View Full Version : Call the Midwife
Sad Eyed Lady
10-9-12, 8:07pm
Is anyone watching this new PBS series called "Call the Midwife"? I missed the first episode but caught the second one this past weekend and although I normally am not a T.V. watcher, I did enjoy this. This episode was pretty heart-wrenching however, but I don't know if that is the norm for this program or not.
I am watching it and really like it.
Sad Eyed Lady, you should be able to catch the episode you missed on PBS' website.
Simplemind
10-9-12, 8:37pm
I'm really enjoying it and think it is well done.
I'm enjoying it but it's a bit graphic. The one woman who had lost all of her previous babies, if she's 41, I'm 16!!
I love Miranda Hart and really like her own show Miranda.
I've started watching it too. It comes on right before the new version of Upstairs Downstairs, so it's back-to-back British historical fiction night.
IshbelRobertson
10-10-12, 4:44am
I seem to recall there was another thread re this programme a while back on here.
One of the stand out performers to me is Miranda Hart, who plays Chummy. She has a comedy show on the Beeb called miranda, which I enjoyed if I happened to catch it. She was originally a stand up comedian, and she really is very posh, in real life!
sweetana3
10-10-12, 6:56am
I agree. She is playing the part to perfection. The whole show is so well timed and balanced. It could so easily be just dreary. Sometimes they use just a look and a few seconds to convey a whole range of emotion and thought. Well done.
Aqua Blue
10-10-12, 9:12am
I'm enjoying it too. I've been watching it on PBS web sight, as I usually have family things going on on Sun evening. BBC does such a good job-shows that are real and believeable.
IshbelRobertson
10-10-12, 9:14am
I love that our actors come in all types of beauty and shapes and sizes - all they have to be is good at their portrayal of a character!
sweetana3
10-10-12, 11:06am
I am having a hard time enjoying most American evening type shows. They all show such pretty thin conventional young characters. Kathy Bates played a great older female lawyer but they changed the show and surrounded her with the thin conventionial pretty kids.
Guess we dont fit the demographic they want to fit their advertising.
BayouGirl
10-10-12, 4:08pm
Sounds very interesting and I love PBS since we don't have cable. I'll be looking for it!
Sad Eyed Lady
10-10-12, 7:00pm
I am having a hard time enjoying most American evening type shows. They all show such pretty thin conventional young characters. Kathy Bates played a great older female lawyer but they changed the show and surrounded her with the thin conventionial pretty kids.
Guess we dont fit the demographic they want to fit their advertising.
This isn't an American show, it is British, and the characters are not all pretty/thin/conventional young girls. Maybe I shouldn't say it is British, I am assuming it is since it is set in the East End of London in the mid 1950's. Someone else may know for sure it it is actually produced in Britain, but I believe it is.
sweetana3
10-10-12, 9:17pm
I know it is British and being on our PBS station. I was saying that American shows are pretty boring to me either because of unrealistic actors, violence, etc. British shows often do unusual things, like getting rid of primary actors in the middle of a show, having interesting and realistic actors, better writing, etc. Call the Midwife is a true British classic with realistic actors, great writing, realistic location shots, careful details and a subtle handling of sensitive topics.
I have a huge collection of British show DVDs, both dramas and comedy, and watch them while sewing and whenever I can get husband off regular TV. I think we started with Good Neighbors and then I got hooked on Inspector Morse. We even started watching Alan Titchmarsh and Ground Force while in the UK even though I don't garden.
iris lily
10-10-12, 9:39pm
I read the book but have not seen the pbs show.
Florence
10-10-12, 10:03pm
It reminds me of the bad old days before birth control was widely available. Sex = Pregnancy = Childbirth = Large families. So glad I had access to reliable birth control!
iris lily
10-10-12, 10:13pm
It reminds me of the bad old days before birth control was widely available. Sex = Pregnancy = Childbirth = Large families. So glad I had access to reliable birth control!
Well I would have love that thing that you implant into your arm and it's good for months at a time.
Sad Eyed Lady
10-10-12, 10:20pm
I know it is British and being on our PBS station. I was saying that American shows are pretty boring to me either because of unrealistic actors, violence, etc. British shows often do unusual things, like getting rid of primary actors in the middle of a show, having interesting and realistic actors, better writing, etc. Call the Midwife is a true British classic with realistic actors, great writing, realistic location shots, careful details and a subtle handling of sensitive topics.
