I started watching Call the Midwife on Netflix (although it’s also streaming on PBS), but quit after the first season. My college and current friend Debbie Lueders recommended I go on, and I did, and I’m glad I did.
It’s a series that begins in the 1950s (I was born in 1950). Although it’s set in England and I’m American, it’s set in an impoverished district of London, and I was born in an impoverished section of Louisville, Kentucky. Because of the time and the circumstances, I can relate to quite a bit of the series.
It wouldn’t have quite the same effect on younger people. Younger people wouldn’t get the chill I got when the modern-thinking doctor smiles at the relief a desperate mother got from a new wonder drug he prescribes for nausea and she says she’s going to tell all her friends and they’ll all want to take it, and it’s thalidomide. Apparently, it’s a surprise that there are so many people who were affected by the drug, since I clearly remember everybody where and when I grew up knowing about and being acquainted with at least one “Thalidomide baby”.
ANYWAY, whether you share the time and circumstances or not, the characters pull you in.
There is no “the midwife”; the main characters are nurses and nun/nurses who work and live together to deliver health and babies in the Poplar district with the help of a maternity home and a doctor who makes house calls. My favorite character, who leaves the show in a season beyond what I’ve watched, is Camilla “Chummy” Fortescue-Cholmondeley-Browne, who’s so posh she talks like Bertie Wooster (“What ho! Just give us a jolly good push, old thing, and baby will be born before you can say ‘cricket’.”) But she has SUCH a kind heart, she wins over the roughest characters in the district.
Highly recommended.
My nails this week wanted to be flowery.
I got some new polish from Stands, which donates part of the purchase price to one cause or another. The two sets I bought are Supernatural-themed: Hunter’s Helper — Heroes (Good to be Queen red, Don’t be an Idjit green, and Sheriff’s Badge gold) and Hunter’s Helper — Monsters (Silver Bullet silver, Demon Eyes pearly black, and Woman in White pearly white). Although they take two or three coats to form an opaque base, they stamp like a dream.
I used Woman in White as my base coat. I stamped the gold from Maniology’s M210 plate with Sheriff’s Badge. I stamped the roses from Maniology’s MXM051 with Maniology’s Fireside and painted them with Maniology’s Sweet Peach and Spoiled’s Green to be Heard.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: A birth.
MA
acflory
June 12, 2022 at 9:08pmAnother Call the Midwife fan here. The girl who played posh Camilla is actually a comedienne who had her own tv show for a while. I can’t for the life of me remember her name, but yes, she was great. So is the oldest nun – played by Vanessa Redgrave. Redgrave is one of the Grande Dame of UK film and tv. 🙂
Marian Allen
June 13, 2022 at 9:18amNah, Vanessa Redgrave does the voice of old Jenny. The oldest nun, Sister Monica Joan, is played by Judy Parfitt, who’s brilliant in anything she does. <3
acflory
June 13, 2022 at 10:19pmOh! I have no idea who old Jenny is. I always thought Vanessa Redgrave /was/ Sister Monica Joan. doh! Thanks for that. 😀
Marian Allen
June 14, 2022 at 10:15amOld Jenny is young Jenny when she’s old and narrating the stories. Young Jenny was the main character for the first seasons.
acflory
June 14, 2022 at 6:20pmOoooh! The pretty dark haired one? I’d forgotten about her.
Marian Allen
June 15, 2022 at 7:58amI know, right? The picture Netflix uses to represent the series has three nurses, none of whom are still on the show.
acflory
June 15, 2022 at 6:47pmlol – that figures. You’d think they’d be a bit more up-to-date. The thing I like about Midwives is that the ‘history’ keeps getting updated, except for the blond bombshell! They really should make her age a bit more. 😉
Marian Allen
June 16, 2022 at 10:53amBlonde bombshells don’t go gentle into that goodnight. My grandma was a blonde until she got too old to hit the salon. lol
acflory
June 16, 2022 at 7:26pmlmao! so very true. 😀 Kind of glad I’m a brunette, or was. I’ve never dyed my hair but white is the new blonde…. 😉
Dan Antion
June 6, 2022 at 8:50amI have watched episodes of Call the Midwife on PBS. I don’t watch it regularly, but I’ve enjoyed the episodes I’ve watched. I don’t know if it’s one of those shows I should be watching in order, but I never met a rule I couldn’t break. I do remember the horrors of Thalidomide. Cool nails.
Marian Allen
June 6, 2022 at 9:33amThere ARE story arcs, but you don’t HAVE to watch them in order. If Sister Monica Joan goes walkabout, you don’t need to have watched her mental decline to know that she’s in danger. It might be a bit disorienting if you watch one with Nurse Miller and Sister Bernadette and the next one you watch, the same people are Sister Mary Cynthia and Mrs. Turner. 😀