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Call The Midwife.

(158 Posts)
Calendargirl Mon 25-Dec-23 21:52:39

Just watched the Christmas special.

Feel like I have swallowed a whole bottle of golden syrup.

How many more times is Sister Monica Joan going to predict her end is nigh?

Anniebach Sun 31-Dec-23 08:18:53

There are very elderly nuns in convents

LadyGracie Sun 31-Dec-23 08:12:16

It is exceptionally sweet and sickly but I enjoy watching all the same and always have.

Lilypops Sun 31-Dec-23 08:06:07

Dr Turner,s same inane grin and awful acting put me off CTM ages ago , he has the same expression for every event , must admit though I do like to see the old prams being pushed around even though they go nowhere and back !

MayBee70 Sun 31-Dec-23 02:01:41

It’s one of those series that I do actually like but have got out of the habit of watching. I thought Sister Monica Joan had dementia in the first series ( and seemed pretty old then) but ten years later she still seems to be in it.

grannydarkhair Sun 31-Dec-23 01:08:04

I agree about Sister Monica Joan, she’s never been a favourite character of mine except in a few isolated episodes. I also agree about the wrong clothes, etc. Having said that, I still enjoyed it, such easy viewing.

DamaskRose Sat 30-Dec-23 22:55:55

Well I enjoyed it and stopped watching Eastenders years ago. That probably says quite a lot about me!

Ilovecheese Sat 30-Dec-23 19:06:36

I thoroughly it.

MissInterpreted Sat 30-Dec-23 12:35:40

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

Shelmiss Sat 30-Dec-23 12:26:15

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.

Maggiemaybe Sat 30-Dec-23 10:17:48

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?

Clawdy Wed 27-Dec-23 21:16:44

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

Anniebach Wed 27-Dec-23 19:48:31

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

HurdyGurdy Wed 27-Dec-23 19:44:02

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.

jocork Wed 27-Dec-23 19:32:28

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!

GrannyGravy13 Wed 27-Dec-23 19:27:35

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

Sallywally1 Wed 27-Dec-23 19:07:37

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

Treebee Wed 27-Dec-23 19:04:17

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.

Harris27 Wed 27-Dec-23 19:00:26

Loved it Christmas at its best.

hazelnuts Wed 27-Dec-23 18:49:22

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

Callistemon21 Wed 27-Dec-23 17:22:26

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.

ginny Wed 27-Dec-23 17:17:34

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

Callistemon21 Wed 27-Dec-23 17:10:33

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.

merlotgran Wed 27-Dec-23 17:07:24

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

dayvidg Wed 27-Dec-23 17:03:52

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

Greciangirl Wed 27-Dec-23 16:58:51

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.