surely, her parents should have been called when she was so ill.

Yes, very sad, was choked....Very well acted ...next week, the last week, wont be much cheerier either as its the funeral....