I love this interesting and really empathetic show!  Sacrilegious as it is to say, I think it’s even better than Downton Abbey.

Based on the best selling memoirs by Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife depicts a group of young midwives and nuns in east London in the 1950s, the incredible and intimate work they did delivering babies and caring for the community, their social lives, the often harsh, difficult lives of the families and what seems to be a very authentic and interesting look into Britain’s health system at the time.  For example, most mothers had their babies at home in this part of London, until maternity hospitals became more common.  Thinking about how controversial home births are considered by some today, it’s amazing to see such a different culture back then.

The characters are so likeable and real and, having been a nurse myself for over ten years, I can imagine how it must have been for those pioneer nurses so many years ago.  And as is always the case with period pieces, the fashion is always a plus – the clothes might be a bit more low key than some shows we’ve seen recently, but I still think the nurses are so pretty and glamorous on their days off.

A bit of trivia also; apparently this show has encouraged a lot of entries to midwifery from nursing students.  I also read recently that the 1980s show L.A. Law sparked an increase in the number of students choosing law at uni at that time and in the 90s it was the TV show ER which made my friends and I all want to be nurses.  Popular culture is such a powerful thing eh?!

Has anyone else tuned in?

 

 

Images and publicity stills from: TV series Call the Midwife, 2012-current, UK, Neal Street Productions