I have a huge collection of British show DVDs, both dramas and comedy, and watch them while sewing and whenever I can get husband off regular TV. I think we started with Good Neighbors and then I got hooked on Inspector Morse. We even started watching Alan Titchmarsh and Ground Force while in the UK even though I don't garden.
Got it now Sweetana3 - and totally agree! Can't relate to prime time TV anymore.
iris lily
10-10-12, 10:56pm
I don't see how anyone can malign hte critically acclaimed American cable shows, they are freeking brilliant. As much and more so than BBC et al.
Network, now that's another story. Network can't do dramas anymore, and they are only able to do a few semi-funny comedies.
pony mom
10-10-12, 11:52pm
Iris Lily, I agree. Network tv stinks, but the stuff on cable is really good. The Wire, Six Feet Under, Dexter, these are just a few that I've watched and enjoyed a lot. Bigger budgets, better acting, great scripts.
But no one does period dramas like the BBC.
BayouGirl
10-14-12, 9:03pm
Hmm, I just came across this show on PBS station here in America. Its on at 8pm central time on Sunday night. Looks like this is the first chapter and it says "new" on the schedule that shows which shows are on PBS.
I'm glad it's here in the States now. I'm sure PBS is streaming it from their site.
Sad Eyed Lady
10-14-12, 11:12pm
I have just finished watching tonight's episode and although this is a very interesting and well done program - it is so heart wrenching! So sad, some of it, but some of life is too so in that case the sadness makes it more realistic I guess. :(
I watched the first two episodes back to back on PBS' website this evening. I enjoyed them very much. Looking forward to the rest of the series. I read online that a second season has been commissioned.
IshbelRobertson
10-15-12, 6:21am
We're awaiting series two here in the UK.
it definitely portrays life for a certain sector of British society in that era. I can remember nun-nurses and midwives on bikes up to the early 60s.
I watched last night also and just loved the beauty and simplicity. Very touching.
I have really enjoyed the two episodes I've watched...love the "real" characters, meaning, as stated by some of you, varied size, shapes, ages, abilities, depth of character.
I just wish one time I would get in the loop at the beginning of these series...I never seem to learn about them until Season 2 or well into the first season. Why am I so clueless? (Thanks to this forum, I see more than I would naturally.)
I love this show! I laugh and cry every time. :) why don't we have any thing like this?
Sorry to be a wet blanket. Perhaps this comes with age and being an avid reader, but I am seeing nothing new. It's all one cliche after another. the acting is okay. The nuns are holding my attention as of all the characters, they offer variety in response. The lead character seems awfully stiff, something lacking for me in body language. She is so reserved. I can see what's coming next what with the nun removing her head dress? and watching the other girls go off to dance. They could take this cliche and go down a different path. I am, however, appreciating that the show is not necessarily aimed at women but certainly brings up important issues in women's and public health.
IshbelRobertson
10-23-12, 2:25pm
As this is based on the recollections of one of the midwives and verified by some of her colleagues and nuns, I think it's probably the famed stiff upper lip we British are famed for?
I've been watching the episodes on PBS internet streaming and I don't have television anymore. I'm really enjoying it but it definitely is for grownups or mature teens.
Sorry to be a wet blanket. Perhaps this comes with age and being an avid reader, but I am seeing nothing new. It's all one cliche after another. the acting is okay. The nuns are holding my attention as of all the characters, they offer variety in response. The lead character seems awfully stiff, something lacking for me in body language. She is so reserved. I can see what's coming next what with the nun removing her head dress? and watching the other girls go off to dance. They could take this cliche and go down a different path. I am, however, appreciating that the show is not necessarily aimed at women but certainly brings up important issues in women's and public health.
I don't think the stories are so unique, and I guess you could call them cliche's. I think it's appeal is that it isn't like other shows. It's refreshing.
Love this show, we get to see a Christmas episode in December. Makes me wish that I could be a midwife. Strict requirements in my region though.
frugalone
10-31-16, 3:02pm
I read two of the books, and watched Episode One. I know it's all natural and normal and everybody was born this way, but it kind of grossed me and my spouse out. I don't know why--the books were pretty graphic, too. I'm better, though, at reading something than seeing it.
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