Call the midwife

JessM I don't know if you watched Poldark but in the first series one of the actors was pregant in real life. She carried her beloved pug dog, Horace, around all the time as a disguise, but sadly, we haven't seen so much of him in the later series!

Olivia Colman was also pregnant in The Night Manager. She wore an array of floaty scarves throughout but the series obviously wasn't filmed in sequence as the volume of the scarves expanded and contracted all the way though, hahaha!

Oh dear, I'm worrying about the ending, and the trailer. I won't spoil for anyone who'll be watching on catch up but I think the BBC may be overdoing the (necessary) public service this week.
Maybe Strike will cheer me up! Not!

Me too Elrel. I'm rather worried. No spoikers but hope it turns out ok in the end!

Spoilers I mean. And I thought Id checked before posting.

Fancy leaving us up in the air till next week!

I like it because it generally shows people at their best - being kind to each other - which makes a nice change.

With even soaps like Coronation Street now full of murder, treachery and hatred, it's just so pleasant to see a programme that is uplifting, even if it is over-sentimental at times.

Yes I agree Eleothan a very pleasant change. Interesting from an historical viewpoint as well. I started my nursing career in the 60s so it brings back memories for me

I don't think it is over sentimental, nurses kind to pregnant women, three married couples in happy marriages, a small group of women living in a nurses home and not bitching each other,

Last nights acting was a bit poor imo. The fire scenes were quite wooden, no alarm bells and who would say to an ambulance driver ‘ excuse me, can you help? ‘.
I remember a house on fire in 1960s London and there was quite a commotion and urgency.

Were many homes fitted with smoke alarms in the early 1960's ?

I noticed that too. Said to DH “they aren't in much of a hurry these firemen are they? They look like they’re sleepwalking!”

I would have said 'excuse me etc' to an Ambulance man in 1969. I probably would now!!
I 've just finished watching on catch up, and as always I loved it! I don't think the firebrigade were part of the story, that's why they appeared to be rather shadowy figures. As always it provoked emotional highs and lows. A mental home?!! How awful was that,? Twins, poor lady, but wonderful community, Sister M.J thankfully repaired, but poor Barbara, fingers crossed for her recovery!! Can't wait for the next episode!!!!

Our house certainly didn't have a smoke alarm annie, I don't know about others though! I'm mistaken about the year, of course it's 1963!! I was muddling it up with Endeavour which is 1969!

Me too niggly, the ambulance man wasn't kneeling over a body. Moral insanity ? poor women

We moved into a newly built police house in 1970 and no smoke alarms

I think J52 meant an alarm on the fire engine

who would say to an ambulance driver ‘ excuse me, can you help?
I would. What should I say?

I did mean the alarm on the engine! ?. I remember in Dixon of Dock Green the alarms on emergency vehicles were rather bell like.
Also, if someone had just come out of a burning building I’d have a sense of urgency rather than manners.
In all other circumstances I would use ‘excuse me ‘ of course.

I grew up with a girl who had 2 babies before she left school.
Roundabout the age of 15/16 she just disappeared.
Of course in those days nobody asked, did they. But looking back I'm sure all our parents knew.

I remember in the 1980's when the trend was towards residents of 'mental hospitals' moving into care in the community there were numerous tales of elderly women who'd been incarcerated for decades because they'd had illegitimate babies.

I've also seen Victorian rolls for mental asylums where some inmates were deemed to be 'moral defectives'. Thank heavens times have changed.

Perhaps someone else has commented on this earlier on this thread. But very few of the mums in labour are offered the gas and air or the pain relief injections. I had 3 babies between 1960 and 1967 and had pain relief with all three ( and appreciated it!) I really like the programme, there has been little worth watch, in my opinion, and with all the doom and gloom going on I need some lighter relief.

I like the programme -gentle Sunday evening viewing - often very moving.
But, I find some things about it puzzling.
I lived in London during the 50s and 60s and my mother had all three of her babies in large hospitals. One hospital birth (1954) was in the heart of the East End - The Mile End Hospital. But hospital births don’t seem to happen in the East End of “Call the Midwife”. Maternity Homes are mentioned sometimes.
Does anyone else think this odd? Perhaps my mother was unusual in giving birth in hospital?

Where we lived in East London in the 1950s/60s - first babies were often born in hospital and subsequent ones at home unless there was a special reason for another hospital birth.

On Call the Midwife they seem to delver quite a few babies in the maternity home which is staffed by the community midwives whereas the complicated cases and c-sections are sent to "St. Cuthberts" in the story

Aha. Thanks cold. I hadn’t noticed that there was a hospital - St Cuthberts in the story.

Both mine were born in the60s - first in Queen Charlotte’s my ‘local’ maternity ( lovely place - in for 10 days!) and second at home with a lovely pair of midwives and GP coming to check me over. Daily visits for 10 days.