Call The Midwife.

We find Call the Midwife very syrupy and twee and decided to revisit Eastenders after a year of not watching it. Drama on steroids with the usual suspects including Sharon (what was she wearing) and the rest with just a new face or two. Entertaining none the less.

Personally we love it, nice and easy to watch. Looking forward to the next series. The only one we aren’t so keen on is Dr Turner.

Yes it was smaltzy but I loved it!

I find it too smartly too, I was a social worker and I know people aren't really like that so its always felt sickly to me

Aveline

Call the Midwife is so far past it's sell by date. Can't believe two more series have been commissioned. It's saccharin on steroids.

Oh no!!
Surely not?

Ellie Anne

If it was meant to be 69 the hair , fashion etc definitely didn’t fit.
Agree it’s not as good as it used to be but I enjoyed it anyway

I wondered which year, thank you Ellie Ann.

Yes, it did seem rather dated but it was still a few years before I needed to call a midwife so perhaps I'm misremembering!

Totally agree . I’ve just watched it on catch up and it is so sickly sweet it’s defo not true to life . The actor who plays the GP never changes his facial expressions . Having said all that we don’t have to watch it 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yes, I loved it, and always enjoy it.

Ok, it’s a bit twee in parts, especially the Christmas special, but it’s of my era which I understand.

Anyway, I’d rather watch that than Eastenders any day.
Stopped watching it years ago. Much too violent and improbable storylines.

It was Christmas 1968: Apollo 8 was the first manned spaceflight to orbit the moon. The moon landing was Apollo 11 in July 69.

I’ve just caught up with it. The nativity scene was hilarious.🤣🤣

Nannan2

I think they've commissioned enough to take them up to early 70's like the books from original Jennifer worth or something? Its a shame they never kept her in at all not even as a visitor now& again(in real life folk do go back & revisit old friends etc!) I think there was one show when it was the elderly jennifer & her husband shown briefly but that's all- also the old lady papery voice at beginning & end i think is supposed to be hers- but it gets on my nerves as i can barely tell what she is saying.

I think Jennifer Worth's books only covered her experiences of working as a midwife in the East End in the 1950s, Nannan2.

Other writers have taken over from where the books left off and it's pure fiction now.

I’d rather watch Midwife than EastEnders too.
What did you find hilarious about the Nativity scene Merlotgran ?

ginny

I’d rather watch Midwife than EastEnders too.
What did you find hilarious about the Nativity scene Merlotgran ?

It's usual for a younger girl to play the BVM, not an older married woman.

Blonde blue-eyed Trixie, too? Mary was a young Jewish woman, possibly a teenager.

I watched and loved as to being realistic my Aunt trained as a midwife in this area before and during onset of NHS and vouched it was so true The Indian soldier Definately true and should make us feel very guilty. agree about Sister Monica The birth of the quads also was how it was with the onset of new drugs to treat infertility

Loved it Christmas at its best.

I enjoyed it too. Always a positive message in spite of the challenges the characters undergo. Though I thought the tortoise should have been hibernating.
Can’t bear the negativity of Eastenders so haven’t watched it for many years.

Not watched it yet, but planning too! And I love dr turner.

It’s sweet and is vaguely reminiscent of the London Docks, but I love it.

I was 14 in 1968 and although I don't remember the poverty depicted, I didn't live in East London but I'm sure it will have been properly researched.
I certainly remember the moon landing the following year as it was on my dad's birthday in the UK. The date is different to his birthday as it is recorded as the time in the USA who are ahead of us but I didn't think of that at the time. It was the early hours of the morning here in the UK and my brother and I were woken up to watch it on the TV!

I watched and was quite underwhelmed by it. Goodness, how many times has Sister Monica Joan been at death's door now!

I feel that this will be like The Crown for me. I will watch the whole thing, because of the time I've already invested in it, but I think they're really flogging a dead horse with it now, and struggling to come up with interesting storylines. And how many midwives do they have now? Seems to be hardly any - although they did mention some new trainees arriving in March, so maybe they will bring some good storylines with them.

Interesting that the original Nonnatus House is still standing, so it can be visited (at least the exterior - I've no idea if the interior is open to the public).

Also, the nuns were working in Polar until as late as 1978, which surprised me.

It's when watching programmes like this that I really miss having my mum to talk to, as she grew up around the area and I'm sure would have interesting stories to tell about the Nonnatus nuns.

I like watching it, I worked in a Convent for several years and was so happy there.

The clothes and hairstyles are certainly wrong, Trixie's hair looked more 1950s. Where are the mini skirts and long straight Jane Asher hair!?

I always enjoy a bit of CTM - for me it’s perfect Sunday evening viewing. And it’s not all schmaltz - they’ve had some very hard-hitting and graphic storylines (the thalidomide baby left out on the windowsill still haunts me). But there are only so many times I can take everyone pandering to Sister Monica Joan’s foibles and fantasies. Can she please be admitted to a lovely retirement home for elderly nuns, somewhere as far away from Poplar as it gets? Perhaps she could send a lovely Christmas card every year that they could read out over the turkey?

I’ve just watched it but I had to turn it off 3 minutes from the end…all that schmaltz with Sister Monica Joan just got too much for me. I’ve watched every episode from the beginning but now it’s so awfully sickeningly sweet (and PC but not going there) that I think I’m done with it.

It is a bit sickly sweet, but let's not forget it has also tackled some very gritty issues too, over the years.