Call the midwife

It's that doctor and his wife that make me nauseous. They're soooo wet! Also the saccharine voiceover at the beginning of the programme.

This programme makes me laugh. I had my daughter in 1970. With possibly one exception, all the midwives and nurses I came across were horrible.

I’m another who can’t visualise how CTM will continue into the 70’s. My sister and sister-in-law both had babies in 1971 and home births were just not a thing by then.

I did enjoy the Christmas special, though. It’s undemanding TV and sometimes you need that. Trixie does need a decent, strong storyline, I agree! The saintly Dr Turner is scary when he smiles. The Turners’ daughter don’t seem to be growing up, either. Timothy is at university now but the girls still appear to be at infant school stage. ?

I am fed up with it. It's too sugary sweet, and as Sue says, home births were not much of a thing in the 70s so how can it continue realistically?

I don't like Dr Turner and Sheila. Either the script is rubbish or Dr Turner can't act. I understand he's married to the script writer.

And there are only so many births I can watch and I think I've reached my limit now.

There! That's all my complaints.

I had a home birth in 1980 so they were still around. Best one of the three, the first and third being hospital births. DS 1 even slept through in the next bedroom and awoke in the morning to find a new baby brother who’d managed to pop to the shops to buy him a present. ?

You’ve triggered a memory for me, Purpledaffodil! I’ve now recalled that in 1980 we lived briefly in Derby, where unless there were complications, all second+ time mothers had to have home births due to lack of local maternity hospital beds.

One mum told me that she was reluctantly having her second baby at home and her rather elderly GP also came in to help the midwives. One of the MW’s suddenly said ‘Someone call an ambulance immediately!’ The poor labouring mum thought something dreadful was going wrong with the birth but in fact it was for her GP, who was having a heart attack on the floor in her bedroom!

Luckily, eventually all was well with mother, baby and GP.

Oh my goodness SueDonim that would have been awful. Hope the GP survived!

He did! I think he was gently encouraged to retire after that.

Did anyone else notice that when Trixie was doing a delivery her hands were behind the actress playing the patient, not inside the patient's gown,between her legs? You could clearly see the far side of the gown in front of her arms.

The new series is starting on Sunday. Something to brighten up the wintry Sunday nights. We

Anyone watch last night?

I'm missing the sense of cameraderie amongst the residents of Nonnatud House. Tríxie, Jenny, Cynthia and Chummy used to be friends who went to dances and films together, had drinks and played music in their bedrooms and discussed their boyfriends. Barbara and Phyllis became very close, Sr Evangelina and Sr Monica Joan were old sparring partners, Lucille and Valerie became genuine friends and Sr Julienne was quite maternal towards Sheila.

Now they're really just a bunch of colleagues who get on well, but that's about it.

Trixie is wearing her cape a lot, plus ‘duster’ type coats, obviously hiding her bump.

Still love it and a nice Sunday night drama nit much else on.

I had my second child in 1973. The doctor’s surgery had a couple of midwives and used the local maternity home for deliveries. I had the same midwife throughout. It was like having a very knowledgeable friend. The baby was born very quickly with no complications and I was back home the same day.

Third child was born in a maternity hospital. The midwife I had was very unpleasant and made the process very upsetting.

It was a wonderful service but over time there was pressure for expectant mums to go to hospital. I personally think this was to do with budgets and centralisation not patient welfare.

As for ATM I find it a pleasant and relaxing watch and hope it continues for a while longer.

CTM!

Calendargirl

Trixie is wearing her cape a lot, plus ‘duster’ type coats, obviously hiding her bump.

Yes you could see, in the scene towards the end where she was wearing that yellow and black outfit, that Helen George was pregnant.

I'd love if they brought Tom back just as she was beginning to fall for Matthew and she began to experience a revival of her feelings for him.

Trixie has matured a lot since she broke off her engagement to Tom because she wasn't ready to be a vicar's wife. It would be interesting to see her having to make a choice between him and the wealthy Matthew.

I enjoy watching but just wish the midwives I had were half as nice. I don't think I knew any of their names.

That nun (??) doing the smoking presentation obviously had a racy past!

Trixie's wardrobe seems stuck in the 50s. I don't remember anyone dressing like she does in the 70s

Last night I thought nurse Corrigan was going to ask Shelagh to foster her daughter as well!

Beswitched I wonder whether the pandemic has meant they’ve had to change the way they film CTM, so we see less of the camaraderie than we used to? Though they do seem less tightly bound together now, as you say. There’s more of an age range now so I guess they wouldn’t do so many things together.

It’s pleasant viewing, though I missed the very beginning last night and had a shock when they showed the lost babies. I assume they gave a warning about potential distressing scenes at the start?

Yes Trixie must be at least ten years older than Nancy and also a bit older than Lucille.
I think there's also a more diverse range of young midwives now. Jenny, Trixie, Chummy, Cynthia, Barbara and Patsy were all quite posh ex boarding school types, whereas Val, Lucille and Nancy represent different groups - working class East End, new immigrants, rural Irish.

I was going to say it would be nice to see a friendship develop between Trixie and Sr Hilda as they seem to have a lot in common - wild youths but sensible and reliable underneath.

Then I realised Trixie was never actually wild. She's had a couple of serious boyfriends, whom she finished with for very worthy reasons. She became a bit too dependent on alcohol, but always in the privacy of her bedroom and nipped it in the bud very quickly, and she's been living in Nonnatus House since she was about 20 and is still there in her 30s.

I still think she and Sr Hilda could be good friends though.

ayse You we’re lucky, 1973, I was never given the choice, hospital. No good memories. I was left alone in a room on a narrow ‘bed’ just with gas, pain came both in the back and front at the same time for hours. No friendly midwives to help or any encouragement to deliver a 9lb14 baby. I then had to stay in hospital for 10 days. Nothing like the scenes we see on ‘Call the Midwife’.

Last nights episode was supposed to be in 1967. I am sure the fashions are carefully date checked and as a late teenager at that time remember it all too well.

My second child was a home birth in 1970. Was excellent service, had the same midwive throughout for ante-natal checks, often coming to my home to carry out these. I was also in East London, but a different part to CTM..

When I was expecting my third, I moved house into Essex, and was told then by GP that there was no way they could support Home Births. Strange, as it was only about five miles away. In the event she decided to come a month early and I was rushed into hospital. Not the best experience as I had to discharge us both a few days later due to problems at home, and that was a very nasty experience.

The most wonderful Midwive I came across was one who had ruled in that area of Essex for decades, adopting herself six of the babies she actually delivered, very diverse racially.

Many of the local Mums were terrified of her, but on the Sunday I came home from hospital with my twins, (nos 4 & 5) she turned up an hour or two later, stating that anyone who managed to get home from that maternity unit still breastfeeding twins, deserved her immediate support. Some of the stories she told (dating back to the war years), could have been of any tv series/book.
I do watch CTM, but find it rather too saccharine for me to take any of seriously.